Nauru Refugees: Indefinite Detention Breaches High Court Ruling
Despite a High Court decision declaring indefinite detention of refugees unlawful, the Federal Government has resumed sending refugees back to Nauru for indefinite detention.
High Court Landmark Ruling
In November 2023, the High Court of Australia unanimously ruled that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful, overturning the 2004 Al-Kateb v Godwin precedent. The ruling emphasized that detention for removal must be linked to an achievable removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.
Impact and Demographics
- Out of 354 men affected by this judgment, over 300 were refugees, either children or adults.
- The remainder are stateless individuals or people who cannot be returned to their countries of origin.
- Their visas were cancelled for various reasons.
Political and Media Responses
Similar to actions taken by Peter Dutton during debates over the Medevac legislation in 2019, politicians and media have focused attention mainly on the most serious cases among those detained.
Attempts to Circumvent the Ruling
Since the ruling, several legislative attempts have aimed to undermine the separation of powers, including efforts to:
- Introduce preventive detention (unsuccessful)
- Impose punitive visa conditions such as electronic monitoring via ankle bracelets (unsuccessful)
- Deny due process, which is currently being legally challenged
Related Issues
This situation ties into broader concerns involving human rights, climate change, and the so-called Nauru ‘solution’ for refugee processing and detention.
"Back to Nauru they go." — Human Rights Watch
Author’s summary: The government's ongoing indefinite detention of refugees on Nauru clearly violates a High Court ruling, despite repeated legislative efforts to bypass judicial authority.