Peter Qasim
Australia's longest-serving immigration detainee, Peter Qasim, could soon be freed. Mr Qasim has spent almost seven years in detention and is now in a psychiatric hospital in Adelaide.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has invited another 50 long-term detainees to apply for the revised Removal Pending Bridging Visa - for detainees who cannot be returned to the countries they came from.
Senator Vanstone has confirmed Mr Qasim is one of them and he could be released within days.
"It depends on Mr Qasim accepting the visa and I assume it would depend on what arrangements he wants to make with his health advisers," she said.
"There's no delay in any of these. These are offers if they're accepted. Well there's health and character checks, so there's that delay, but we hope that won't take long," she said.
The Minister says she is very happy with the negotiations between the Prime Minister and a group of rebel backbenchers, leading to changes to immigration detention.
She says she cannot say exactly when changes to the Migration Act negotiated by Liberal backbenchers last week will come into effect.
But she says the bill will be drafted and introduced to the Parliament this week. The changes will mean families with children are released from detention and a speedier processing of all detainees.
Senator Vanstone says the legislation will be introduced as soon as possible. "This has got the highest priority for drafting that I've seen, but the detail needs to be just polished and put in before Parliament and then it's up to Parliament," she said.
It begs the question, what is the rationale for anyone in Peter Qasim's situation being in detention?
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