Australia has freed dozens of refugees after holding them in detention for years under a policy designed to deter people from seeking asylum in the nation, refugee advocates said yesterday.
More than 60 refugees were released over the past two days from hotels and detention centers in Brisbane, Sydney and Darwin, the Refugee Action Coalition and legal representatives said.
They were granted temporary visas after spending up to eight years in detention on Pacific islands before being transferred to Australia for medical treatment.
Canberra has sent anyone attempting to arrive in Australia by boat to Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, and Nauru, under a hardline approach that it says is designed to prevent people smuggling.
The group’s release comes after more than 60 refugees were freed in similar circumstances in December last year and January.
Australian Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton told local radio in January that it was “cheaper” for the refugees to be released into the community than to be held in detention.
Noeline Balasanthiran Harendran of Sydney West Legal and Migration said that the releases came after several refugees took court action against the Australian government challenging the validity of their detention.
“From our point of view, it’s because we’ve been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they’re being held with no purpose ... to hold people in detention you need to have a purpose,” she said.
Ian Rintoul of the Refugee Action Coalition urged the government to release about 75 other refugees still being held in Australia. More than 250 also remain in limbo in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
“They’ve got no idea why they’ve been left behind and no idea what the future holds,” Rintoul said.
The Australian Department of Home Affairs said government policy remained “steadfast” that the refugees “will not settle permanently in Australia.”
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