Immigration Minister Scott Morrison is relieved the High Court has upheld the federal government's power to impose mandatory prison terms for convicted people smugglers.
On Friday the High Court handed down a ruling upholding the validity of the mandatory terms.
The case, brought by a crew member of a boat which carried 52 asylum seekers to Australia in 2010, was seen as a test case for mandatory sentencing.
The court, by a majority, ruled the imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence was not inconsistent with the institutional integrity of the courts and didn't involve the imposition of an arbitrary sentence.
The court ruled the mandatory sentencing provision in the Migration Act was lawful, saying it was not beyond the legislative power of the Commonwealth parliament and did not confer judicial power on prosecuting authorities.
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Bonan Darius Magaming had appealed his five-year imprisonment, the mandatory minimum sentence, after being convicted of an aggravated form of people smuggling.
He argued that in circumstances where prosecuting authorities could choose between a charge that carried a mandatory minimum sentence and one that did not, they wrongly exercised judicial power.
The court held that although prosecuting authorities had a choice, it did not involve an exercise of judicial power or confer an ability to determine the punishment to be imposed for the same conduct.
Mr Morrison said on Friday that the federal coalition government welcomed the ruling.
"If people seek to break those laws then they can expect to suffer the consequences of those penalties," he told reporters in Sydney.
Australian Greens leader Christine Milne said her party did not support mandatory sentencing across the board.
"We think courts should have the discretion," she told reporters in Hobart.
"What the High Court has done is said that it is not beyond the Commonwealth's power to legislate for mandatory sentencing.
She said the High Court had not made a judgment about whether the law was right or wrong, it had made a judgment about the extent of Commonwealth power.
Human Rights Law Centre spokesman Daniel Webb said international human rights law required that the punishment fit the crime.
"Mandatory minimum sentences for young cooks and deckhands from impoverished fishing villages won't stop people smuggling. These kids are not the ringleaders," Mr Webb told AAP.
