The high court ruled in favour of NZYQ, a stateless Rohingya man, who faced the prospect of detention for life because no country had agreed to resettle him, due to a criminal conviction for sexual intercourse with a 10-year-old minor.

The high court declared that because NZYQ had been detained when there was “no real prospect of his removal from Australia becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future” his detention was unlawful.

Earlier, the solicitor general, Stephen Donaghue, warned that such a ruling would trigger “undefendable” compensation claims and the release of “undesirable” people into the community.

Donaghue submitted that the four justices in the majority of Al-Kateb were aware of the “harsh” possibility of lengthy detention, including for stateless persons who cannot be deported.

Several judges quibbled with Donaghue’s emphasis on NZYQ’s conviction, with Justice Robert Beech-Jones suggesting the constitutional argument has “nothing to do” with the sexual assault.

Donaghue urged the court not to “radically disturb” the legal architecture, noting that the Migration Act requires detention of aliens pending deportation.

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