Asylum-seeker children are being released from detention on Christmas Island and people on bridging visas will be allowed to work, under changes to migration law which will also see a tougher regime for many others seeking refuge in Australia.
Children being held in Australian immigration facilities on Nauru will remain in detention.
The Senate voted in the early hours of this morning to back the Government’s migration changes after it negotiated a trade-off with independents and others on the crossbench.
The House of Representatives then reconvened briefly this morning to endorse the amended legislation, paving the way for the changes to become law.
Under the new regime, those among the 30,000 asylum seekers already in Australian-run detention and found to deserve protection will be placed on temporary protection visas – a reintroduction of the policy in place under the Howard Government but abolished when Labor took power. They will not have full residency rights and face deportation in future once the Government decides it is safe to send them home.
“No-one coming to Australia illegally by boat can expect to get permanent residency,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott said. “….This is a win for Australia.”
In order to secure the support of the Palmer United Party senators Glenn Lazarus and Dio Wang and Motoring Enthusiasts’ Party Senator Ricky Muir to back the bill, Mr Morrison piggybacked some generous provisions for asylum seekers on top of the harsher measures.
“No-one coming to Australia illegally by boat can expect to get permanent residency,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott said. “….This is a win for Australia.”
He promised to increase Australia’s humanitarian intake by 7500 places over the next four years, to allow those on bridging visas to have work rights and to release by Christmas about 470 children in detention on Christmas Island. But to secure those concessions, the senators had to vote for the new tougher regime in which assessments of those already in detention – and deportation for those rejected -- will be fast-tracked and only temporary asylum allowed.
“By passing this bill not only the Government has sent another strong message to the people smugglers about our resolve to end their business forever, but it has sent a strong message of resolve to the Australian Parliament,” Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said this morning.
PUP leader Clive Palmer had said he believed the new visa regime, which also included enterprise work visas for asylum seekers willing to live in regional areas, could provide a pathway to permanent residency. But Mr Morrison said it did not.
Mr Morrison said he contacted his department just before 1am, as soon as the Senate had passed the bill, to begin the process of having detainee children released.
The minister thanked the PUP senators and Senator Muir – and Liberal Democratic Senator David Leyonhjelm, independent Senator Nick Xenophon and Family First Senator Bob Day who also voted for the bill.
“I commend them for committing to dealing with the issue rather than being intimidated and browbeaten by what was a relentless and vicious campaign against them particularly over the last few weeks,” he said.
Refugee advocates say the new regime is too harsh and will leave asylum seekers in limbo. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young told the Senate that many Australians would be “appalled” that child detainees were being used as pawns.
“Using children as hostages is never ok and only a sociopath would do it,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
Labor also opposed the legislation.
“Labor was not convinced that the visas would do what Scott Morrison promised they would do,” Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said. “We will see if they become a pathway to citizenship or, if indeed, thousands of people are consigned to further limbo.”
Senator Muir told the Senate last night that it had been an anguished choice and the crossbench should never have been asked to choose between “a bad decision and a worse decision”.
“The question is - if I am to vote this bill down because it is not perfect, am I making a worse decision for the people who desperately want to be processed?” Senator Muir asked.
He said Muir said he had received a letter from detainees on Christmas Island, saying temporary protection visas would be better than detention. He had also spoken to people who worked closely with them.
“They told me that this bill is not completely fair but that the detainees are tired,” he said. “They told me that the detainees have had enough and they want out. They are desperate. She told me they have watched the news, they know it is down to one vote and that vote is mine.”
Former PUP and now independent Senator Jacqui Lambie refused to support the bill and blasted the Government for keeping children in detention for so long.
“These kids have been sitting there for 15 months, and you want a pat on the back? You've got to be kidding yourselves,” she said.
She challenged Assistant Immigration Minister Senator Michaelia Cash to resign if all of the children were not out of detention by Christmas, as promised.
