Govt to assess ASIO decision implications

5 Oct 2012, 8:01 pm   -   Source: AAP

The federal government is assessing the implications of a High Court ruling that asylum seekers found to be a security risk may still be granted refugee visas.

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A High Court ruling that found an asylum seeker deemed a security risk could still be granted a refugee visa does not necessarily mean more than 50 cases must be reassessed, the federal government says.

But the court is likely to hear a raft of cases that have been on hold pending this decision, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon says.

Ms Roxon said the judgment on Friday confirmed the "procedural fairness" of an assessment process conducted by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in the case of a Sri Lankan man identified only as M47.

But the High Court found a related regulation under the Migration Act to be invalid and that M47's application for a protection visa needed to be reconsidered.

The decision has important implications for about 50 asylum seekers, most of whom are Sri Lankans, who were given adverse ASIO security assessments and who remain in indefinite detention.

They can't be sent back to their home country and neither can they go to any third country.

Ms Roxon says the ruling means M47 will have his case reassessed as he remains in detention but it doesn't necessarily mean that for the other 50 cases.

"The consequences for others will depend on circumstances for each of those and ... the government is carefully considering, and will quickly consider, implications for the 50 or so people that are in similar circumstances," she told ABC TV on Friday.

Ms Roxon acknowledged the High Court decision did not consider the question of indefinite detention.

"But we do know that there were other cases that were put on hold while this one was being dealt with (and they) will no doubt be heard by the High Court at some point in the future, and the government will put its arguments in that case."

She said the government was considering the court's reasons and their potential impact on plans to implement a review process for refugees stuck in immigration detention because of adverse security assessments.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the High Court ruling meant the government had no power to keep known security risks out of the community.

The coalition was willing to work with the government to restore its power to decide such cases, he said.

M47, a former member of the Tamil Tigers, arrived in Australia in 2009 and has been in immigration detention ever since.

He was deemed to have a well-founded fear of persecution in Sri Lanka and was therefore a refugee.

But a protection visa was refused after ASIO assessed him as a security risk.

The High Court found M47 was not denied procedural fairness because he was given the opportunity to address ASIO concerns.

But the judges said a section of Migration Regulations was inconsistent with the Migration Act, as it effectively placed the power to decide on a protection visa in the hands of an ASIO agent rather than with the minister or his delegate, as the legislation stipulated.

M47's lawyer David Manne said the ruling was a significant victory.

"Firstly, our client should be granted a refugee visa and freed from detention so he can rebuild his life in the community," he told reporters in Melbourne.

"We also call on the government to also do the same ... to the other 50 refugees in a similar predicament so that they too are granted a refugee visa and granted their freedom instead of being left in limbo."

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said she would introduce a private member's bill in the Senate on Wednesday to establish a review mechanism for adverse ASIO assessments.

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