A Supreme Court judge in Nauru has declared legislation passed earlier this month 'null and void'.

Justice Geof Muecke was ruling on a request from the group known as the "Nauru 19" who had requested government assistance with their legal costs.

Photo: supplied/ Shane Bazzi

The group is facing trial for alleged offences during an anti government protest more than three years ago.

Mr Muecke ruled the Nauru government pay $US166,606 dollars to the team of Australian lawyers who have been representing the Nauru group mostly pro bono since 2016.

He has given the government until this Friday to make the payment.

The judge has declared that the Civil Procedures Amendment 2018, passed earlier this month is unconstitutional.

He said the legislation, introduced and passed after he had been asked by the Nauru 19 to make the ruling, aimed to severely limit the opportunities for people facing criminal prosecution to obtain representation and funding.

The Act allowed for maximum legal fees payable per case to $US2,231.

He said the rule of law includes the fact that the community must respect all its individuals as good and law-abiding, unless the contrary is proved, and proved to a high standard. </s> The Federal Government has agreed to pay compensation of $70 million to 1,905 asylum seekers who alleged they endured physical and psychological harm on Manus Island between 2012 and 2016.

The group alleged the Commonwealth breached its duty of care by holding them in conditions that did not meet Australian standards.

During the period of their incarceration there was also a riot that resulted in the death of an asylum seeker and serious injuries to other detainees.

They also claimed they were falsely imprisoned after Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court ruled their detention was illegal.

A Victorian Supreme Court trial against the Commonwealth and security companies Transfield and G4S, which had been delayed for several months, was due to start today and had been expected to run for six months.

When it began, legal representatives for the plaintiff told the court it had reached an agreement to settle the case.

The in-principle agreement, subject to court approval, will include payment of plaintiffs' legal costs, which to date are more than $20 million.

Slater and Gordon lawyer Rory Walsh said the settlement agreement was not an admission of liability from the Government.

"It denied it was doing the false imprisoning ... the Commonwealth defence was that it was the PNG authorities doing the imprisoning and detaining and not them.

"The denial of liability allows the Commonwealth and the defendants to run those positions in any other cases and maintain that position, the extent to which this $70 million settlement undermines the ability for them to do that or whether indeed it passes the pub test, is a matter for others to comment upon.

"We just ran it as a legal case."

Lawyer Andrew Baker, also from Slater and Gordon, said if the settlement was approved, individual amounts of compensation would be decided based on the asylum seekers' experience.

"Individual settlement amounts will be calculated fairly, objectively and individually with regard to the length of each person's detention, the events and conditions they have experienced and been present for and the severity of injuries each person has suffered," he said.

"This settlement is an important step towards recognising the extremely hostile conditions the detainees endured at Manus Island.

"Fleeing religious persecution and violence and they came to Australia seeking protection but rather than considering their cases on shore, the Government sent this vulnerable group of people to be held on Manus Island indefinitely."

'We are finally being heard'

The class action was led by 35-year-old Iranian man Majid Karami Kamasaee, who was detained on Manus Island for 11 months from September 2013, and remains in a Melbourne detention centre.

Mr Kamasaee claimed he was persecuted by Iranian authorities for converting to Christianity, and that he had to flee the country under threat of being jailed for his religious beliefs.

He attempted to reach Australia by boat from Indonesia but it was intercepted by the Navy and he was transferred to the offshore processing centre.

In a statement read by lawyer Ebony Birchall, Mr Kamasaee said the settlement agreement meant he and his friends still in detention were "finally being heard".

"Sadly many of my friends are still on Manus Island. It feels like they have been given life sentences.

"Our voices have never been listened to but today we are finally being heard and I hope everyone's suffering can be over as quickly as possible."

Law firm Slater and Gordon, which ran the class action, believed it to have been the largest immigration detention trial ever in Australia.
A judge in Nauru declares the Civil Procedures Amendment 2018 unconstitutional and strikes it down. The act restricted the ability of those facing prosecution to obtain legal representation. The court orders Nauru's government to pay Australian lawyers acting for those who brought the legal challenge.