The High Court has ruled locking people in immigration detention indefinitely is illegal in a decision that overturns a 20-year-old precedent and could lead to the release of dozens of stateless detainees.
The successful challenge was brought by a plaintiff with the pseudonym NZYQ – whose visa was cancelled because he was convicted of child sex offences – after his legal team argued it was unconstitutional for the Commonwealth to continue to hold a person when there was no prospect of leaving Australia.
At least 90 people currently in immigration detention could be released after this ruling.Credit: Shannon Morris
His barrister Craig Lenehan, SC, said his client was a Rohingyan man – a persecuted group in Myanmar – who was not a citizen of Myanmar “and he is unable to obtain that citizenship”.
“He is not a citizen of any other country and he has no travel document. He is a stateless person,” Lenehan told the court on Tuesda.
The man had been detained since he was paroled in 2018, and several attempts were made to deport him.