Australia - December 2023

On 6 December, the Australian parliament passed preventative detention laws to deal with the fallout from the High Court ruling on 8 November that the country’s system of indefinite immigrant detention was unlawful, triggering the release of over 140 detainees. The new laws allow courts to re-detain former immigration detainees if they are judged to pose “an unacceptable risk of committing serious violent or sexual offence.” Rights advocates and legal experts have raised serious concerns regarding the discriminatory nature of the post-sentence scheme, noting that the Act suffers from flawed risk assessment and punitive conditions,” which only apply to non-citizens.

Sources: ABC, The Guardian, Law Council of Australia, Parliament of Australia, Human Rights Law Centre

The New South Wales Supreme Court struck down parts of the state’s harsh anti-protest laws on 13 December, in a move welcomed by rights and environmentalist defenders. The legal challenge was mounted by the “two-knitting nannas” with the Environmental Defender’s Office as representatives. The ruling found that a law criminalizing protests that cause partial closures around ports and train stations is unconstitutional because it has a “chilling effect on political communication via protests and public assemblies.” While a partial yet significant win, rights advocates have called on the government to repeal the anti-protest laws still in place, including offences applied in circumstances where activities cause damage or the complete closure of facilities.  

Sources: Human Rights Watch, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian