The Refugee Coalition Action Australia has expressed disappointment at the decision of the Supreme Court in dismissing two applications that were filed by the Asylum Seekers in Manus.
The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed two enforcement of human rights applications, filed under section 57 of the Constitution because the applications were not signed by the Asylum Seekers as applicants but their lawyer, Ben Lomai upon their instructions.
Spokesman Ian Rintoul said the applications were dismissed on a very obscure technicality, on the basis that the applications were not signed by the individuals.
“So people (Asylum seekers) are going to be tremendously disappointed at this decision, their hopes in the law are not encouraged little bit by these kinds of technical decisions that we’ve seen today.
“There’s no question here of any question of law being decided, it’s purely technicalities. The bench was split 2-1, it wasn’t a unanimous decision by any means,” he said.
Rintoul said the substantial issues in the case remains and they will be put it before the court again.
“We will immediately begin the process of having the application signed by the individual who are still detained, if that’s what’s necessary to get justice on their ongoing detention.
“They were illegally and unlawfully brought from Australia to Manus Island and we will get those signatures and be back before the court as soon as we can,” he added.
He said the Namah decision indicated very clearly that their (Asylum seekers) human rights are being breached since people were unlawfully brought here in 2013, and that has not changed.
“People are going to be tremendously disappointed. The detainees have lost all hope associated with the law and justice according to the law,” Rintoul further added.
Lawyer Ben Lomai also said they will be going back to Manus to get individual detainees to sign the application before they can re-file it in the Supreme Court.