Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The decision that the High Court handed down has very little to say about the constitutionality of these amendments because the High Court wasn't aware of the amendments that are being proposed. What the High Court said was that the noncitizens for whom there is no real prospect of removal from Australia becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future and who are therefore not capable of being subject to immigration detention needed to be released from detention. The government has done that out of respect for the High Court's decision, so, when I'm talking about having respect for the court's decision, that's what we've done. The High Court handed down the decision. We have implemented that decision. We have released each of the people who have been assessed as meeting that test from the High Court. But I've readily acknowledged that there's a degree of constitutional risk here. But, as I say, the alternative is to do nothing. That seems to be what the Greens party position is, and we don't believe that that's what the Australian people would expect from this parliament.