Onshore asylum policies and legal processes
Contents
- (Page 85) Under the Refugee Convention, people seeking asylum have the right to seek protection and asylum. Labor will continue to show global leadership and increase Australia’s humanitarian refugee intake and we will treat people seeking our protection with dignity and compassion in accordance with our international obligations, the rule of law and the principles of fairness. Labor believes as a nation we must not harm people seeking refuge.
- (Page 119) Labor will deal with the complex issue of those seeking Australia’s protection by giving expression to the values of compassion, justice, human rights, fairness and generosity. These are values which are at the heart of the Australian identity.
- Labor will treat people seeking our protection with dignity and compassion and in accordance with our international obligations, the rule of law and core Australian principles of fairness and humanity. Labor will legislate to enshrine our international obligations into Australian domestic law.
- Under the Refugee Convention, asylum seekers have the right to seek protection and asylum and, regardless of the mode of arrival, this is not illegal under Australian or international law. Accordingly, Labor rejects the practice of referring to asylum seekers as ‘illegals’.
- Australia must not harm people seeking refuge.
- Family reunion for migrants and refugees is important to successful settlement.
- The issue of those seeking protection is both a global and regional one. Accordingly, in order to achieve a long-term resolution to the issue, it must be dealt with through international cooperation and not unilateral action. Within our region, Australia must play a leadership role. Recognising the value of a bipartisan approach in this policy area in the past, Labor will work towards a bipartisan approach once again.
- A fundamental principle in treating those seeking protection with humanity is to provide as much certainty as possible. An aspiration of certainty in all matters around asylum seekers, including the duration of assessing refugees’ claims, must underpin Australian policy.
- (Page 123) Those found to be owed Australia’s protection under the Refugee Convention, Complimentary Protection or and other international instruments will be given permanent protection under the Migration Act 1958
- Those not found to be owed Australia’s protection under the Refugee Convention, Complimentary Protection or and other international instruments will be promptly returned only after any relevant legal avenues have been exhausted.
- Labor supports the existing definition of ‘serious harm’ and ‘persecution’ including the current risk threshold of the ‘real chance test’.
- Temporary Protection Visas place refugees in an ongoing State of uncertainty and prevent meaningful settlement, creating hardship for refugees and denying Australia the benefit of their contribution.
- Labor will abolish Temporary Protection Visas and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas and transition eligible refugees onto permanent visa arrangements.
- Labor believes protection claims made in Australia should be assessed and reviewed on the individual merits with procedural fairness ensuring our international human rights obligations are met. Accordingly:
- The assessment and review of protection claims will be underpinned by robust, efficient and transparent processes that ensure fair and consistent outcomes, including access to review and independent advice;
- The assessment and review of protection claims of specific lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer asylum seekers will be underpinned by appropriate and relevant assessment tools and processes that reflect cultural experiences of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer community;
- The assessment and review of protection claims must be independent and free from any political or diplomatic interference;
- The processing of protection claims must be streamlined to enhance the quality of decision making, to provide more efficient pathways for prompt resolution of visa status and to alleviate the courts’ immigration case-load burden; and
- The Stone Review process will be maintained as an important mechanism for ensuring the fairness of Australia’s security assessment system; and
- Labor will create an independent Refugee Review Tribunal and abolish the Immigration Assessment Authority. The Tribunal will allow for procedurally fair, simple, affordable and accessible processes and procedures, including in relation to adverse credibility findings, for the review of refugee related decisions.
- Labor will require the National Security Legislation Monitor to advise on establishing other mechanisms for:
- Independent review of the adverse security assessments that ensures procedural fairness while recognising that processes may be required to protect intelligence sources and methodology; and
- The management of those whose adverse assessment is upheld.
- Reporting on the ’90 day rule’, which requires that refugee status determinations are concluded within 90 days from the time of application, has been an important accountability measure in ensuring the Government operates in a timely way in assessing protection applications.
- Labor will reintroduce the 90 day rule into the Migration Act.
- The existing fast track assessment process under the auspices of the Immigration Assessment Authority and the limitation of appeal rights does not provide a fair, thorough and robust assessment process for persons seeking asylum.
- Labor will abolish this fast track assessment process.
- Labor believes the Refugee Convention plays a critical role in Australian law. Referring to the Refugee Convention in the Migration Act 1958 is good legislative practice.
- Labor will reintroduce the appropriate references to the Refugee Convention into the Migration Act 1958.
- Protection visa applications made in Australia should be assessed by Australians on Australian Territory.
- Under legislation passed by Labor, complementary protection claims should be considered by way of the protection visa framework.
- Labor will work to ensure asylum seekers have access to appropriate, independent, government-funded legal advice while working through their claims for protection.
- In assessing asylum claims where the fear of persecution arises from a person’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer status, the fact that the country the person is fleeing has criminal penalties for engaging in consensual homosexual sex is sufficient of itself to establish that fear of persecution is well-founded, and any assessment of the asylum seeker’s identity and fear must take account of the very different manifestations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer identity that other cultures, especially ones profoundly hostile to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people, necessarily engender.
- Labor will ensure asylum seekers who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer will be assessed by officers who have expertise and empathy with anti-discrimination principles and human rights law. Officers, translators and interpreters at all levels of the assessment process will have specific lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer cultural awareness training to ensure the discrimination asylum seekers face in their country of origin or transit are not replicated.
