Convicted murderer among three members of NZYQ cohort to be resettled in Nauru under deal struck by Labor | Australian immigration and asylum

Three members of the NZYQ cohort of non-citizens, including a convicted murderer, will be resettled in Nauru after the Albanese government struck a deal for an undisclosed sum.

The trio, who were among those released into the community in Australia after a landmark 2023 high court decision, were placed into immigration detention in preparation for their removal from Australia after being granted 30-year resettlement visas by Nauru on Saturday, the home affairs minster, Tony Burke, announced on Sunday.

All three had criminal histories, including one who had been convicted of murder, Burke said.

“When somebody has come and treated Australians in a way showing appalling character their visas do get cancelled, and when their visas are cancelled, they should leave,” Burke said in Canberra.

In November 2023, the high court ruled that immigration detention is unlawful where there is “no real prospect” of it becoming practical to deport the person “in the reasonably foreseeable future”.

The case had been brought by an individual known as NZYQ, a stateless Rohingya man from Myanmar, who faced the prospect of detention for life because no country had agreed to resettle him due to his criminal conviction for the rape of a 10-year-old boy while in Australia.

As a result of the ruling, more than 200 non-citizens were released from indefinite immigration detention into the community.

A regime imposing ankle bracelets and curfews on around 160 of those released was quashed by the high court later when it ruled a year later that the regulations were unlawful.

In response, the government passed new laws in November giving the Australian government the power to pay third countries to accept unlawful non-citizens on a removal pathway, allowing them to be re-detained if they refuse.

More details soon …