The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) welcomes the bill proposed by MP Kylea Tink to limit detention of people seeking asylum to 90 days and prohibit the detention of children.
The bill aligns with the Australian Labor Party’s national platform which commits Labor to enshrining a “90-day rule” on immigration detention, regularly reviewing decisions to detain, and ensuring children are not held in detention facilities.
Australia’s immigration detention policies have long been criticised by the international community, human rights organisations, independent experts, and various United Nations bodies.
For years, RCOA has maintained that introducing a time limit on immigration detention is the only way to reduce the rising average length of detention and to bring Australia in line with the rest of the world.
As of 30 June 2024, the average time spent in immigration detention in Australia was 565 days, with 381 people detained for more than a year and 74 people for more than five years. By contrast, the average length of time in detention in 2023-24 was 49 days in USA and 16 days in Canada.
In addition to a time limit on detention, RCOA has long advocated for an independent oversight body with the power to ensure detention is only used as a last resort and for the shortest time possible.
Prolonged detention contributes to and exacerbates health problems, especially debilitating and life-long mental health issues. Those subject to offshore detention on PNG and Nauru have endured years of detention, abuse and psychological trauma.
The Australian Border Forces states publicly that “immigration detention is administrative not punitive”, aimed at enabling the Government to manage its temporary entry and permanent migration programs.
This legislation proposed by Kylea Tink sets a reasonable time limit on the length of this administrative detention, giving sufficient time for health, identity and security checks to be completed before a person is released into the community while their permanent status is resolved.
