Legal assistance for people facing community safety orders

The recent High Court case of NZYQ determined that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful in Australia. In response, the changes to the Criminal Code were passed to create new community safety orders (CSOs) to apply to people who would have previously been subject to indefinite immigration detention.

We are expanding eligibility under Guideline 10 to include provisions for funding of legal representation for people affected by the new community safety orders (CSOs).

CSOs can be sought in relation to people who have been determined to be non-citizens and have no real prospect of being removed from Australia in the reasonably foreseeable future, who have been convicted of certain violent or sexual offences (either in Australia or internationally), and are determined to pose an ‘unacceptable risk’ of committing another such offence in the future.

Contravening a condition of a CSO is a criminal offence, and a finding of guilt attracts a mandatory minimum sentence of imprisonment for one year.

It is our position that people facing CSO proceedings should be represented, and we are pleased that funding for grants of assistance has been made available by governments to enable this.

Our Handbook has been updated to reflect this change.