Andrew Hall & Sarah Stephen
PM John Howard is under major pressure from the broad and growing refugee-rights movement — and some of his own Coalition backbenchers — to change his government's discriminatory refugee policy before the federal election.
How else can you explain immigration minister Amanda Vanstone's July 13 surprise announcement that the 9500 refugees on temporary protection visas (TPVs) will now have a chance to live permanently in Australia?
The strong public support for a humane refugee policy has forced the government to look like it's changing its tune, and Vanstone's announcement certainly seems to have convinced most of the corporate press of this. The 7.30 Report's Maxine McKew said on July 13 that "on the surface it looks like a stunning policy reversal". The July 15 Age editorial called it a "happy ending" for refugees who have faced years of uncertainty.
Unfortunately it is neither of these things. The government has decided to allow refugees on TPVs to apply for mainstream migration visas without leaving the country. This targets a long-standing frustration of many rural employers who want to keep their hard-working employees. But it's not a likely outcome for all 9500 refugees, as the corporate media has implied. It merely gives them the chance, along with hundreds of thousands of others around the world, to apply for a small number of highly sought-after migration visas.
Charandev Singh, a human rights advocate at Melbourne's Brimbank Community Legal Centre, wrote in a July 13 briefing paper that the change "allows TPV holders to apply for non-refugee visas such as skilled migration (doctors, etc.), close ties (those married or with other family or close connections to Australian citizens) and a likely new class of visas for those undertaking employment in rural and regional Australia and whose labour is of economic significance to those areas".
According to Kon Karapanagiotids from Melbourne's Asylum Seeker Resource Centre: "It is a continuing denial of the fact that these people are still refugees. The government refuses to acknowledge this and instead they're using populist rhetoric about how we should give them the opportunity to stay for non-refugee reasons. They give reasons such as their contribution to regional Australia or close ties they have forged or skills they have to offer. They do this rather than accept the fact that it was their legal obligation to find and accept them as refugees."
"Many TPV holders have been denied education available to others in their country", Rural Australians for Refugees activist Emma Corcoran wrote in a letter to the July 15 Age. "Many have suffered torture and persecution in their home countries. In short, they are refugees — they should not have to battle for ordinary migration visas but should be given permanent protection as refugees."
There are two other components of the package announced on July 13.
Firstly, the government's reintegration package (assistance with airfares and a grant of $2000) will be extended to all refugees currently or formerly on temporary protection visas or temporary humanitarian visas.
Secondly, a "return-pending" visa will be created, which would allow asylum seekers to stay for up to 18 months while they make arrangements to leave Australia. Previously, those whose applications were rejected had only 28 days to leave the country
According to Singh, the return-pending visa allows the Howard government a further 18 months to reach agreements with the Iraqi and Afghan interim governments for the deportation (forcible and otherwise) of refugees and asylum seekers. Singh also argues that it minimises the need for the government to re-detain families and individuals prior to their removal.
"People in rural Australia have seen the contribution that refugees have made to their towns and have taken them into their hearts", RAR co-founder Anne Coombs said on July 13. "It's time the government acknowledged this and gave all TPV holders the opportunity for genuine security by offering them permanent residency... We congratulate [National Party MP] John Forrest and his fellow backbenchers for their courageous stand in taking this fight to the government, and urge them to continue their efforts to secure a just outcome for all refugees."
According to Ian Rintoul from the NSW Refugee Action Coalition, "The government is desperate to gain some credibility in the run-up to the election, but the changes are short on substance for the things that TPV holders most urgently need".
New regulations need to be drafted before the changes take effect. This will take at least six weeks from the date of the announcement.
[Andrew Hall is active in the ACT Refugee Action Committee and is the convenor of Public Servants for Refugees. Sarah Stephen is a member of the NSW Refugee Action Coalition.]
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, July 21, 2004.
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