March 5, 2025
The release of hundreds of former immigration detainees convicted of offences such as murder and rape has cost taxpayers more than $100m over the past 18 months and almost one third of them have since been charged with new crimes.
About 82 of the 90 new charges have been finalised by state and territory authorities, including 17 that have resulted in new custodial sentences.
It comes after another 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 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 $100m on the NZYQ fiasco, including $73.7m on operational costs, $24.3m on administration and $2.9m on government assistance including income support and healthcare.
The overall cost to the taxpayer includes $18.6m 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 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 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 in 2023 that their indefinite detention was unlawful. The landmark ruling released hundreds of detainees into the community after the court ruled in favour of a stateless man who had raped a 10year-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.
"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," he said. "That's why I have changed the law to allow us to start resettling them in third countries."
