A group of 10 refugees assessed by ASIO as threats to national security have been freed to live in the Australian community after the agency quietly reversed its decision.

Some of the group had been held in immigration detention more than five years without having been charged with a crime under a system civil liberty advocates have slammed as "completely unsatisfactory".

Most of the men have been released since August from a detention centre in Melbourne's north, where the majority of the remaining 34 refugees given a negative assessment by ASIO are still being held.

Two others have also had their assessments overturned since August, but it is understood they have not been granted a visa for release yet.

New figures provided to Fairfax Media show an independent review by a former Federal Court judge has recommended the original ASIO assessment was "not appropriate" in seven cases. In five other cases the review has obtained new information, leading ASIO to change its assessment.

But ASIO has also made its own decisions to reverse its previous findings, gradually reducing the overall number of refugees with adverse assessments from a total of 54 in mid-2013. The group had numbered 44 in August 2014, the Immigration Department said.

ASIO has defended the assessments, saying they are based on "knowledge and information available at the time and in the context of the security environment", and can be reopened with new information.

NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Stephen Blanks said it was good ASIO had cases under review but the lack of transparency was "completely unsatisfactory".

"The public is entitled to know why these people are locked up, and why the security agency has changed its mind and decided they can be released into the community," Mr Blanks said.

"Locking people up is not something that should be done in secret."

The group, which includes two women held in Sydney's Villawood detention complex, are not permitted to know the detail of the ASIO findings against them or challenge the rulings in court.

The security agency does not request the refugees with adverse assessments be kept in detention - that decision is made by the immigration minister.

The government refuses to issue visas to refugees with adverse findings, but they cannot be returned home and no other country will accept them, effectively resulting in indefinite detention.

Attorney General George Brandis had threatened to scrap the review of the ASIO findings when in opposition, but decided last month to extend the role for two years.

The review, by former justice Margaret Stone, has upheld the ASIO assessments in 24 cases.

A spokesperson for ASIO said it had issued 12 revised assessments for refugees in immigration detention since August.

"ASIO reviews security assessments when new information becomes available," the spokesperson said.

"New information can relate to the individual or to external factors, including changes in the security environment."

New information could be obtained from the visa applicant, through investigative work, or from international or domestic partners, the spokesperson said.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/asio-reverses-finding-refugees-pose-a-threat-2015...

actually, nothing about the outcome shows ASIO got it wrong, only that they changed their mind.

But naturally the Greens are pro-terrorist.

____ wrote on Jan 11^th, 2015 at 2:15pm:



I know difficult concepts elude you but simply saying someone is not a threat does not implicitly make it so.

____ wrote on Jan 11^th, 2015 at 2:30pm:


seriously green_goose.  Go back to school and learn some basic literacy and numeracy.

longweekend58 wrote on Jan 11^th, 2015 at 2:27pm:


based on what? your say so? 

longweekend58 wrote on Jan 11^th, 2015 at 4:27pm:



Is that like religious belief in sky fairies.

There are obviously some doubts about these people.

Rocketanski wrote on Jan 11^th, 2015 at 5:46pm:


not according to JS who lives in a world where everything is black and white.