NZYQ fiasco: 219 former detainees, criminals receive ‘special benefits payments’ courtesy of taxpayer

Australian taxpayers are paying more than 200 former immigration detainees - including murderers, rapists and pedophiles - a fortnightly cash payment of up to $1000.

Australian taxpayers are paying more than 200 former immigration detainees - including murderers, rapists and pedophiles - a fortnightly cash payment of up to $1000.

And the number in the cohort receiving the “special benefits payment” has increased from 186 to 219 since September last year.

This masthead can further reveal there are now 291 of the group - referred to as NZYQ after a High Court decision to release them two years ago - in the community, which is double the amount from April last year.

About 70 have to wear an electronic monitoring device and 42 are subject to a curfew.

Shadow government services minister Claire Chandler said the Albanese government was effectively now paying criminals.

“The NZYQ cohort are criminals including murderers, rapists and child sex offenders, yet now we find out that 219 of them are getting cash “special benefits payments” from the government,” said Senator Chandler.

“Not only has the Albanese Government failed to protect Australians from these criminals, they’ve been paying them in cash to be out in the community.”

The cash transfer from Services Australia ranges from $778 a fortnight for a single person with no children to $1007.50 for a single principal carer.

Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke. Picture: ABC NEWS

The so-called NZYQ cohort were convicted of serious criminal offences but released into the community after the High Court ruled their indefinite detention was unlawful in 2023.

The landmark ruling released hundreds of detainees into the community after the court ruled in favour of a stateless man who had raped a 10-year-old in Australia.

Last year a NZYQ member bashed an elderly couple in Perth and robbed them of $200,000 in personal items. Grandmother

In February, the Albanese government struck a deal with the Nauru government to resettle three NZYQ cohort members, including a convicted murderer, for an undisclosed sum. The deal was the first use of new laws passed in November that allow Australia to pay other countries to accept unlawful non-citizens.

At the time of the Nauru deal, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said people who had had their visas cancelled for appallingcharacter should leave Australia.

A Home Affairs department spokesperson said the government was working to identify removal options for each member of the NZYQ cohort.

“BVR holders are eligible for Special Benefit and matters regarding Special Benefit are a matter for Services Australia,” said the spokesperson.