Refugee policy under the 2014-15 Budget

The 2014-15 budget sees a greater emphasis on the deterrence, interception and removal of asylum seekers. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service will progressively merge by July 2015, and this new Department of Immigration and Border Protection will include the Australian Border Force, to be responsible for operational border, compliance and detention functions. As part of its efforts to deter asylum seekers attempting to reach Australia by boat, the Abbott government will donate two retired Bay Class vessels to Malaysia, will deploy Customs and Border Protection officials in Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, and will direct $86.8m from this financial year for three years to Indonesia as a means of aiding the management of asylum seekers within that country. Health services and infrastructure at the Christmas Island detention centre will be upgraded in order to transfer asylum seekers to offshore detention facilities within 48 hours of their arrival.

As announced by the Minister on 13 May 2014, the 2014-15 humanitarian programme will be set at 13,750 places. Of these, 4,000 places will be set aside for the Special Humanitarian Programme, and 1000 for the Women at Risk programme.

From 1 July 2015, the Australian Government will amalgamate the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), Migration Review Tribunal and Refugee Review Tribunal, Social Security Appeals Tribunal and the Classification Review Board. Merits review of Freedom of Information (FOI) matters, currently undertaken by the Office of the Australian Information Commission (OAIC), will also be transferred to the AAT from 1 January 2015.
 
The budget also reduces the ability of asylum seekers to access legal services within Australia. As announced on 31 March 2014, asylum seekers who arrived without a valid visa and are in Australia will no longer be able to access the Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme. Those asylum seekers who have arrived with a valid visa will still be able to access this scheme during the primary stage of the application process.
 
The government will also spend $149.9m over five years to increase compliance and removal resources in relation to asylum seekers who arrived by boat and are in Australia.
 
In relation to detention centres, budget measures include the closure of nine detention facilities within Australia, including Curtin, Leonora and Inverbrackie. Of the remaining detention centres in Australia, states and territories will take over the provision of particular services, which may include health, education, corrections and policing. The government has also pledged to renegotiate contracts with service providers operating in offshore detention centres, which it states will save $77.5m over five years. This measure was recommended under the Report of the National Commission of Audit in 2014.
 
The budget allocates $2.6m for 2014-15 to enable school aged children detained on Christmas Island to access to full-time education through the local school system. The budget allocates additional funding over five years for torture and trauma services and employment services for asylum seekers on temporary visas, including a pilot skills readiness programme for several hundred asylum seekers on bridging visas, in exchange for ‘Mutual Obligation’ requirements such as Work for the Dole.
 
As the Centre has noted, the National Commission of Audit recently revealed that offshore processing costs the Australian taxpayer $400,000 per detainee, which is around 10 times higher than the cost of allowing an asylum seeker to live in the community while their claim is processed. At a time of fiscal restraint, this is an obvious policy area where expenditure could be slashed. Savings should not come from reducing the already limited health and legal services for asylum seekers, as planned under the 2014-2015 budget. These cuts will only exacerbate the already precarious circumstances of asylum seekers on bridging visas and in detention.

See further:

https://budget.gov.au/2014-15/content/bp2/html/bp2_expense-16.htm
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm214431.htm
https://www.ncoa.gov.au/report/docs/phase_one_report.pdf
http://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/commission-audit-report-details
https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/r/bud/2014-15-Budget.pdf