Nauru has agreed to Australia deporting three violent offenders including a murderer caught up in a landmark High Court case

The Albanese Government won’t say how much taxpayers will be asked to pay for the deal, as the Federal Election nears.

Australia has struck a secret deal with Nauru to deport a murderer and two other violent offenders on bridging visas who were unable to be removed from the country on character grounds.

The men were caught up with the High Court decision that forced the release of hundreds of people who were refused a visa, including a temporary protection visa as a refugee, and as such, are subject to removal.

The three men were part of the notorious NZYQ cohort that sparked the ruling on indefinite detention.

However, with valid visas to a third country, these individuals now have a real prospect of removal from Australia - meaning they are no longer affected by the High Court’s NZYQ ruling and have therefore been detained.

In a statement, the Albanese Government said it anticipates this arrangement with Nauru may be challenged in the Australian courts. “We are confident in the laws we put in place last year to protect community safety,’’ Mr Burke said.

“The NZYQ cohort consists of people who broke Australian laws and in doing so surrendered their rights to stay in Australia.”

It follows the government’s introduction of the Migration Amendment (Removal and Other Measures) Bill 2024 last year, which would have allowed the Minister to direct people – under the threat of imprisonment – to return to countries where they claim to have a fear of persecution and death.

Nauru Detention Centre Picture: © Republic of Nauru.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke made the bombshell announcement on Sunday amid predictions the Prime Minister could call an election within weeks.

“The Government of Nauru approached Australia while the legislation was in parliament, with an interest in forming an arrangement with Australia, where they would decide as a sovereign nation who they might want to issue a visa to,’’ Mr Burke said.

“Yesterday, Nauru issued 30-year visas for members of this cohort. All three people are people who have failed the character test

and as a result, were on what’s called a bridging visa, or a removal pending visa.

“Officers of the Australian Border Force have detained all three, and all three are now in immigration detention. They will be put on a plane and sent to Nauru as soon as arrangements are able to be made.”

Mr Burke said that it would not be within the next seven days, but it would be as soon as possible.

“I send a reminder that when people commit a crime, generally those crimes are dealt with by state enforcement, and the punishment for the crime is the criminal penalty that goes forward,’’ he said.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed the deportation but refused to disclose the financial details of the agreement with Nauru. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“Separate to that, in running an immigration system, we have to have a character test, and we have to decide whether it’s reasonable for someone to have a visa in Australia, as Australia’s Immigration Minister, I don’t have unlimited places for people, and there are many good people who want to come to Australia who don’t get visas.

“When somebody has come and treated Australians in a way that is show an appalling character, their visas do get cancelled and when their visas are cancelled, they should leave.”

But Mr Burke refused to reveal how much Australia was paying Nauru to take the criminals off Australia’s hands.

“I am very grateful to the Government of Nauru that we are in a situation now where three people who were previously in the situation had seemed intractable and are now on a pathway to leave Australia,’’ he said.

“What distinguishes these three cases is that they are the three that Nauru has chosen to issue visas to.

“We need to remember Nauru is a sovereign nation, just as for Australia, the Immigration Minister of the day, you know me, makes decisions about the laws that determine who gets visas to come

here.

The Island of Nauru. The deal follows a High Court ruling that led to the release of many detainees and new migration laws allowing forced removals. Picture: Bradley Hunter

“The government of Nauru determines who gets visas to go there. All three, though, are violent offenders. One is a murderer.”

“There’s an arrangement. There’s an arrangement with Nauru, as is the case, and has been the case for many, many years.

“We don’t go through the details of the costs involved with that. But let me just say this with respect to the cost. Yes, there’s a cost in reaching arrangements with third countries. There is also a cost in the high level of monitoring under Operation Agius that happens when these individuals are in the community here in Australia. There was also a cost when they were being held in detention.

“There was a cost before that when they were being held in prison. But no cost has been greater than the cost to the Australian community of their crimes.”

Speaking in Darwin, Liberal leader Peter Dutton accused the Labor Party of bungling the fallout from the High Court case.

“Well, when we came into government, as you know, we had a Labor mess at that time on our borders and that hasn’t gone away,’’ he said.

“So we’re happy to have a look at arrangements that the government has put in place. I do note that in relation to other matters in that space around migration and population, the government has announced that they are going to pick up our policy of stopping foreign nationals from buying homes and competing against Australians to buy homes. 

“Now, the Prime Minister could have done this two years or three years ago, but instead he was prioritising the voice. And if it was so good and the Prime Minister actually believed in it, why wasn’t it legislated in the last fortnight in Parliament? See, what the Prime Minister will do now is he’ll promise the things that he thinks Australians want to hear. But when he gets into government, if he’s returned, it can only be in a minority form with the Greens. And in that case, this bill will never see the light of day.”