Medevac detainees have been freed after years in Australia’s immigration detention system. Here’s why, and what may happen next

Refugee advocates say 46 people have been released from detention in a Melbourne hotel after more than a year in Australia under medevac laws.

They were brought to Australia for urgent medical care after spending years in Australia’s offshore processing facilities in Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island and Nauru.

But their release does not mark the end of what has been years in Australia’s immigration detention system.

Here’s what we know so far, and what still remains unanswered.

Why were they in a hotel to begin with?

The asylum seekers and refugees were flown into Australia from Manus and Nauru under the so-called Medevac laws, which gave doctors more power over whether refugees and asylum seekers should come to the country for medical…