NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs & Anor [2023] HCA 37 High Court of Australia Gageler CJ, Gordon, Edelman, Steward, Gleeson, Jagot & Beech-Jones JJ Constitutional law - plaintiff refused protection visa following criminal convictions - s189(1) and s196(1) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) required his detention until removal from Australia - he was stateless, with no real prospect of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future - orders earlier made by Court - reasons now given - Lim v Minister (1992) 176 CLR 1 established that laws requiring detention of unlawful non-citizens are valid if limited to what is reasonably capable of being seen as necessary for the purposes of deportation or to enable an application for a visa to be made and considered - in Al-Kateb v Godwin (2004) 219 CLR 562, the High Court upheld s189(1) and s196(1) as applied to a person in the position of the plaintiff - plaintiff given leave to re-open the constitutional holding in Al-Kateb - consistency with Lim requires detention be limited to what is reasonably capable of being seen to be necessary for a purpose which is reasonably capable of being achieved - Lim requires the purpose of detention to be something distinct from detention itself - s189(1) and s196(1) are beyond the legislative power of the Commonwealth in their application to the plaintiff - plaintiff's detention unlawful. NZYQ

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