The opposition leader ‘cannot create an island free from the constitution of Australia’, Human Rights Law Centre says
Peter Dutton has claimed that “migration zones” could be set up to deal with people released from detention by the high court, a suggestion immediately rejected as nonsensical and unconstitutional.
The opposition leader made the comments on Friday morning in an interview boasting about Labor caving in to his demands to toughen restrictions on people released from detention in response to the high court decision on indefinite detention.
On Thursday evening parliament passed a bill imposing electronic monitoring and curfews on those released on bridging visas due to the decision, with breaches of conditions now punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in prison.
At the Apec summit in San Francisco, Anthony Albanese said he was “fully involved” in the decision to agree to Coalition amendments, announced by the acting prime minister, Richard Marles, in question time on Thursday.
On Friday Dutton was asked how he would deal with the 84 people released so far if he were prime minister, and if deportation was the solution.
Dutton told FiveAA Radio: “Well, it is, and the government should be making a greater effort and pulling out every diplomatic leverage that they’ve got to get rid of these people and return them back to their country of origin.
“There are migration zones that can be set up, there’s the option the government seriously needs to consider, which is a preventive detention order, and they’re all available to the government.
