The Albanese government will use existing laws passed when the Coalition was in office as the basis for a new preventative detention regime aimed at locking up some of the non-citizens released following last month's landmark High Court ruling on indefinite detention.
Key points:
- The opposition has called for Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to be sacked
- Details of the legislation which the government wants passed by parliament before it rises for the year remain unclear
- The High Court must also consider whether a less restrictive alternative to detention exists
The ABC understands the legislation will go to cabinet on Monday morning, before the opposition is then briefed and the bill is introduced to parliament.
The bill is modelled on Coalition-era anti-terror laws that allow the government to apply to a court for a convicted terrorist to be detained beyond the term of their sentence if their release poses an unacceptable risk to the community.
Last month's High Court ruling against indefinite immigration detention has so far led to the release of more than 140 non-citizens in the community and caused a storm of political controversy.
The opposition has called for Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to be sacked over the government's handling of the fallout.
Government sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss details of the bill's drafting, said using the Coalition-era laws as the model for the new regime was aimed in part at locking in the opposition's support.
Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson has been calling on the government to implement laws along the lines of the preventative detention regime for terrorists.
The details of the legislation, which the government wants passed by parliament before it rises for the year at the end of this week, remain unclear.
The existing laws for convicted terrorists require the attorney-general to apply to the court for a continuing detention order and to establish "to a high degree of probability" that the offender poses an "unacceptable risk" of committing another serious offence.
The court must also consider whether a less restrictive alternative to detention exists.
The government's new preventative detention regime will seek to strike a balance between capturing as many of the former immigration detainees released into the community as possible, while remaining consistent with the High Court's ruling.
In its full judgement released on Tuesday, three weeks after it ordered the release of a Rohingya man known as NZYQ, the High Court said its decision did not prevent the plaintiff being detained on another basis, "such as under a law providing for preventative detention of a child sex offender who presents an unacceptable risk of reoffending if released from custody".