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The federal government is weighing up whether to introduce new laws after 80 asylum seekers were released from immigration detention into the community following a High Court ruling last week.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus confirmed this afternoon that special visa conditions have been placed on the 80 people, who were being held in indefinite detention due to failed character tests or national security risks.
"I can assure the Australian community that the first priority of the government is to keep our community safe," Dreyfus said.
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"There will be appropriate visa conditions and the commonwealth government will be working with state and territory criminal justice agencies, who, of course, are primarily responsible for each of the people concerned.
"All of these people have already had interactions with the state and territory criminal justice agencies in question."
He said the government was "of course" considering whether to introduce new laws in response to the High Court ruling, although did not specify whether that would be to re-detain the 80 released asylum seekers, or to more broadly legislate indefinite detention.
The court ruled the indefinite detention of a stateless Rohingya man who had served time for child sex offences was unlawful, saying it was unconstitutional to detain someone with no prospect of being removed from Australia.
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The decision overturned a near-20-year precedent that allowed Australia to lock up asylum seekers who had failed character assessments but could not be deported.
In its submissions to the court, the Commonwealth said more than 300 other detainees could be impacted by the decision.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles confirmed earlier today the 80 people had been released almost immediately and said the government would need to wait for the High Court's reasons to be published before it introduced any new legislation.
"We … need to have the opportunity to consider the reasons for which the High Court has handed down the decision last week, and we don't yet have those reasons," he told ABC radio.
