Leading refugee and human rights advocates have slammed federal legislation they fear will erode the human rights of 80,000 migrant and refugee communities around the country.
A delegatation from groups including the Human Rights Law Centre, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), Refugee Council of Australia and Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS) travelled to Canberra to protest against the vote of three bills which form part to the Albanese government’s proposed changes to the Migration Act.
The package of bills includes an “entry ban” bill that gives Immigration Minister Tony Burke the power to ban people from countries designated as a “removal concern country.” It also facilitates ministerial powers to force co-operation by enforcing a jail sentence of up to five years.
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s deputy chief executive Jane Favero criticised the bills as “punitive and harmful,” saying that people seeking asylum, refugees and migrants are being used as “political footballs.”
Other bills in the package include giving the government extraordinary powers to deport people from offshore detention to unspecified third countries anywhere around the world, from where they could either be detained or further deported.
They would also allow the Immigration Minister to determine “prohibited” items such as mobile phones, expanding the basis for officers to conduct searches.
The legislation regarding phone ban was originally introduced to parliament by former Coalition Immigration Minister Peter Dutton in 2017, with a recent iteration being shot down by Labor themselves in 2020.
Nos Hosseini says that migrant and refugee communities are more than just statistics. Picture: Supplied
Iranian Women’s Association member Nos Hosseini said ignoring the plight of vulnerable refugee and migrant communities, particularly in light of many of their positive contributions to Australian society, would be a “betrayal of the core values of our nation.”
“How can our government say, on one hand, that places like Iran and Afghanistan are unsafe for Australians to travel to, yet be seeking powers to deport people back to where they came from?,” Ms Hosseini said.
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