Labor scrutinised after seeking to rush through ‘draconian’ immigration laws

Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell says it’s been an “extraordinary” week in Canberra as the federal government sought to rush through “draconian” immigration laws. The attempts at the legislation – which would have forced immigration detainees to go home – failed after the Opposition and Greens teamed up in the Senate to send the laws to a parliamentary inquiry. The Opposition claims the process was “too rushed” and “unintended consequences” needed to be scrutinised. “One of the extraordinary things about this is that the government feels it cannot say why it is acting so urgently because it doesn’t want to be seen as interfering with the High Court or affecting legal decisions,” Mr Clennell said. “Last week, the government expected the Opposition to support the legislation ... now the government believes the Opposition owns this detainee problem as well as them after it didn’t support the bill.”