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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Paul Karp Chief political correspondent

Labor to confiscate phones from non-citizens in immigration detention in new bill

The high-security main gate of Melbourne immigration detention centre in Broadmeadows
Labor’s prohibiting items in detention bill would allow drugs and mobile phones to be confiscated in immigration detention. Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images

Labor has introduced a bill that would allow drugs and mobile phones to be confiscated from non-citizens in immigration detention, despite opposing a phone ban when attempted by Peter Dutton in 2020.

The Albanese government is proposing greater safeguards than the Coalition’s attempts to ban phones, but the move has already outraged the Greens and legal advocates who warn it will make it harder to hold authorities accountable for conditions in detention.

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