Sisters terrified stepfather Tony Kellisar who murdered their mother and dumped her in a vat of acid will be freed after High Court decision and come looking for them

Two Australian sisters are terrified their stepfather, who murdered their mother when they were children, will track them down after a High Court ruling paved the way for his release.

Serrah and Bianca Katz fear their stepfather Tony Kellisar holds a grudge against them after he was jailed by Victoria's Supreme Court for 22 years for the 1997 murder of their mother Svetlana Podgoyestsky. 

He completed his sentence in 2021 but has since been held in immigration detention while he fights the cancellation of his refugee visa, granted when he arrived in the country in 1990 from Iran on a fake Canadian passport. 

But Kellisar could soon be on the streets after the High Court ruled this month that criminals who have had their visas cancelled but are unable to leave, because no other countries were willing to resettle them, cannot be held in indefinite detention.

'I don't feel safe. I don't think my family is safe,' Bianca told The Saturday Telegraph this week.

'Growing up without your mum was awful, but what was worse was having in the back of your mind one day he would be released.'

The two sisters explain their concerns are grounded in the fact that Kellisar had been aggressive towards them as children. 

'He was violent with me and my sister, more so me because I was older. I just grew up in fear and that has never left,' Serrah said.

Kellisar had met Ms Podgoyestsky at a Sydney nightclub shortly after arriving in the country.

Following a brief romance the two were married but the relationship quickly descended into bickering and jealousy owing to their very different backgrounds. 

During the police investigation friends described Ms Podgoyestsky, who was working as a travel agent, as carefree.

Kellisar, by contrast, had been a soldier in Iran during a regime in which woman were considered second-class citizens. 

Their fighting reached a grim end when Kellisar followed Ms Podgoyestsky to Melbourne, where she was attending a three-day work conference, and murdered her.

He then drove with her body back to Sydney where he attempted to dissolve it in a wheelie bin using acid. 

The two sisters say that since he has been released into immigration detention, they have been given zero information by the government despite emailing the Department of Home Affairs. 

They say they have been left feeling distressed and as though they have to relive the ordeal and have questioned why the government 'is not protecting' them.

They did not even know if their stepfather was already in the community following the High Court's ruling until the publication confirmed to them he was not one of the 84 criminals already released. 

Emergency laws were passed this week by the government including electronic ankle monitoring and curfews, in addition to mandatory minimum jail terms for people who breach their conditions.

Some former detainees will also be barred from being within 150 metres of a school or daycare centre, while no-contact conditions can be placed on the visas of those who have been convicted of sexual assault or violence offences.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said the safety of the community remained the highest priority.

'From the moment the High Court handed down its decision we have been implementing measures to keep the community safe,' he told parliament.

The High Court has not released the reasoning behind its decision to overturn a 20-year precedent.

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said the laws were a good first step following the High Court decision.

'We've taken some significant steps to keep the community safe. We still think there is further steps that need to be taken, but that's a debate now for another day,' he said.

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said the government agreed with the amendments in principle.

'The basis on which we are doing this is because we are in a position where this must be resolved immediately,' he told parliament.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young criticised the amendments as an 'absolute disgrace', in addition to being an attack on democracy and the rule of law.

'I know there are members of the Labor Party who are hanging their heads in shame,' she said.