The Australian government is rightly coming under fire after a recent, life-threatening assault apparently carried out by a member of the NZYQ cohort. The most recent incident, in which a 43-year-old former detainee was charged after a brutal attack, occurred on Sunday. The victim in the incident was a 62-year-old man who is currently hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. The unfortunate incident has rattled top level politicians and concerned Laotians alike. This has led to dire calls for short-term action to radically change the way we manage people in the NZYQ group.
The ruling in November 2023 by the High Court marked an extraordinary precedent. They rescinded a 20-year-old precedent that had permitted the open-ended internment of the NZYQ group. The implications of this decision, both legal and political, led to major shifts in the government’s treatment of detainees. The response from lawmakers, civil society, and the general public has been mixed. As of August, 335 people are living on NZYQ-related bridging visas. More than 33% of them have no monitoring conditions at all.
High Court Ruling Changes Landscape
The High Court’s decision has changed the legal landscape for the NZYQ cohort irrevocably. As of May 31, only 85 people from this pool of availability were actually on electronic monitoring and 46 had curfews. Most bridging visa holders remain free from any monitoring conditions, a situation that has left some officials concerned about community safety.
The government has tried so many times to address these safety concerns. The recent attack has re-ignited a conversation about whether those steps go far enough. The Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke, is already being criticized for failing to exclude or deport members of the NZYQ cohort. He has been given plenty of encouragement to make bold moves. The court’s recent rulings, seen as a repudiation of its earlier approach, have begun to recognize the threat these actors can pose to the public.
“What is Tony Burke doing? Why didn’t he exercise the preventative detention powers given to him by the parliament, and why is he being so passive in protecting the Australian community?” – Andrew Hastie
Calls for Immediate Action
Andrew Hastie, a leading critic of the Federal Government’s treatment of the NZYQ cohort, reacted to the assault with great immediacy. He called on the government to act now. Waiting to stop deportations or for a court to clarify the law will only create more innocent victims, he contends. These victims have typically been subject to violent crimes perpetrated by members of this population.
One scenario that the federal parliament definitely had not foreseen was hastie’s own. That’s why they rushed to introduce preventative detention powers 18 months ago. According to him, these powers should be used to stop the next attack from happening just like the one on Sunday.
“We can’t afford to wait, because we have just seen another innocent person [allegedly] brutally bashed by someone from the NZYQ cohort,” – Andrew Hastie
In the case of preventive detention, Burke has repeatedly challenged the lack of applications made by the Burke Office. A second strike His fellow Liberal MP, Dr.
“Tony Burke needs to explain to the Australian people why there hasn’t been a single application made … if they can’t deport them they need to exercise the powers the parliament vested in the minister to prevent this from happening,” – Andrew Hastie
Government’s Stance and Future Actions
The Biden Administration is still trying to steer through a tangled, thorny legal field made up of judicial decisions intercepting efforts to change immigration laws. In his address, Minister Burke recognized that recent legal decisions had created new precedents that threw a wrench into established policies, making things murky. He doubles down, claiming that people should immediately depart when their visa is revoked. At the same time, he admits that courts are constantly creating the rules governing how we should be applying these laws.
“The courts are setting the precedents right now on our laws,” – Tony Burke
Earlier in February, Burke pointed out that Nauru was home to three members of the NZYQ cohort. This step shows at least a bit of seriousness to address immigration issues. Critics argue that these steps are inadequate given the continued state of safety.
