Don’t Let Fear Win: Help us Protect Work and Appeal Rights for People Seeking Asylum

The Albanese Government is reportedly considering changes that could strip away work and appeal rights from people seeking asylum and some migrant families. The Government hasn’t announced anything formally yet, so we still have time to change course.

Our message to Labor is simple: don’t follow One Nation down the path of fear and division. Protect people’s rights, and keep our communities together.

While details remain unclear, media reports suggest the Government may:

• Strip work rights from people seeking asylum once their first protection application is refused by the Department of Home Affairs.
• Restrict appeal rights, making it harder for people seeking asylum to challenge a refused application.
• Separate families, forcing partners and children of Australian citizens on temporary visas to leave the country and apply for a family visa from abroad, potentially facing years apart from loved ones.

All these would have widespread and devastating consequences. Without work rights, people would lose the ability to support themselves and their families. Many would be forced toward unsafe work, reliance on charity or homelessness. People seeking asylum can’t access Centrelink, and for many, Medicare eligibility is tied directly to their work rights. Removing one strips away the other.

First-round decisions on asylum claims aren’t always right. Some people are initially refused and later, on appeal, found to have valid claims. Errors happen for real reasons: no access to a lawyer, interviews conducted remotely, or trauma that makes it hard to recount what happened. Appeal rights exist precisely to catch these mistakes. Getting it wrong can mean sending someone back into persecution, violence or worse.

There are better ways to improve Australia’s protection system without taking away people’s rights. The Government could instead:

• Properly resource assessments from the start
• Provide legal help so people can fully explain their circumstances
• Cut wait times for decisions
• Preserve fair, independent appeals
• Keep families together wherever possible
• Work with communities to find practical, fair solutions

Real leadership means resisting the loudest, most divisive voices, not amplifying them.People seeking asylum deserve the right to work, support their families and have a fair shot at making their case. Taking that away won’t fix the system. Instead, it will deepen poverty and exploitation while weakening the safeguards that keep people safe from being sent back into danger. Australia is at its best when we give people a fair go, not when leaders sacrifice one group’s rights for a “tough on migration” headline.

Help us stop this proposal in its tracks and contact your Labor MP or senator and ask them to speak up. Urge the Government to rule out further restrictions on work or appeal rights of people seeking asylum, because everyone deserves the chance to work, support themselves and have their case fairly heard.