By Andrew Brown and Kat Wong in Canberra

LAWS imposing strict conditions such as ankle-tracking devices and curfews on criminals being released from indefinite immigration detention have passed the House of Representatives.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles introduced the laws on Thursday, following the High Court decision last week which found indefinite detention was unlawful.

The laws, which will apply to the more than 80 detainees released since the High Court decision, will see new visa conditions imposed.

The opposition had been pushing the government on the potential threat posed by criminals, including three murderers and a number of sex offenders, who were released into the community.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton supported the laws in the lower house, but said the measures were too little, too late from the government.

With the bill now heading to the Senate, Mr Giles said community safety was paramount.

“The government is working to ensure the individuals are managed appropriately under the relevant legal frameworks,” he told parliament.

“The Australian community reasonably expects that all non-citizens in Australia will obey Australia’s laws.”

The immigration minister said the measures such as electronic monitoring and curfews would not apply to all of the former detainees and assessments would be carried out to identify those at the greatest risk of reoffending.

“These measures are consistent with the legitimate objective of community safety and the rights and interests of the public,” Mr Giles said.

New visa requirements for the released detainees will force them to notify the government on a change of address, or any association with clubs or organisation or individuals involved in illegal activity.

Each breach of the new visa conditions would carry with it a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

The government indicated it was considering further safeguards to add to the new laws.

Mr Dutton said community safety was put at risk by the release of the detainees following the court’s decisions.

“This bill should have been drafted months ago, it’s inadequate in its current form,” he said.

“These are people who have committed serious offences and the likelihood of them reoffending is very, very high.”

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said the laws were urgently needed.

“People at the heart of this decision have committed horrible crimes, disgusting crimes, crimes that no one in this parliament surely would accept, that is why we kept them in detention,” she said.

“We are going as far as we can in order to manage the issues that are before us.”

Greens leader Adam Bandt said the opposition had scared the government into fast tracking the bill.

“(Peter Dutton) who has built his career on punishing refugees and dividing the community now is able to scare and spook Labor into rushing legislation through this parliament,” he said.

Mr Bandt, along with fellow party members Stephen Bates and Elizabeth Watson-Brown, were the only MPs to vote against the laws.

Refugee Legal executive director David Manne said the planned measures were disproportionate.

“Any new conditions must meet some basic tests: they must be necessary, they must be reasonably proportionate, they must not be punitive or deprive people unnecessarily of their liberty,” he told ABC Radio on Thursday.

“From what we’ve just heard, it sounds like it doesn’t pass the tests at all.”

The government seemed to be reacting to a whipped-up panic, Mr Manne added.

Many of those released after the court decision had already served their sentences and ordinarily would have been released into the community.

Instead, they had been funnelled straight into indefinite immigration detention.

The Australian Federal Police commissioner this week briefed his state and territory counterparts about the court’s decision and a joint operation with the Australian Border Force has been established to co-ordinate the release of the detainees.

The High Court is yet to release the reasoning for its decision.