AUSTRALIA’S highest court ruled today that migrants can’t be forced by law to wear electronic tracking bracelets or to comply with curfews.

The ruling is a blow to the government, whose lawyers have unsuccessfully argued that laws imposing curfews and tracking technology are justified to protect the community.

Five of the seven High Court judges ruled that the tough restrictions placed on more than 100 migrants, usually because of their criminal records, were unconstitutional because the conditions amounted to punishment.