Visa deal with Nauru to boot detainees from Australia

Three violent crooks are set to be deported from Australia after being given long-term visas by Nauru in a deal with the Albanese government.

The Nauruans approached the Australian federal government with a proposal to take on the responsibility of housing a group of immigration detainees, referred to as the NZYQ cohort, that were previously being held in Australia.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed 30-year visas have been issued to three members of the group who he said hadn’t met the “character test” requirements.

The trio were taken into immigration detention after Nauru’s intervention led to the cancellation of their bridging visas.

All three are serious violent offenders, with one having been convicted of murder.

“They’ll be put on a plane and sent to Nauru as soon as we can sort out the necessary arrangements,” Mr Burke said to the media in Canberra on Sunday.

That won’t be possible within the next week.

Powers were granted in December for the minister to pay other countries to accept people from immigration detention.

The laws that gave the government that power were introduced in response to the High Court forcing the release of around 200 asylum seekers from immigration detention, after it ruled that indefinite detention was against the law.

Their release caused a political headache for Labor after the coalition seized on claims of reoffending to attack the government for not doing enough to keep them behind bars following the court’s decision.

Mr Burke claimed the trio weren’t being held indefinitely and said their pending deportation was likely to be legally contested.

“They haven’t released anything yet,” Mr Burke said.

When I make any decision, I assume there’ll be a case taken to court.

Mr Burke, who’s just got back from Timor-Leste, reckons more of the NZYQ mob could do the same thing, but it’d be entirely up to Nauru.

“The three visas that Naura has described are the first three and that’s how they should be looked at,” Mr Burke said.

On this particular arrangement, the only country that has joined us is Nauru … and Nauru wasn’t even mentioned in discussions with Timor-Leste.

He declined to reveal the cost to Australian taxpayers of Nauru taking in the three asylum seekers, but noted that there was also a cost associated with the detainees remaining.

“There’s also a cost associated with the high level of surveillance involved in Operation AEGIS,” Mr Burke.

There was also a cost when they were being held in detention, and there was a cost beforehand when they were being held in the slam.

But no cost has been more significant than the cost to the Australian community because of their crimes.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton had a go at Labor’s track record on immigration, saying the coalition would be looking at another “mess” at the border if it got back into power after the election.

“We’re happy to take a gander at the arrangements that the government’s set up,” he said in Darwin.