Tourists from at least five countries could be banned from traveling to Australia if tough new immigration laws proposed by the Labor Party are approved by Parliament.
The Albanese Government is rushing new legislation through Parliament this week in a bid to avoid another disastrous High Court ruling, after more than 140 asylum seekers, including murderers and rapists, were released into the community in the NZYQ case last November.
The proposed laws would give the Immigration Minister the power to flag countries that are not cooperating with Australia’s attempts to deport people to their country of origin.
This could result in citizens of Iran, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Russia and South Sudan being banned from traveling to Australia, even for a holiday, although some exceptions would apply.
The government fears that an upcoming High Court hearing, scheduled for April 17, could lead to the court further expanding its controversial NZYQ decision, resulting in up to 170 more detainees being released.
In a bid to avoid another disaster ahead of an immigration case at the High Court next month, Labor is rushing new legislation through parliament during the final session of the week before the hearing. Above is Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.
The new High Court case relates to an Iranian national known as ASF17, who refuses to return to Iran because, as a bisexual man, he could face the death penalty.
If he is successful in court, more detainees who refused to cooperate with his deportations would walk free with him.
Labour’s proposed laws would also introduce a jail sentence of up to five years for rejected asylum seekers who refuse to cooperate with their deportation.
Embattled Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said of the proposal: ‘What we are doing with this piece of legislation, this important piece of legislation, is filling a very significant legal gap.
‘(It) is a loophole in the law that a small group of people who have no basis to remain in Australia refuse to cooperate with efforts to effect their removal.
“It’s important to note that… these people are not refugees.”
The Greens and MPs have raised concerns about the proposed laws, meaning the government will be reliant on Coalition support.
A refugee expert, Sanmati Verma of the Human Rights Law Center, told the Australian Financial Review The laws would mean that all visas of nationals of a country, including tourist visas, could be considered invalid.
“It’s the Labor government’s version of the Trump travel ban, with modest exceptions,” Ms Verma said.
Hurry to pass the law
The legislation passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday, but came up for questioning in the Senate on Wednesday night.
The Coalition has yet to decide whether it will support the bill in the Senate. Opposition Immigration spokesman Dan Tehan told Radio National on Wednesday morning there would be “further discussions” before a decision was made.
‘There were some things outside of the hearing that still leave us with more questions we would like answered.
‘And once again, we are seeing a completely failed process on the part of the government. The question that was asked last night and very clearly was: what’s the rush? What is the need for these laws to be approved by the Senate today? We couldn’t get a clear answer on that.
‘It’s quite… extraordinary that you have legislation as important as this. And we have not heard from the Minister of Immigration or the Minister of the Interior, neither of them has stated it.
A leaked explanatory memo to the bill stated that changes were needed to “strengthen the integrity of the immigration system” by making it easier to deport immigrants.
The Government’s Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil came under fire this month after it was revealed she relied solely on verbal advice for the High Court’s previous ruling.
Opposition Home Affairs spokesman James Paterson said it was a “rushed repair job” to get the new legislation passed.
The government has been drafting legislation since Friday.
“The lack of cooperation with removal proceedings demonstrates a disregard for Australian law,” the memo says.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the Coalition had been given just over an hour’s notice that the Commonwealth intended to introduce the legislation to parliament on Tuesday.
This gives them about 36 hours to approve the legislation if it is to be done before the end of the session week, the last before the hearing in the Superior Court.
“Perhaps if it were in response to a genuine and urgent crisis it would be fine, but this is an extraordinary demand that we must make of Parliament, of all of us,” Senator Paterson said.
Greens leader Adam Bandt called the government’s approach extraordinary.
“Nothing has been put forward to justify us losing the usual rights that everyone in this parliament has to consider such important legislation,” he said.
Crossbench Warringah MP Zali Steggall said she was “deeply disappointed” that Labor was trying to pass legislation quickly without giving enough time to seriously consider the implications.
“Shame, shame on all members of the government for supporting…something that is deeply undemocratic,” he said.