Senate Committee report on complementary protection recommends passage of Bill and urges further consultation

On 4 December 2013, the government introduced the Migration Amendment (Regaining Control over Australia’s Protection Obligations) Bill 2013 which seeks to repeal the complementary protection provisions in the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). The provisions implement Australian international human rights obligations by requiring decision-makers to consider whether a person making a protection claim, if returned, would face a real risk of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or arbitrary deprivation of life.
 
The Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law made a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee (written on behalf of 21 refugee law academics) on 6 December 2013. The submission explains why repealing complementary protection would be inconsistent with Australia’s international legal obligations and would create considerable bureaucratic inefficiencies.
 
On 18 March 2014, the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee recommended that the Bill repealing these laws be passed, but urged the Immigration Department to release drafts of the guides it intends to use as part of the new administrative assessment process of complementary protection claims, and to consult actively with stakeholders in finalizing them. There were dissenting reports by both the Labor and Green representatives on the Committee.

Professor Jane McAdam described this move as a retrograde step, which cannot ensure that Australia will comply with its non-refoulement obligations under international human rights law. She drew attention to the report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, tabled the same day, which concluded that the Bill was not compatible with the right to an effective remedy under international law, and that the amendments risked being inconsistent with Australia’s non-refoulement obligations.