Labor under pressure as Parliamentary Human Rights Committee berates brutal bill

MEDIA RELEASE:

Widespread pressure continues to build against Labor’s brutal Entry Ban and Deportation Bill, with the latest criticisms descending from Parliament’s own Human Rights Scrutiny Report released yesterday.

The report produced by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, and chaired by ALP MP Josh Burns, confirms Labor’s Bill currently limits several fundamental human rights including the rights of children, right to protection of the family and the right to liberty and a fair trial among others.

The Committee, which includes five Labor Party parliamentarians, confirms deportation directions issued as a result of the Bill may force people back to countries where they face risk of persecution – breaching Australia’s non-refoulement obligations.

It’s noted in the report that people at risk of return to harm would include those who’ve been subjected to the ‘fast track’ protection assessment process, a process widely considered to be a ‘defective mechanism’ for assessing protection claims, including by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the ALP themselves.

The report also addresses concerns surrounding the Bill’s introduction of new powers which allow the Minister to overturn protection findings and add further classes of visa holders to be subject to deportation. The report states this introduction of powers could limit people’s right to mental health, protection of family, private life and freedom of movement, particularly for long-term permanent Australian residents.

The Committee is clear deportation orders could result in separation of family members, including Australian citizen children being separated from their parents, and through non-citizen children also facing deportation. The report observes that: “Australia is required to ensure that, in all actions concerning children, the best interests of the child are a primary consideration.”

Another serious concern raised by the Committee is the Bill’s introduction of mandatory minimum criminal penalties for non-compliance with deportation directions, which could see people jailed for up to five years for failing to fill in a passport form, as “incompatible with the rights to liberty and to a fair trial” and which may lead to unnecessarily harsh sentences.

Read the full report

Jana Favero, Head of Systemic Change at Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
“The opposition to Labor’s Bill from community groups, voters, human rights lawyers, politicians and now Parliament’s own Human Rights Committee has been overwhelming. In the past week we have seen thousands of emails and calls to elected representatives urging them to oppose the Bill, and earlier this week we heard at the Senate Inquiry that 102 of 103 submissions received opposed the Bill.

“It’s time for the Albanese Government to listen to experts and voters and abandon the Bill. There is no good reason for it – it’s inhumane, punishes refugees, separates families and could see people sent back to persecution and breaches rights. It is unbelievable the Labor Government is stubbornly standing by this Bill.

Saajeda Samaa, Community Organiser at Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and refugee: 
“The Bill has been disturbing for the communities that we work with such as people from Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tamil communities and people from South Sudan. I cannot forget the face of a mother in the process of seeking asylum, crying and asking us whether her children will go to prison as well if she does not comply with her forced deportation.

“This woman has lived in Australia in limbo for many years and her children are born here. Now she is panicking about her safety and the safety of her children due to this Bill which is an additional cruelty after her long-endured sufferings. This is only one example, imagine the situation of thousands of human lives and families who will be impacted by this. This Bill must stop.”

Note to editors
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights reviews legislation for its alignment with the human rights obligations set out in seven international treaties to which Australia is a signatory, including:

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
• International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
• Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
• Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
• Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

–ENDS–