Parliament should reject a proposal to permanently ban individual refugees from Australia because it is excessive, could separate children from their family; and undermines basic human rights, says a Senate submission from the Kaldor Centre. It is incompatible with Australia’s obligations under international law.

The concerns are outlined in a joint submission to the Senate inquiry from the Kaldor Centre’s Director Jane McAdam, Deputy Director Guy S. Goodwin-Gill, Senior Research Associate Madeline Gleeson, Director of Melbourne Law School’s Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness Michelle Foster, and Challis Chair of International Law at Sydney University Ben Saul.

At issue is the Migration Legislation Amendment (Regional Processing Cohort) Bill 2019 [Provisions], which was introduced to Parliament in July. Gleeson is scheduled to appear on Thursday 22 August before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee reviewing the Bill. 

The lifetime ban on entering Australia would apply to anyone who entered Australia by boat without a visa after 19 July 2013, and was at least 18 years old when transferred to Nauru or Papua New Guinea (PNG) for ‘regional processing’. Refugees and asylum seekers currently in Nauru or PNG would be affected, as would many who have been transferred to Australia for critical medical care and others who have been resettled in the United States and Canada.

In the words of the submission, the bill serves no reasonably necessary policy goal, and it is ‘harsh, excessive, discriminatory and incompatible with Australia’s international obligations’.

The Minister already has power to determine who can and cannot be granted a visa, the joint submission notes. Even New Zealand citizens, who enjoy easier access to Australia than other nationals, can be excluded for health or safety risks.

The Bill risks separating families, and for those with family members already in Australia, a permanent ban would flagrantly violate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. ‘Australian law would entrench the division of families, which is already an issue of great concern, and could result in parents being permanently separated from their children,’ the submission says.

The proposed ban would be at odds with basic international human rights and refugee law, including the Refugee Convention which requires that people not be penalised for arriving ‘illegally’ when claiming asylum.  

Likewise, the Bill would further undermine efforts to build true regional cooperation on refugee protection and responsibility-sharing in the Asia-Pacific. The submission notes that already, ‘Australia’s suite of asylum policies – including mandatory detention, maritime interceptions, ‘push backs’, and offshore processing in Nauru and PNG – have done significant damage to its moral standing and relationships with its neighbours in the region on this issue.’ Australia’s current refugee policy has simply failed to deliver solutions.

‘Offshore processing in Nauru and PNG in its present form is cruel, inhuman and degrading, particularly for those targeted, but also for those called upon to administer the policy at the front end; it has no discernible future and should be brought to an end as soon as possible.

‘Responsibility for resolving this situation lies primarily with Australia, and an exit strategy should be fundamentally about linking people to appropriate durable solutions.’

Finally, the fact that the Minister’s ‘non-compellable, non-reviewable discretionary power’ to grant a visa is the only means of getting around the ban ‘is an affront to accountability in a democratic State committed to the rule of law’.

You can read the full submission here.

 You can visit the inquiry site here