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

The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, told Guardian Australia ‘I do not discuss legal advice received by the commonwealth’ when questioned about the high court ruling that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

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.”