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Sweeping changes to refugee law were passed through the Senate on December 5. These include the reintroduction of temporary protection visas (TPVs) that will grant refugees in Australia a visa for three years but does not allow them to apply for permanent protection.

When it was elected in 2007, Labor dumped this unpopular policy of the former John Howard government. Immigration minister Scott Morrison has been working to reintroduce TPVs since the Coalition was elected last year, but it has been repeatedly blocked in the Senate.

Palmer United Party senators, Motoring Enthusiast Party Senator Ricky Muir, Family First Senator Bob Day and Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm voted in favour of the legislation. The Greens, Labor, independent John Madigan and former PUP Senator Jacquie Lambie voted against it.

In return for the senators’ support, “Morrison agreed to lift Australia's refugee intake by 7500 places, give asylum seekers on bridging visas the right to work and remove all children from detention on Christmas Island”, .

The policy will apply to about 30,000 refugees who applied for protection before July last year. Asylum seekers detained on Manus Island or Nauru will not be eligible to apply.

Speaking in the Senate on December 4, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said: “We heard from Senator Muir that he felt he was in such a difficult position to vote between a bad and a terrible bill, because he was told if he didn’t do what the government wanted, the children would get it. He was told the only way to get children out of detention was to pass this bill…

“Children on Christmas Island [were handed a phone number of Senator Muir]. They were asked to call that Senator and beg that Senator to let them out. If that isn’t treating children as hostages, what is it?

“This minister has become one of the most sociopathic people in this country.”

The Refugee Action Coalition released this statement on November 26.

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The Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Bill 2014 will empower Morrison to:

• Stop boats at sea, to detain them and take people anywhere, anytime he chooses, and to do so in complete secrecy and irrespective of the international obligations and domestic laws of other countries.

Nothing is to be published. The High Court will be prevented from deciding the legality of the “turn back policy” — something presently before the High Court. The only condition is that actions taken will be in the “national interest” which the Minister alone will decide. This is tantamount to piracy and a version of people trafficking.

• Deny asylum seekers natural justice in determining any claim for asylum. The department will arbitrarily determine claims for asylum by enforcing the Minister’s guidelines to “fast track” claims, with no right of appeal to an independent tribunal.

This measure will enshrine administrative “screening out”, meaning asylum seekers will not even be allowed to make a protection application. It would directly violate non-refoulement obligations and dramatically increase the risks that asylum seekers would be returned to danger.

• Render stateless children born to asylum seekers in Australia and potentially condemn them to indefinite detention.

• Cap the numbers of protection visas issued thereby subverting recent Senate and High Court decisions insisting that asylum seekers found to be refugees are entitled to permanent protection.

• Require asylum seekers to “modify behaviour” to avoid persecution when being returned to their own country. This is one measure among many others designed to circumvent recent court decisions and restrict refugee rights.

Such a measure could mean that Christians or gay asylum seekers, for example, could be returned to danger. It could mean gays being expected to hide their sexual orientation or Christians hiding their faith or face persecution and punishment for apostasy. The purpose of the refugee convention will be undermined and Australia will be complicit with the actions of repressive regimes.

The Refugee Action Coalition broadly supports the dissenting reports regarding the bill by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesperson Ian Rintoul said: “We condemn the recommendation that the bill be passed.

“All senators should beware of blindly accepting reassurances from Morrison’s department, and take note of the wide ranging criticism regarding the bill’s elimination of fundamental rights.

“The bill will entrench the secrecy that surrounds Morrison and the immigration department and give Morrison unbridled authoritarian power over the lives of people who need, and have a right to, protection.”

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