Pedophile to be released from detention

A convicted pedophile will be released from the Villawood detention centre after a court overturned former immigration minister Scott Morrison's decision to cancel the man's visa.

The UK-born sex offender, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty in the Queensland District Court in 2013 to sexual offences committed against a young girl in his family.

He was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended after six months.

Under the Migration Act, Mr Morrison cancelled the man's visa in October 2014 on the grounds of his criminal record.

That decision has now been quashed by the Federal Court.

In a decision published online on Saturday, Justice John Logan found the former minister's use of discretion to be unreasonable.

While Mr Morrison's decision was not bizarre, he had taken a sledgehammer to crack a nut, Justice Logan wrote.

He found the man, an Australian resident of more than 50 years, to be a low risk to the community.

"To cancel (his) visa would cast him adrift in his advancing years in a foreign land," he wrote.

The ministry has been ordered to pay the man's costs.