Australia lacks ‘legitimate objective’ in fast-tracking Nauru deportations, Labor-led committee finds

Parliamentary committee warns international human rights obligations could be breached under new regime

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The Albanese government does not have a “legitimate objective” in denying fair hearings to those set to be deported to Nauru and could place Australia in breach of international human rights obligations, a Labor-chaired committee has found.

The joint human rights committee’s scrutiny of the law said the changes would “likely exacerbate the underlying human rights concerns” with the regime to off-load more than 350 NZYQ-affected noncitizens to Nauru as part of a $2.5bn deal.