Australia's High Court has ordered the government to remove ankle bracelets and end curfews for 43 former immigration detainees, dealing another blow to the federal government's attempts to maintain strict controls over released detainees.
The ruling continues the court's pattern of finding against government detention policies that have kept people locked up - or under severe restrictions - despite having no prospect of being deported to their home countries.
The 43 people affected by the ruling had been released from immigration detention following an earlier High Court decision but remained subject to ankle monitoring and curfew conditions. The court has now found those restrictions unlawful.
Mate, this is becoming a pattern. The government keeps trying to maintain indefinite punishment for people who can't be deported, and the High Court keeps telling them they can't do that.
The case touches on one of Australia's most contentious policy areas: what to do with people who have committed crimes, served their sentences, but cannot be returned to their home countries because those countries won't accept them or because they face persecution.
Australia's immigration law says these people should be in detention until they can be deported. But if they can never be deported, the High Court has repeatedly ruled that indefinite detention is illegal.
The government's response has been to release people but maintain strict controls - ankle bracelets, curfews, reporting requirements. The court has now ruled that's also unlawful.
This leaves the government in a bind. It can't keep people locked up indefinitely. It can't deport them. And now it can't maintain the electronic monitoring regime it established as a middle ground.
Civil liberties advocates argue these people have served their criminal sentences and shouldn't face additional punishment. The government argues it needs tools to protect the community from people it considers dangerous.
The 43 people will now have their ankle bracelets removed and their curfews lifted, though they may still face other visa conditions.
