Little detail has been offered by the government on what the legislation will do.
The federal opposition was incensed at being offered a sudden briefing on the bill on Tuesday morning.
The federal government has been under sustained pressure over how it handled the release of almost 150 people from immigration detention following a landmark High Court ruling last year that indefinite detention for people with no prospect of deportation was unlawful.
“The Migration Amendment (Removals and Other Measures) Bill 2024 will further strengthen our immigration detention network by providing extra tools to deport individuals from Australia,” a government spokesperson said.
Detail on what those “extra tools” were were not forthcoming. The details may be under wraps until the bill is introduced to the house after midday on Tuesday.
Shadow Immigration Minister Dan Tehan linked the legislation to a looming High Court case brought by a refugee under the pseudonym ASF17.
He is an Iranian man refusing to cooperate with authorities trying to deport him to Iran, where he argues he will face persecution on the grounds of his sexuality.
If the High Court was to rule in his favour, allowing him to stay in the country, there are suggestions more immigration detainees in a similar situation could also be released into the community.
“This morning at 7:30, we were handed legislation by the government regarding the upcoming ASF17 court case,” Mr Tehan said.
“At 8:00, we were offered a 20-minute briefing on that legislation.
“Everything that this government does with regard to immigration detention is rushed, is chaotic, is botched and there is a complete and utter lack of transparency.”
When pressed by journalists about the details of the bill he was railing against, Mr Tehan argued it was up to the Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to answer questions about the specifics of the legislation.
Last week on the ABC’s RN Breakfast, cabinet minister Murray Watt appeared to foreshadow legislation was in the works to try to pre-empt the ASF17 case as he was being questioned about the potential ramifications of a High Court ruling.
“These people are simply refusing to move despite having been found to be not refugees,” he said on Tuesday.
“So our position on that is that if people have been found not to be refugees, they should return to their home country.
“And the legislation that we intend to introduce would make that crystal clear.”
A senior government source said shortly after that he had “misspoken”.
Last week, lawyers for another Iranian man sought to intervene in the ASF17 case, arguing he was in a similar situation.
The man known as Ned Kelly Emeralds, as well as by the pseudonym AZC20, is free from immigration detention.
He is also from Iran and fears persecution if he is deported back there.
Documents seen by the ABC show he is arguing his case would help the High Court form a broader view of the principle of the case.
“In developing any legal principle, the Court will have the benefit of the perspective of an interested third party whose factual circumstances bear both similarities to, and differences from, those of [ASF17],” the documents state. ABC NEWS