Clare O’Neil claims NZYQ could have been deported. Almost all the facts say otherwise

Home affairs minister’s explanation of how Labor has handled the high court decision defies everything we know about the case

Over the weekend the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, reached for a new explanation for why the government appeared unprepared for the landmark high court ruling that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful.

“We were advised that it was likely that the commonwealth would win the case,” she told Sky News on Sunday. “We received that advice from the Department of Home Affairs, who tell us what chances we have of success and failure in each legal case.”

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The department “had not identified any viable options to remove the plaintiff from Australia”;

It had “never successfully removed a person, who has been convicted of an offence involving sexual offending against a child” except to a country of which they were a citizen; and

No country has an established practice of resettling such a person.