The government is giving a new Ministerial Direction to the AAT on visa cases, telling it to make community safety paramount in considering appeals from non-citizens with serious criminal records.

A significant number of the former detainees have run foul of the law since their release. After the matter was reported, the ministers did a single interview each as they tried to dodge the spotlight.

The Home Affairs’ department has been a nest of trouble. There are very strong arguments for breaking it up. With an election just a year out perhaps the Prime Minister may want to freshening his team?

The government will take steps to reduce the number of student visas being used as work visas, while also shortening graduate visas and reducing the eligible age.

New preventative detention legislation will be brought into the Senate as an amendment. The changes will allow the preventative detention of those who are considered a terrorist risk.

The government will urgently legislate after the High Court on Tuesday outlined its reasons for its decision that indefinite immigration detention was unconstitutional.

The policy, to be released on Wednesday by O'Neil, who is Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Cyber Security, is also designed to enable victims to bounce back faster from attacks that can’t be prevented

The High Court isn’t usually front and centre in politics. But when it is, it can land unexpected punches that throw governments off balance.

The Nixon review has made 30 recommendations to improve Australia’s visa system. The government has pledged to act to improve compliance resources, in particular.

Pezzullo is a one-off in the today’s public service. He can perhaps be best understood by referring back to the so-called bureaucratic “mandarins” of decades ago.