The Labor government’s manoeuvre underscores how far it is prepared to go, hand-in-hand with the Liberal-National Coalition, to override even the limited protections in the Australian Constitution against arbitrary detention by executive decree.
The Queensland turmoil has laid bare the reality that the ruling class and its political servants in the Labor governments could not survive without the union bureaucrats who pull the strings behind the scenes, no less committed to the capitalist and militarist agenda.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil condemned the seven judges for unanimously ordering the release of nearly 150 immigration detainees who had been incarcerated illegally for years.
Three legal challenges show the human face of the released detainees, who have been demonised by the government, the Coalition and the media, as well as the unconstitutional nature of the legislation.