Labor’s hopes of stopping the politically damaging fallout from a forthcoming High Court immigration appeal have been dashed by the other parties in the Senate, with the Coalition, Greens and crossbench combining to refer its proposed legislative fix to an inquiry.
The Migration Amendment (Removals and Other Measures) Bill passed the lower house on March 26, and needed to pass the Senate on Parliament’s last sitting day before the court ruling.
The government is under immense pressure following a High Court ruling in November that overturned indefinite detention and freed 152 immigration detainees.
Now another case, which will be heard on April 17, could see more released.
The current case relates to a bisexual Iranian man—referred to as ASF17—who claims he will be persecuted if returned to his country of origin.
He has refused to meet Iranian authorities to get travel documents, causing the Federal Court to rule that the Commonwealth is not obliged to release him, so instead, the Iranian has appealed to the High Court.
As part of his case, the Court will consider whether or not the government is allowed to continue to detain foreigners who do not cooperate with efforts to deport them back to their country of origin.
Concerned that the Court may rule such detentions illegal, the Albanese Labor government moved to give itself explicit power to do so, while at the same time creating a list of countries that do not accept their citizens being involuntarily returned—such as Iran, Iraq and South Sudan—and automatically blocking visa applications from those nations.
It would also give the Minister of Immigration the right to review the continued need for protection visas granted to immigrants.
Too Rushed, Says Opposition
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said it was difficult to support the immediate passage of the law without proper scrutiny, in case it had unintended consequences. Banning all visas from specific countries could lead to an increase in people trying to use people smugglers to illegally sail to Australia.“[The government] couldn’t explain how many people this would affect, they couldn’t explain what the consequences of this would be for any upcoming High Court cases, they couldn’t explain how or when they would use this legislation,” Senator Paterson said.
The Greens attacked the legislation for being “racist” and demonising asylum seekers.
“This is one of the many insidious ways power and privilege are wielded to perpetuate systems of oppression and marginalisation,” Senator Mehreen Faruqi said.
But Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen defended the Bill, saying there would still be numerous opportunities for a person to apply for asylum.
“We are talking about people who came to Australia, overstayed a visa or came under false pretences,” he told ABC News.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles told Parliament that those opposing the new laws were “undermining the integrity of our migration laws,” and said the Bill was in line with Australia’s human rights obligations.
