11 September 2026
The Albanese Government would be reviving a failed policy abolished by the Rudd Government in 2009 if it reintroduced time limits on claims for refugee protection, the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) says.
Media reports today claim the Government is preparing legislation to prevent temporary visa holders from applying for an onshore protection visa if they have been in Australia for more than a few months or possibly as few as 30 days.
RCOA Co-CEO Adama Kamara said this plan would take Australia back to a policy abolished 17 years ago because it was an abject failure.
“In 1997, the Howard Government introduced the ‘45 day rule’ which denied the right to work to anyone applying for an onshore protection visa more than 45 days after arriving in Australia,” Ms Kamara said.
“The policy was abolished by the Rudd Government in 2009 because it excluded many people with serious protection claims, forcing them into destitution.
“The drafters of the policy failed to take into account that many temporary entrants who need protection take some months to understand Australia’s asylum process, and in many other situations, circumstances overseas can change dramatically, jeopardising people’s safety months or years after their arrival in Australia.
“This was borne out in 2009 by advice from the then Department of Immigration and Citizenship that asylum seekers who lodged a protection claim more than 45 days after arrival in Australia were found to be owed Australia’s protection at a much greater rate than those who applied within the 45 days.
“For me, this policy change is personal, as my family sought protection in Australia in 1995 four years after we arrived in Australia for my father to study and lecture in Australia. We were planning on a temporary stay in Australia until a civil war began in our home country of Sierra Leone. That war left more than 50,000 people dead and more than two million people displaced, including many of my relatives and friends.
“Reintroducing a time restriction on protection claims would leave people in the same situation I was in as a child at great risk. They would be left with no means to support themselves while they struggled to get the Immigration Minister to intervene to allow them to apply for a protection visa.
“As occurred between 1997 and 2009, overstretched charities and community networks would be left to support people denied the right to work and the already grossly overloaded ministerial intervention process would have many thousands more people begging for the Minister’s urgent attention.
“We understand that the Government does not want people with no basis for a refugee claim using the onshore protection process as a way of prolonging their stay in Australia. But this is not the way to achieve it, as it will leave many people in need without even the most basic support.
“The more effective response is to deal promptly and fairly with onshore protection claims and applications for administrative and judicial review. We applaud the work the Government has done since 2023 to reduce the backlog in onshore protection visa applications and encourage more action to frontload resources for advice and decision-making and improve triaging and referral pathways.
“No fair-minded Australian wants to see people at serious risk of persecution victimised by ill-considered legislation that repeats past policy failures.”
