Forcing former detainees to wear ankle bracelets might be legally fraught as Australia looks to pay third countries to take those deemed a risk to community safety.
Immigration Minister Tony Burke has sought to work around a High Court ruling making it unlawful to put tracking devices on a cohort of released immigrants and subject them to curfews, tightening when the restrictions will apply.
Constitutional law expert Anne Twomey says the updated regulations are still vulnerable to a court challenge after the High Court previously struck out ministers applying punitive measures instead of the judiciary.
There was the possibility they could withstand such a challenge but "if you're asking yourself if they put in something (that) is clearly constitutionally valid, the answer is no", she said.
"They're a bit better, but they're still vulnerable to attack," Professor Twomey told AAP.
"Presumably they're putting off the issue until after the election and see what happens then."
That the minister took powers a court could impose and lowered the bar made the "alarm bells get louder", she said.
Under previous laws, the minister had to apply to a court and prove there was an "unacceptable" risk a person would commit an offence carrying a maximum seven-year prison sentence.
This drops to a "substantial" risk of committing an offence of more than five years under the new regulations, making it easier for the minister to impose restrictions than the court.
"To me, that seems to be the completely wrong way around," Prof Twomey said.
"If you're going to give the minister powers, it shouldn't be easier to use than the judges."
Of 215 immigration detainees released under a High Court ruling that invalidated indefinite detention, 143 were being monitored and 126 were subject to curfew as of mid-October.
Asked about constitutional experts' comments and if the updated regulations were a delaying tactic to keep restrictions while they're again challenged in court, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said "lawyers have a lot of opinions".
The immigration minister is also pushing to expand resettlement options in third countries by paying other nations to take members of the cohort, which would allow the Commonwealth to lock them back up when a deportation pathway appears.
Opening up a feasible option for their removal to a third country would circumvent the High Court's edict against indefinite detention, the federal government argues.
The regulations regarding ankle bracelets and curfews have been stamped by the governor-general, with the strengthened deportation laws introduced to the lower house.
They will need to clear the Senate in the final sitting fortnight at the end of November but can do so expeditiously with the support of the opposition, which has supported laws to crack down on the cohort in the past.
