AG Allowed Human Rights Commission to Oppose the Government on Indefinite Detention

Federal Attorney General Mark Dreyfus gave the go-ahead for the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)—a statutory body which reports to Parliament—to lodge an amicus brief with the High Court opposing the government’s policy on indefinite detention. The High Court in November ruled it illegal, leading to 148 people—many of whom were convicted of serious crimes—to be released into the community. The Court was considering the case of NZYQ, who was in Australia on a temporary visa, which was cancelled in 2015 when he was convicted of sex with a minor. When his sentence ended in 2018, the government transferred him to immigration detention because no country could be found that would take him....