The federal government’s stance on law and order is under renewed pressure today as new figures show nearly a fifth of immigration detainees released by the High Court have reoffended.
From the 153 former immigration detainees released off the back of the landmark High Court ruling last November at least 28 of them have been charged with offences under state laws, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
Among them was a former detainee allegedly involved in a violent Perth home invasion.
The March figures were recently shown by the Department of Home Affairs to the Senate.
They are expected to put pressure on the Albanese government to use new laws to lock up those released detainees who are deemed a high risk of reoffending, something they haven’t done to date.
The Coalition says this is an oversight, and has described the current situation as a “detainee crime spree”.
It wants the government to start using the new legislation enabling authorities to detain people again if they are at a high risk of reoffending, even if they haven’t committed a crime.
It is not known how many of the 28 have been under electronic surveillance, but government figures released earlier this month said only 76 of the 153 former detainees were wearing ankle monitoring devices as part of their visa conditions.
