However,lawyer Alison Battison,who represents 16 members of the released cohort,said the laws passed on Thursday,which do not re-detain the individuals,were “potentially challengeable” in the courts.
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“They are a disproportionate response to a particular cohort – the only thing they have in common is being impacted by a High Court decision,” she said.
University of Canberra professor Kim Rubenstein also said the law could be subject to challenge if the measures were seen as punitive.
“If a regular Australian citizen released from fulfilling a criminal sentence was not subject to equivalent conditions on parole,then there’d be a question,I think,of whether this is punitive,” she said.
Education Minister Jason Clare has defended the government’s handling of the High Court ruling,arguing the parliamentary response was the fastest he has seen in his 16 years.
Speaking on Seven’sSunrise program,Clare said the passing of emergency legislation on Thursday night,which places stricter conditions on the detainees,was parliament “working at its best,the way the parliament should work”.
“You’ve got to know what you’re dealing with,so you make sure that you write laws that work,” he said.
“Certainly people are dirty with this decision[to not re-detain the convicted criminals],if we had our way these people would still be locked up.”
Clare disagreed the government was unprepared for the High Court decision,saying they needed to see the decision before writing legislation.
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But after a parliamentary victory on Thursday,in which Labor conceded Dutton’s hardline approach to monitoring the individuals was appropriate,the opposition leader went on the attack again on Friday morning.
Dutton argued the government had months to anticipate the High Court outcome that indefinite immigration detention was illegal and should have had legislation ready last week when the decision was handed down.
“The government had since June to draft this legislation. Earlier in the week,on Monday and Tuesday,they were saying there’s no legislation that can fix it … in the end,it turns out that there was legislation that they could pass,” he said.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weeklyInside Politics newsletter here.