NZYQ fiasco costs taxpayers more than $100m as number of former detainees released hits 291
The release of hundreds of former immigration detainees convicted of criminal offences such as murder and rape has cost taxpayers more than $100 million over the past 18 months.
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EXCLUSIVE
The release of hundreds of former immigration detainees convicted of criminal offences such as murder and rape has cost taxpayers more than $100 million over the past 18 months and almost one third of them have since been charged with new crimes.
Of the 291 detainees released, 90 have since been charged by state and territory authorities, including 17 that have resulted in new custodial sentences and five that resulted in a suspended sentence.
It comes after a senate estimates hearing was told taxpayers are separately paying the detainees a fortnightly “special benefits payment” of up to $1000.
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson accused the Albanese government of failing to use available powers to protect the wider community from the so-called NZYQ cohort.
“More than a year on they’ve failed to apply for a single preventative detention order to take high risk offenders off the streets,” he said.
“In that time 90 former detainees have been charged with new crimes against Australians, who are paying the price for Labor’s weakness.”
The Home Affairs department has spent more than $100 million on the NZYQ fiasco, including $73.7 million on operational costs, $24.3m on administration and $2.9m on government assistance including income support and healthcare assistance.
The overall cost to the taxpayer includes $18.6 million on lawyers and external counsel working on prevention and community orders, despite no applications for the orders yet being made at any court, the estimates hearing heard last week.
The Home Affairs department was unable to provide clarity on what comprised the operational costs before deadline.
Of the 291 detainees released into the community as of January 31, 14 had pre-existing convictions for murder or attempted murder.
About 90 have convictions for sexually based offences, including child sex abuse, but only a third are currently subject to electronic monitoring or a curfew.
And 133 have convictions for assault and violent offending, including armed robbery, 21 have convictions for drug offending and seven people have been done for people smuggling.
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.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said he did not want the freed detainees in Australia and said the greatest cost of the NZYQ fiasco was the impact on their victims.
“Some people have asked why they aren’t being treated the same way as Australian citizens who have done their time,” he said.
“There is a special kind of trust that we extend to anyone who is in this country on a visa, and they have broken that trust.
“That’s why I have changed the law to allow us to start resettling them in third countries.”
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. The deportation has been delayed after the Human Rights Law Centre filed a challenge in the High Court of Australia arguing that the decision to cancel the former detainee’s protection visa was made unlawfully. The government has agreed not to deport the man as the case continues.
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Originally published as NZYQ fiasco costs taxpayers more than $100m as number of former detainees released hits 291
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