Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs has defended her recommendation that a refugee who killed his de facto wife should receive $350,000 in compensation for his detention.
Professor Triggs faced a tense Senate committee hearing on Friday, a month after enduring eight hours of questions from the same committee.
Coalition senators focused on Professor Triggs recommendation that West Papuan independence activist John Basikbasik be paid $350,000 compensation for his arbitrary detention by the Commonwealth.
When Professor Triggs' recommendation became public earlier this year, Prime Minister Tony Abbott branded it "extremely questionable" while former immigration minister Scott Morrison accused her of having a "no consequences" view of the world which threatened public safety.
Mr Basikbasik arrived in Australia from Indonesia in 1985 and was granted a protection visa in 1996. In 2000 he was charged with the manslaughter of his de facto wife and imprisoned for 7 years.
But Julie O'Brien, the commission's director of legal services, told the hearing there was no relationship between the recommendation for compensation and Mr Basikbasik's criminal history, because the recommended compensation was for the time he had been detained since serving his sentence for manslaughter.
Professor Triggs said the commission made its recommendations for compensation on the same principles used by the Federal Court. She said the recommendation was not binding on the government, but nor had it been appealed by the government.
Professor Triggs said Mr Basikbasik had been detained for 8 years without charge or trial, and there had been no proper assessment of whether Mr Basikbasik's human rights could be protected by placing him in a less restrictive form of supervision, while also protecting the Australian community.
LNP Senator Barry O'Sullivan asked whether if Mr Basikbasik was an "illegal immigrant," this was relevant to the commission's consideration of the case. Professor Triggs noted that because Mr Basikbasik was a refugee, he could not be returned to Indonesia.
Committee chairman and LNP Senator Ian Macdonald questioned Professor Triggs and her colleagues about what knowledge it had of Mr Basikbasik's violent history and the fact that he had fathered 14 children by 4 different women.
"In these committees we try to look after taxpayers' money," Senator Macdonald said.
West Australian Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds questioned "at what point do the human rights of Australians get taken into account in these cases."
