ASIO's power to have refugees it judges to be security risks indefinitely detained would be curbed under a new Australian Greens bill.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says she will give notice on Monday of a bill to amend the ASIO Act and "restore procedural fairness" to security assessments.
The bill was aimed at helping about 60 refugee men, women and children currently detained due to adverse security assessments, she said.
"Australian immigration authorities have locked these fragile people up, potentially forever, and won't say why ASIO has made adverse security assessments against them," Senator Hanson-Young said.
The move comes as the High Court is due to begin hearing a challenge brought by one of those detained refugees against his detention.
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The refugee, known as M47, has been deemed a refugee needing protection but has also been assessed by ASIO as posing a direct or indirect risk to national security.
He cannot be sent back to Sri Lanka and remains in indefinite detention until a safe third country can be found.
The Greens' bill would allow refugees to read and respond to ASIO's statement of reasons for the assessment and allow the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to review ASIO's decisions. It would also require periodic six-month reviews of ASIO assessments.
