Labor’s Trump-like Bill unfairly punishes families, refugees and people seeking asylum

MEDIA RELEASE:

ASRC will join refugee human rights lawyers giving evidence today in opposition to Labor’s Entry Ban and Deportation Bill at the one-day Senate hearing in Canberra. The Bill, which unfairly punishes refugees, migrant families and people seeking asylum, was road-blocked at the Senate for an inquiry after Labor attempted to ram the Bill through Parliament with no consultation with refugee groups and affected communities.

The ASRC is among hundreds of individuals, lawyers, community groups, faith-based organisations and leading human rights advocates who responded during the two-week submission period, highlighting why the Bill is “underpinned with racism” and further marginalises certain ethnic communities.

The ASRC’s legal team has extensive expertise representing people seeking asylum and refugees at all stages of the protection visa application process, including working with clients subjected to visa cancellations, immigration detention and deportation matters. Many of the case studies in ASRC’s submissions reflect how the Bill would cause significant harm to ASRC’s clients and their families.

ASRC’s submission reflects wider community sentiment around the catastrophic impact Labor’s Bill would have on refugees and people seeking asylum, including:

• Returning refugees and people seeking asylum to serious harm
• Unfairly punishing and criminalising refugees and people seeking asylum who refuse to cooperate with their deportation, with a minimum mandatory one-year imprisonment sentence
• Causing permanent family separation, trauma and harm to children
• Coercing people to leave Australia and return to persecution, including death
• Unchecked, opaque and unnecessary Ministerial powers – including expanding the Minister’s powers to overturn protection findings
• Broader negative impacts on the Australian and international community
• Breaching Australia’s international responsibilities under the 1951 Refugee Convention

The ASRC also draws the disturbing similarities between the entry ban contained in the Bill and former US President Donald Trump’s ‘Muslim Ban’ policy which targeted a select group of countries on a discriminatory and unfounded basis.

The Albanese Government and Department officials have refused to specify which countries will be designated for an entry ban but it is likely to include countries that do not currently accept involuntary deportations such as Iran, Iraq, South Sudan and Russia among others.

Thuch Ajak, Refugee Advocate from South Sudan
“The South Sudanese community, already burdened by generations of injustice and racism, now confronts a new migration bill that could exacerbate divisions and isolate families. As they face this latest hurdle, one must question the limits of Australia’s ‘fair go’ promise to those who’ve endured so much.”

Betia Shabiba, ASRC Human Rights Lawyer and Refugee Advocate from Iran
“This bill threatens to tear families like mine apart. It’s a cruel and inhumane attack on refugee community’s right to exist with dignity. We oppose this bill because it undermines fundamental human rights and targets marginalised communities. It goes against the values of compassion and fairness that should define our immigration system.

“Forcing us to choose between danger in our country of origin or criminalisation in Australia is an impossible and unjust decision. We deserve to live in peace and safety, not fear and uncertainty. This bill sets a dangerous precedent of discrimination and exclusion. We must stand against it to protect the rights and dignity of all people, regardless of their background or status.”

Rachel Saravanamuthu, ASRC Senior Lawyer and Legal Policy Lead
“This Trump-like Bill has no place in our democracy. The Government wants to introduce unprecedented ministerial powers to deport people and ban people from entering Australia, and impose harsh criminal penalties if people refuse to cooperate with their own deportation. This will undoubtedly coerce refugees to return to serious harm if the alternative is indefinite incarceration in prison and immigration detention.

“This Bill goes against Australia’s values of democracy and fairness, and undermines the social cohesion of our multicultural society by marginalising certain ethnic groups who will be unable to reunite with loved ones, work, study and visit Australia.”

Read ASRC’s full submission here (Submission number 59)
Watch the Senate Hearing (ASRC to present from 11.45 to 12.45pm)

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ASRC will have representatives in Canberra for the hearing and available for media from 1 pm. Please text or call Melanie on 0474046642 to coordinate interviews.