Labor’s refugee crisis not over yet

Labor’s bid to jail non-citizens who resist deportation for up to five years has faced a renewed wave of backlash as the Greens and Coalition move to stifle the passage of new migration laws after a High Court ruling.

The High Court ruled on Friday that indefinite detention is lawful if a non-citizen resists their own deportation.

Australia’s top court dismissed a plea from an Iranian asylum seeker, known as ASF17, who has refused to return to his home country.

Friday’s ruling means the government will not be forced to release people from detention where they cannot be removed from Australia, even if their unwillingness to co-operate is a contributing factor.

The ruling marks a major win for federal Labor, which is seeking to jail detainees who refuse to co-operate with their removal for up to five years. Immigration Minister Andrew Giles welcomed the decision and said Opposition Leader Peter Dutton should back the government’s Bill.

“It’s time for him to … do the right thing to help us manage our migration system and keep the community safer,” he said.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge, however, lashed out at the court’s judgment and called on Labor to scrap its “Trumplike” laws.

“These laws are grossly unnecessary, they were unnecessary from day one. But now with this High Court decision, there is no legitimate basis apart from cruelty,” Senator Shoebridge said.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the court had made a “very sensible decision” about the ASF17 court case.

He said the Coalition would work with the government to pass its laws if it considered 17 amendments to its Bill. “The urgency is gone – so there’s no excuse to try and ram through this Bill now,” he said.

The case was heard following a High Court ruling in November that found indefinite detention to be unlawful.

The NZYQ case triggered the release of about 150 noncitizens into the community, including those who had been convicted of serious crimes.