Questions have been raised over which agency or law enforcement group is conducting drone surveillance on detainees released in the wake of a landmark High Court decision last year.
In November, the High Court made a snap call on the case of a detained Rohingya man known as NZYQ, ruling that . The ruling led to the government .
Under pressure to explain the decision by his departmental delegate to approve exemptions for a number of convicted criminals from being electronically monitored by ankle bracelets, Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said drones were being used in some cases.
In an interview with Kieran Gilbert on Sky News on Thursday, Giles said that law enforcement agencies released after the court ruled in favour of NZYQ.
“That’s enabled things like using drones to keep track of these people. We know where they are,” the minister said.
He was pressed to explain why more monitoring was not in place.
“There is so much being done for this cohort. Spot checks, random house checks, as well as the use of drones as I just touched on.”
SBS News has been told by a federal source, not authorised to comment publicly, that Border Force is not using drones for the surveillance of the group.
A spokesperson for the immigration minister has reconfirmed the veracity of the minister’s statement on the use of drones.
“The Minister’s comments were correct,” the brief statement from his office read. It did not name a responsible agency, and despite requests for information, more detail was not provided.
Operation AEGIS was set up in the wake of the High Court decision, including Border Force, Australian Federal Police (AFP), state and territory authorities and law enforcement.
The AFP has also told SBS it is not involved in surveillance activities.
A Border Force statement requested to explain the minister’s original comments was provided to SBS on Thursday but did not specifically reference drone technology.
“The Australian Border Force (ABF) does not comment on the specifics of its operational capability or that of its law enforcement partners,” the statement said.
“Under Operation AEGIS, ABF and Australian Federal Police are working closely with state and territory authorities and law enforcement to ensure community safety.”
“The use of surveillance technology by law enforcement agencies is governed by strict legislative requirements.”
The Human Rights Law Centre has told Nine Newspapers the use of drones would be “extraordinarily invasive”. The publication also quoted the Australian Strategic Policy Institute saying the use of that technology would be expensive and impractical.