Twenty-seven of the foreigners whose indefinite detention was quashed by the landmark High Court decision are cases that have been referred to immigration ministers over several years under the category of “very serious violent offences, very serious crimes against children, very serious family or domestic violence or violent, sexual or exploitative offences”.
The categories show why detainees had their visas cancelled on character grounds. Not every detainee in each category would have been convicted in Australia and some may have been convicted overseas.
Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Andrew Giles has released details of the 92 detainees affected by the High Court ruling.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Documents tabled in the Senate late on Thursday evening reveal that 40 of the 92 detainees were detained in NSW, 24 are from Victoria with the balance in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the ACT.
The dashboard was prepared for the government on October 19, three weeks before the High Court decision on November 8.
It reveals that Afghanistan (18), Iran (17), Sudan (10) and Iraq (7) are the top four source countries for the detainees. In total, the cohort of 92 people come from 23 countries while nine are considered stateless.
The document also reveals 21 of the detainees have been referred to Clare O’Neil, the Minister for Home Affairs, for cyber crimes, serious and high-profile organised gang-related crimes and being high-ranking members of outlaw motorcycle gangs.
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