<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/09/labor-condemned-for-abhorrently-cruel-decision-to-put-100-people-back-in-immigration-detention>
"Human rights advocates and lawyers have blasted Labor for the “abhorrently
cruel” decision to re-detain a group of 100 people released from immigration
detention around Christmas.
The group was released due to the full federal court ruling that aggregate
sentences do not trigger automatic visa cancellation but are set to be taken
back into detention due to a retrospective bill imposing a stricter
interpretation of the character test. An aggregate sentence refers to when a
person is given one sentence for multiple offences, rather than multiple
separate sentences.
In the Senate on Wednesday, Labor’s Murray Watt, representing the immigration
minister, said the government was acting to prevent the release of people who
had committed serious crimes including sexual offences.
But lawyers for people imperilled by the bill told Guardian Australia that
non-violent offenders such as people who have committed fraud or driving
offences were caught up in the move.
“Each case should be looked at on its own merits,” said a lawyer, Ziya Zarifi.
“Attempting to re-detain people whose visas were cancelled on the basis of
invalid decisions … to correct that by retrospectively applying a law
retrospectively throws up questions about whether that will be valid
constitutionally.”
The aggregate sentences bill worked its way through the Senate on Wednesday,
with only the Greens opposed, and Labor, the Coalition, Jacqui Lambie Network
and United Australia party voting it up at the second reading stage."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
