High Court rules indefinite immigration detention unlawful
In November 2023, the High Court ended this dark chapter when it ruled that it is unlawful and unconstitutional for the Australian Government to detain people indefinitely in immigration detention.
For almost 20 years, the Australian Government has been able to lock people up indefinitely simply because they do not have a visa.
In November 2023, the High Court ended this dark chapter when it ruled that it is unlawful and unconstitutional for the Australian Government to detain people indefinitely in immigration detention. This has life-changing consequences for people who have been detained for years without knowing if they will ever be released.
In 2004, the High Court upheld the constitutional validity of indefinite immigration detention in the case of Al-Kateb v Godwin. As a result, the Australian Government has routinely detained people for prolonged periods of time. Some people have been trapped in detention for more than a decade. One person has been in detention for nearly 16 years.
The Human Rights Law Centre and UNSW’s Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law appeared at the hearing as amicus curiae – friends of the court. We argued that detention is unlawful if there is no real prospect that it will become practicable to remove a person from Australia in the reasonably foreseeable future. The High Court has now overturned this two-decades-old ruling that allowed the Government to lock people up in immigration detention potentially for the rest of their lives. .
Now, the Government must respect the constitutional limits of detention and act immediately to free people who have been indefinitely detained.
Every person has the right to live in safety. The Australian Government should never have had this unchecked power. We will continue to fight to ensure people who have lost years of their lives have a pathway to freedom.
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Acknowledgement of Country
The Human Rights Law Centre acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands across Australia, including the lands of the Wurundjeri, Boon Wurrung, Gadigal, Ngunnawal, Darug and Wadawurrung people where we work from.
We pay our respect to Elders past and present. This land always was, and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land. Sovereignty has never been ceded.
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