Sixth immigration detainee arrested after High Court ruling freed more than 140 people including hardened criminals
- Sixth former immigrant detainee arrested
- More than 140 detainees were released following a High Court decision
A sixth person has been arrested following a controversial High Court decision that freed 140 detained immigrants, including habitual criminals.
Australian Federal Police said a 36-year-old Eritrean-born man was arrested late on Friday in Melbourne’s west after he failed to comply with a curfew under laws passed by Parliament in response to a High Court ruling.
The man in question is a 39-year-old man who was arrested in Brisbane on Thursday morning.
The man was taken into custody by Queensland Police under an outstanding NSW Serious Assault Warrant Revocation Act.
“He has been taken to a guard post in Brisbane where NSW officers will be visiting in the coming days to extradite the man,” NSW Police said in a statement.
Pressure is mounting on Albana’s government as the opposition demands an apology to Australians.
Asked when he planned to sack Home Secretary Claire O’Neill, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stood by his government’s response.
“Ministers O’Neill and Giles have done more in one month to resolve this issue than their opponents have done in nine years,” he told parliament.
Home Secretary Claire O’Neill (pictured) faces mounting pressure after another recently released detainee was arrested on Friday.
The Labor Party is seeking to put people who may pose a risk to public safety back behind bars under a preventive detention regime passed by Parliament on Wednesday night.
The 45-year-old is the fourth former detainee to be charged after he allegedly broke his visa curfew and stole luggage from Melbourne Airport.
The government is struggling to respond to the High Court ruling, which overturned 20 years of legal precedent that found indefinite detention unlawful when there was no prospect of resettlement.
Deputy Liberal leader Susan Ley said the government owed Australians an apology and responsibility for failing to “even get preventive detention laws in place”.
“We might not have arrested these people, at least two of them, because they might have been put back behind bars where they belonged,” she said.
“The critical test now for the government is what they are going to do to keep women and children safe in Australia.”