Albanese Government $408m NZYQ deal to face Senate probe

A secretive $408m deal to dump hundreds of criminals on Nauru will face a Senate inquiry after the Coalition joined the Greens in demanding a “quick” probe.

Home Affairs and Immigration Minister Tony Burke and Nauru’s president David Adeang inked a memorandum of understanding on Friday allowing Australia to send hundreds of the so-called NZYQ cohort to the tiny Pacific Island nation.

The MoU committed Australia to an upfront $408m payment, with a further $70m annually to cover ongoing resettlement costs.

Mr Burke’s trip was kept quiet and a statement was silently posted on the Home Affairs website rather than emailed to press, as normal.

Shadow cabinet secretary Andrew Wallace on Tuesday said the Coalition, which backs deporting the NZYQ cohort, thinks “it’s important on these sorts of things to have some degree of scrutiny on it”.

“I don’t think that’s unusual at all,” Mr Wallace told Sky News.

He added it would not materially delay deportations, depending on the findings of the inquiry.

“In the broader scheme of things, one evening Senate inquiry is unlikely to have a material impact on the length of someone’s day in Australia,” Mr Wallace said.

“The NZYQ cohort are people that we do not want in this country.

“We’ve seen assaults, we’ve even seen a murder perpetrated by one of these individuals or allegedly.

“So, you know, we don’t want those people on the streets or in Australia for a moment longer than is possible.”

The NZYQ cohort is a group of detainees who had their previous visas cancelled due to criminal convictions or other character issues.

They could not be deported because they were stateless, faced a real risk of harm in their home country or their home country would not accept them.

The High Court ruled in late 2023 that the cohort could not be held in detention indefinitely if there was no chance of them being deported, leaving them in immigration limbo.

Nearly 150 were swiftly released from detention and placed on a bridging visa with strict conditions, sparking public safety concerns as dozens of them held serious convictions, including murder, sexual assault and armed robbery.

There are around 350 in the cohort, or 2.9 per cent of Nauru’s entire population.

It is unclear how many will be resettled in the country.

Earlier last week, Mr Burke also introduced legislation stripping non-citizens facing deportation to third countries of the right to natural justice – a fair hearing for someone affected by a decision.