Passing of Strengthening the Character Test Bill is a blow to multiculturalism, rule of law & families

Media Release

16 February 2022

The passing of the Strengthening the Character Test Bill by the House of Representatives by the Morrison Government, with the support of the Labor Party, is a dark day for multiculturalism and the rule of law.

This Bill will significantly worsen a system where children will be separated from their parents, victim-survivors of family violence will be at risk and rule of law completely undermined. All this for a desperate and cynical political stunt in the run-up to an election.

The Morrison Government put forward a series of misleading and untrue arguments in a blatant attempt to appeal to fear and border security narratives on an issue that is about the rule of law and the rights of migrants.

The Labor Party’s capitulation to fear is a blow to migrants and refugees across the country and in contradiction to their own statements about the Bill. It also puts at risk vulnerable groups including refugees, children and victim-survivors of family violence, as highlighted in numerous submissions to Parliamentary Inquiries into this Bill.

The legislation was spoken against by Independent MP Andrew Wilkie and the Leader of the Greens MP, Adam Bandt, who highlighted the threat to rule of law and separation of families if it passes.

This Bill introduces unreasonably low thresholds to revoke or refuse visas for people based on the maximum possible sentence they could receive, rather than the sentence they actually received. Meaning someone on a visa who commits an offence and serves a light sentence such as community service, would lose their visa and be forcibly removed from Australia, separated from their family and livelihoods if the maximum sentence for the offence is two years imprisonment.

It is expected the bill will now be debated in the Senate in March in the two remaining Senate sittings days before the election. We urge all senators to reject this Bill in its entirety.

Hannah Dickinson, Principal Solicitor and Manager of the Human Rights Law Program at ASRC said: “It is deeply disturbing that this dangerous Bill has passed the House of Representatives amid attacks on the independence of the Australian judiciary and blatant misrepresentations of the law by the Morrison Government. The government’s powers are already so extraordinary that even a person with no criminal record can face character cancellation or refusal, meaning that judges simply cannot sentence a person such that they avoid these consequences.

“The community should be very concerned when a government is willing to misrepresent its legislation, harm vulnerable community members, and undermine the rule of law as a political stunt.”

Jana Favero, Director of Advocacy and Campaigns at ASRC said: ‘‘This law is entirely unnecessary and harmful. Minister Hawke knows he has the power to cancel visas for people with a conviction of less than 12 months as he has personally used this power. His arguments in support of the bill are nonsense, he’s either incompetent or manipulative.”

“The Government was unable to provide a single example of where their current powers are inadequate to cancel someone’s visa. This Bill will harm migrants, undermine the rule of law and force women to stay in situations of family violence. The only winners here are fear and discrimination.”

–ENDS–

Media contact: Sam Brennan 0428 973 324 or sam.b4@asrc.org.au