Albanian government rushes to reinstate curfew and ankle bracelets for immigration detainees after bombshell Supreme Court ruling

The emergency measures have reintroduced ankle monitoring and curfew restrictions for immigration detainees, despite a shock Supreme Court ruling that declared the practice unconstitutional.

Home Secretary Tony Burke confirmed on Thursday that Governor General Sam Mostyn had signed the regulations which will immediately reinstate the provisions.

While he introduced the new laws on Thursday, the rules will act as a stopgap before the laws are passed.

The new rules will introduce a new ‘community protection test’ which will allow the Secretary of State to reintroduce the use of ankle monitors and curfews for holders of the Bridging Visa R (BVR) if there is a ‘substantial risk of any part being seriously harmed’ . of the Australian community by committing a serious crime’.

The minister must “also be satisfied” that the conditions are “reasonably necessary and reasonably appropriate and appropriate for the purpose of protecting any part of the Australian community from serious harm”, Burke said.

“Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision is not the decision the government wanted, but it is one we have prepared for. “The government is therefore in a position to take immediate steps to protect the safety of the community,” he said.

“These visa conditions are intended to protect the community, not as a punitive measure.”

While Burke would not confirm how many BVR holders were currently subject to ankle bracelets and curfews, he said the government’s priority was to remove the offenders from Australia.

Home Secretary Tony Burke said Labor was prepared for the High Court decision

“The government’s first priority is the safety of the community… the first priority is not ankle bracelets or detention for these people,” he said.

“We don’t want them in Australia at all and that’s why today we’ve introduced powers into legislation to improve the government’s ability to remove people in that situation from this country.”

In addition, the legislation proposed on Thursday will also “strengthen and streamline” the government’s power to remove people whose visas have been revoked to third countries.

The explanatory memorandum also states that the bill would also allow the government to pay a third country to accept non-citizens.

It also provides immunity provisions for officials, including the minister, against ‘civil claims relating to certain persons or under certain arrangements’.

“(The bill will) authorize expenditure on third country reception arrangements and authorize Commonwealth action in relation to third country reception arrangements,” the report said.

While the report noted that the bill was “in most respects compatible” with Australia’s human rights obligations, any measures to “restrict human rights” will be taken to “preserve the integrity of the migration system and protect the security of the Australian community ‘.

The new headache for the Albanian government follows a Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday, which said it did not have the authority to impose the strict restrictions, including ankle protectors, on former detainees. The measures were ‘punitive and unjustifiable’.

The coalition adopted Wednesday’s ruling and issued an ‘explain’ statement to leading opposition figures, including immigration spokesman Dan Tehan (pictured)

In October last year, 215 immigration detainees were released before parliament passed laws to fit 143 members with electronic monitoring bracelets.

A curfew was also imposed on 126 detainees to restrict their movements.

The coalition adopted Wednesday’s ruling and issued an “explain” statement to leading opposition figures, including immigration spokesman Dan Tehan.

‘The effect of this decision will be that 215 dangerous non-citizen offenders, including 12 murderers, 66 sex offenders, 97 people convicted of assault, 15 perpetrators of domestic violence and others, will be free in the community without any form of supervision or curfews,” a spokesperson said. joint statement said.

“Sixty-five of these former detainees have been charged with new state and territory offenses since their release, with 45 remaining at large in the community.

“This loss exacerbates the Albanian government’s inability to use the preventive detention powers that parliament rushed through almost 12 months ago to re-detain high-risk offenders.”