Fourth detainee arrested after High Court indefinite detention ruling

A fourth detainee, released as a result of last month's landmark High Court decision, has been charged with a crime.

Four detainees have been arrested since the High Court ruling last month. Source: AAP

KEY POINTS:

• A fourth detainee released after a landmark High Court ruling has been arrested.
• Police allege he broke his curfew before stealing luggage at Melbourne Airport.
• The High Court ruled indefinite detention was illegal last month.

A fourth detainee released since the High Court ruled that indefinite detention was illegal has been arrested.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) allege the Sudanese-born man, 45, broke his strict curfew before stealing luggage at Melbourne Airport on Friday.

"The AFP arrested and charged the man earlier today after locating him at a Melbourne hotel," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

"It will be alleged the man breached conditions of his Commonwealth visa ... by failing to observe his residential curfew obligations. It is also alleged the man went to Melbourne Airport, where he stole luggage from a traveller who was asleep in the terminal."

He was expected to face Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

The development comes a day after Victoria Police said a 33-year-old registered sex offender, described as a "former ringleader of a child exploitation gang", had been charged with failing to comply with his reporting obligations and trespass.

Emran Dad is accused of contacting a child and not disclosing social media accounts.

Government says community safety 'paramount' as it rushes through laws

Applications are in the works to put some of the worst offenders recently released from immigration detention back behind bars after new preventative detention laws passed.

New legislation passed the parliament on Wednesday after former laws were struck out by the High Court as unconstitutional.

Four of the nearly 150 detainees released following the High Court ruling indefinite immigration detention was illegal have now been arrested and charged on separate incidents since leaving detention. Two are registered sex offenders.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles says the government is working through a list of the worst offenders. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said he had been in contact with state and territory ministers to ensure the necessary preparations to keep the community safe were underway.

Court applications had been drafted in anticipation of the laws passing.

"We've already begun working through the worst offenders," he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.

Layers of protection were being put in place to ensure Australians' safety, Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil added.

The new laws would be able to withstand a High Court challenge after previous ones were struck out, she assured the community.

"The safety of the Australian community is paramount to us," she said.

Neither minister confirmed how many people would be covered by the new laws or how many applications were in the works.

The detainees' offences were also kept secret, despite Giles previously telling parliament there were three murderers and several sex offenders among the cohort.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil (pictured with Immigration Minister Andrew Giles) says community safety is paramount. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch

The Opposition has chastised the government for not having legislation ready to implement as soon as the court's decision was handed down so offenders weren't released.

"You failed to get those preventative detention measures in place, which you could have done months ago, but instead, you blamed your department," Liberal senator Jane Hume told O'Neil.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said the debate on the laws was a race to the bottom as while "some of them have committed heinous crimes, many of them haven't".

* With additional reporting from the Australian Associated Press.