SYDNEY – Australia has passed new laws allowing former immigration detainees to be locked up again if they pose any risk of committing serious offences after they are released, in a landmark ruling by the country’s top court.

Under the new laws passed by Parliament late on Dec 6, a court can order the detention of the most serious offenders where they pose the risk of committing serious violent or sexual offences.

“This legislation establishes a robust preventative detention and community safety order regime that is modelled on the existing high-risk terrorist offender scheme,” Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said in a statement.

The High Court of Australia ruled in November that an unnamed and stateless Rohingya man held in immigration detention after serving time for child sexual offences was being unlawfully detained as no country had agreed to resettle him, so there was no real prospect he could be deported.

The ruling led to the release of several offenders, among them refugees and stateless people, who were similarly unlikely to be deported and faced indefinite detention.

Since the court’s ruling on Nov 8, four people who were freed have been charged with fresh offences, media reported.

The Labor government had to rush through the new laws on preventive detention following concerns about releasing violent offenders into the community as the opposition and government lawmakers clashed over the ramifications of the court ruling.

Along with preventive detention, the new law also allows the authorities to enforce targeted restrictions like curfews, electronic monitoring devices and strict visa conditions. REUTERS