Asylum seekers waiting years to have protection applications approved could see that time drastically cut, with Labor’s national conference voting for a cap on processing times.
The 90-day rule would require the Department of Immigration to decide on protection applications within three months from the date of lodgement, potentially cutting a burgeoning backlog.
“It’s a great benchmark, and it gives a clear direction to officials as to how quickly they’ve got to get things done, and it’s a big step forward,” Labor for Refugees’ convenor Shane Prince told AAP.
He was unable to say whether a cap would be made retrospective to include asylum seekers in detention centres or divulge the stipulations of any legislation if passed.
Shannen Potter, vice president of Labor of Refugees, lambasted Australia’s long-held hardline position on asylum-seekers.
“The abuses ... undertaken by Peter Dutton and the previous coalition government are a stain on Australia’s human rights record,” she told hundreds of party faithful gathered in Brisbane on Friday.
In the last five years, there have been over 2000 instances of self-harm - actual and threatened - in Australian detention facilities, according to the United Nations.
The pro-refugee rights group that introduced the new language to inform future Labor policies also called for a comprehensive parliamentary inquiry into immigration detention.
Other conference amendments passed include abolishing Temporary Protection visas and Safe Haven Enterprise visas, which leave refugees “in an ongoing state of uncertainty”, in favour of more permanent pathways.
The Albanese government in February granted permanent residency to 19,000 asylum seekers on temporary protection visas, according to the Refugee Council of Australia.
But the council said it had left about 12,000 other refugees and asylum seekers rejected under the previous government’s fast-track process on bridging or expired visas.
Included in the group are more than 1000 refugees transferred from offshore detention camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea to Australia with no pathway towards permanent resettlement.
The ALP committed to providing not just work rights but also study rights to people while their protection claim is being processed and relaxing conditions for social welfare payments.
The amendments are couched as policy suggestions that inform the party’s stance and are not binding as new bills or laws.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s advocacy director Ogy Simic praised Labor’s commitments but pushed for the Albanese government to action them urgently.
