Sarah Stephen
After four meetings culminating in six hours of crisis talks on June 17, Prime Minister John Howard emerged with a deal he could be proud of. Speaking at a press conference that same day, Howard called the compromise deal with four dissident Liberal backbenchers, led by Petro Georgiou, a "mandatory detention system with a softer edge".
Following the deal, Georgiou announced that he would withdraw his proposed private members' bills aimed at softening the Coalition government's mandatory detention policy toward asylum seekers. He told reporters that he was satisfied with changes foreshadowed by Howard.
The compromise deal falls a long way short of the promise of the two private members' bills that Georgiou planned to introduce into parliament on June 20, World Refugee Day. Central to these bills was the proposal for a system of judicial review, but Howard has pushed for a compromise that puts in place a toothless review system that will compel the government to do nothing.
Below are the key proposals contained in Georgiou's bills, contrasted with the measures agreed to in the compromise:
- Permanent protection for asylum seekers on temporary protection visas.
Howard's compromise makes no commitment to grant permanent protection to all TPV-holders. It commits the government to nothing more than finishing its already delayed processing of TPV-holders' applications for permanent protection.
Most TPVs were granted between 1999 and 2001. All of these have expired. Many refugees have been waiting years for their permanent visa applications to be processed. Howard claims that, of some 10,500 refugees on TPVs, 5500 have been processed, leaving another 5000 still to go.
The compromise commits the government to process all remaining claims by October 31. It makes no proposals for those TPV-holders ineligible to apply for a permanent visa.
- Mandatory detention limited to 90 days, after which time the asylum seeker can apply to the Federal Court for release, unless the court deems that there are grounds for detaining them for a further 90 days.
Howard's compromise rejects any role for the Federal Court. It stipulates that the immigration department must make a decision on an application within three months, and the Refugee Review Tribunal must similarly make a decision on an appeal within three months. This is nothing dramatic. It would be a disgrace if it did take six months for these two levels of decision-making to be completed.
What happens if the time limits aren't met? "Cases where these time limits are not met", Howard announced, "will be the subject of periodic reports to parliament"! These time limits will be ignored, because there is nothing to enforce their compliance.
- Those detained for more than 12 months to be assessed by a judge and released from detention on bridging visas pending the determination of their application.
Under the compromise deal, rather than giving the courts a role, the compromise sets up the Commonwealth ombudsman as the body to review the cases of those held in detention for more than two years. The ombudsman may recommend the release of a person, but "no recommendation ... will in any way bind the minister"!
The compromise also expands eligibility for the "removal pending bridging visa so that those who still have an appeal decision pending on their application can apply for release on the condition that they forfeit any appeal process and agree to be deported at the government's earliest convenience!
- All families with children under 18 to be assessed by a judge and released from detention on bridging visas pending the determination of their application.
Howard's compromise proposes "community detention arrangements" rather than families being freed on bridging visas. The compromise gives the immigration minister "additional non-compellable power" to "specify alternative detention arrangements". The minister already has these powers, and alternative detention arrangements are already in place.
Of the 63 children currently in detention, 23 are either in "community detention" or in the Port Augusta residential housing project. The only concession in the compromise is that the definition of a family now includes fathers!
Georgiou's private members' bills were an expression of the enormous political pressure that the refugee-rights movement has put on the Howard government over the past four years. This pressure has mounted in the last few months with the Cornelia Rau scandal and the growing body of evidence that the detention system is inflicting enormous psychological damage on detainees, particularly children.
That the four "rebel" Liberal MPs, led by Georgiou, agreed to a deal with Howard that falls far short of the content of the proposed bills underlines the fact that the refugee-rights movement needs to escalate its campaigning, draw more people onto the streets, and make it impossible for the Howard government to get away with this window dressing sop that changes nothing of substance in the mandatory detention policy.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, June 22, 2005.
Visit the