A monumental bungle has allowed 10 detainees who allegedly breached visa conditions to walk free.
The cohort were among 149 criminal non-citizens released back into the community following the landmark and controversial NZYQ ruling by Australia’s highest court last year.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Major visa bungle allows detainees to walk free.
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On Tuesday, 7NEWS revealed that the Federal Government had issued invalid visas to them after the ruling, effectively releasing them illegally.
Charges against 10 of the released detainees who’d allegedly breached their visa conditions since, now must be withdrawn and the cases against them dropped.
Two asylum seekers currently being held on remand will be released from prison.
7NEWS revealed Department of Home Affairs lawyers only discovered a “technical inconsistency” in the original laws passed by the Abbott Government in recent days.
It renders the amended laws, passed by the parliament in November, invalid.
The legal inconsistencies with the visas have been closed by ministerial regulation and all 149 visas are being reissued, subjecting the released detainees to the same tough regime of ankle bracelets, monitoring and curfews.
Immigration minister Andrew Giles said the government had moved quickly to fix the major flaw.
“In the last few days it became apparent that there had been an error in relation to this visa category, one that goes back a decade,” he said.
“It’s something we’ve moved immediately to fix, being a technical legal issue.
“We are in the process of completing the finalisation of granting new visas which deals with this technical issue to ensure that our focus on community safety has not been compromised.”
Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley said: “It’s up to the prime minister to give a full explanation tonight of the circumstances that have led to this.”
The legal blunder won’t impact the cases of the eight released detainees who have been charged with re-offending under state criminal laws.