A committee featuring a trio of Labor senators has condemned the rush to pass Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s “Trump-style” immigration legislation.
The Senate Committee examining the bills has three Labor senators (Vice President Raff Ciccone, Tony Sheldon and Jess Walsh) along with two Liberal senators and one Green senator.
The group quietly tabled a report on Wednesday criticizing Labour’s proposed immigration amendment, which could prevent citizens from up to five countries from traveling to Australia, even as tourists.
But even the majority Labor committee warned: “It is not clear why such power is necessary.”
Senators have now demanded that Immigration Minister Andrew Giles explain the reasons for the legislation.
Among the group’s main concerns was the haste with which Labor hoped to push the bill through Parliament during the final week of sitting.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil have faced significant scrutiny since attempting to push through the bill.
Anthony Albanese’s bill has been compared to “Trump travel bans”
“Truncated parliamentary processes, by their nature, limit parliamentary scrutiny and debate,” the report warns.
“This is especially worrying in relation to bills that may seriously affect personal rights and freedoms.”
Under the proposed legislation, the Immigration Minister has extraordinary powers to ban tourists from a handful of countries that do not cooperate with Australia when their citizens are deported against their will.
The committee said they had “increased concerns” about the minister’s powers to remove legal non-citizens who have been granted visas in Australia.
The report found that these people could be left without “certainty or clarity about when a visa may be subject to a removal direction.”
Labor had hoped to get the legislation through both houses last week but ran into trouble when it became clear the Coalition would side with the Greens to delay it and subject it to closer scrutiny.
He will now undergo a Senate investigation with the expectation that he will return to the Senate the same week the Budget is adopted.
The committee’s report described the potential new laws as “clearly an important and rights-affecting issue” and noted that “it is not clear why such power is necessary.”
‘The committee notes that there have recently been a number of significant changes to the legislative framework for migration, and each of these cases has been quickly proposed and approved by Parliament outside the normal processes.
“These rapid changes prevent certainty in the law, which is worrying considering that the changes to this bill, as discussed in this post, may have a significant impact on the rights and freedoms of those affected.”
A trio of Labor senators sat on a committee that condemned the rush to pass “Trump-style” immigration legislation. Pictured: Jess Walsh
The Senate Committee tasked with examining the bills is made up of three Labor senators (Vice President Raff Ciccone, Tony Sheldon and Jess Walsh), as well as two Liberal senators and one Green senator.
The committee said that “legislation that may infringe upon personal rights and freedoms should be subject to a high level of parliamentary scrutiny.”
Mr Giles has been asked to “respond to the committee’s concerns”.
Countries that could be blacklisted if these laws are passed include Iran, Iraq, Russia, South Sudan and Zimbabwe.
These countries do not accept citizens who have been deported from Australia and the government hopes a travel ban will force them to back down.
The proposed travel ban comes as the government prepares for a High Court case on April 17, known as ASF17, which could further reignite controversy over its handling of immigration.
The government spent weeks under fire after the High Court decision in the NZYQ case last November freed 149 detainees, including criminals.
The applicant in this new case is an Iranian who refuses to cooperate with his deportation because he fears he will face the death penalty if he returns to Iran for being bisexual.
As things stand, there are up to 200 people in immigration detention who are in similar circumstances, and the government fears the High Court could order their release before Parliament approves the rule change.
Human rights lawyers have described it as “the pure definition of discrimination” and “Trumpian”, while others have questioned whether Labor would ever have supported the Coalition if the roles had been reversed.