Refugees to be denied permanent residency under Coalition plan to 'determine who comes here'

Updated

Tony Abbott declared that "this is our country and we determine who comes here" as he unveiled sweeping plans to fast-track the deportation of failed asylum seekers.

Last month the Coalition announced its so-called Operation Sovereign Borders plan, which is aimed at preventing new asylum seeker arrivals.

Today Mr Abbott and his immigration spokesman Scott Morrison revealed their proposals to deal with the backlog of cases yet to be processed by the Government.

Under the Coalition's policy, around 30,000 people currently waiting for their refugee claims to be finalised in Australia would be denied permanent residency.

Those who are deemed to be refugees would instead be placed on temporary protection visas (TPVs), while those whose claims are rejected would be denied the right to appeal.

Revealing details of the plan, the Opposition Leader said he believed the proposals would reduce the number of boats trying to reach Australia to three per year by the end of his first term.

TPVs were a feature of the Howard government's asylum policy and Mr Abbott referenced the former prime minister's own words during his announcement today.

"The key to our position here, it's been a strong and consistent position for 10 years now, is that people who come illegally by boat will not be granted permanent residency," Mr Abbott said.

This is our country and we determine who comes here. That was the position under the last Coalition government, that will be the position under any future Coalition government. Tony Abbott

"People who come here illegally by boat will get temporary protection visas.

"So after they have been assessed, the 30,000 people currently here who have come illegally by boat, who are waiting assessment, won't get permanent residency, they will get temporary protection visas.

"This is our country and we determine who comes here. That was the position under the last Coalition government, that will be the position under any future Coalition government."

TPVs were introduced in 1999 by the Howard government for asylum seekers who arrived unauthorised and were subsequently assessed to be refugees.

In an election policy speech in 2001, Mr Howard stated: "We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come."

Mr Morrison says TPVs are important not just as a deterrent to stop the arrival of asylum seeker boats, but also to deal with "the backlog of Labor's border failure".

"What will happen at the end of that period of a temporary protection visa is there is the opportunity to once again assess someone's refugee status and if they're found not to be refugee at that point well, they will be put on a removal pathway," Mr Morrison said.

"Those who are given temporary protection visas will, if they receive welfare benefits, be required to work for those welfare benefits.

"Work rights were part of the last temporary protection visa scheme under the Howard government and they would be consistent with our international obligations under this scheme."

Mr Howard himself welcomed the plan, saying there would be no asylum seeker issue now if Mr Rudd had kept the Coalition's policy in place.

"There is no doubt in the world that the person more than anybody else in Australia responsible for the asylum seeker catastrophe is Kevin Rudd," the former prime minister said.

"We had a policy that worked. I had stopped the boats, every Australian knows that.

"Mr Rudd started them again by dismantling my successful policy, it's as simple as that."

No legal avenue to appeal against assessment

Under the plan, those who are denied refugee status in Australia would not be able to appeal against the decision in court.

The Coalition says, if elected, it will perform an audit of the refugee assessment process with the aim of removing access to the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT), which carries out reviews of visa and visa-related decisions made by the Department of Immigration.

"Over nine out of 10 people who are coming by boats are being recognised under Labor's scheme, as they've hardwired appeals back through the Refugee Review Tribunal back into the courts," Mr Morrison said today.

"What this has produced is cases where, even where there is a no decision being provided by case officers, under this Government's appeals process around 80 per cent of those noes are being turned into yeses.

"No wonder Australians are questioning whether this is a fair dinkum system which has been operating under this Government."

But speaking earlier this morning, Mr Morrison acknowledged the difficulty of retrospectively removing access to the RRT.

"There are many legal issues we have to work through and they are most appropriately worked through with the appropriate and full resources of Government," he said.

The Coalition wants to fast-track the claims of those who are still waiting to have their refugee assessments processed and will introduce a system similar to one used in the UK.

"That will enable us to triage the case load of 30,000 people and start working through that system to process those where a decision can be made readily and prioritise those who on an initial screening looked to be likely negative," Mr Morrison explained.

"So we can get on with the job of removing people far more quickly than this Government has been able to do.

"There's been some very impressive results of that in the UK where we have 62 per cent of people with negative decisions being removed within three months."

Impact of TPVs on refugees 'is severe'

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says Australian are fed up with the major parties playing politics with the lives of refugees in order to win an election.

"The Government's no advantage rule has been now superseded by the no shame rule of the Coalition's," she said.

"We know the impact of temporary protection visas are severe on the livelihoods of genuine refugees, vulnerable people who have fled war, torture and persecution.

"The temporary protection visas are only given to people who we know are refugees. It doesn't stop anyone coming here by boat because it's only being applied to those people who have already arrived.

"This is just cruelty and punishment for the sake of Tony Abbott looking tough, tougher than Kevin Rudd in the race to the bottom.

"For any fair-minded, decent-thinking voter out there, it is clear... this race to the bottom between the two major parties on refugees is just sinking lower and lower.

"The only party who is prepared to stand by the rule of law and our obligations under international law are the Greens and the Coalition has no shame, the Government has no advantage, the Government has no idea."

Labor says Coalition policy 'irrelevant', PNG solution is working

Immigration Minister Tony Burke says the Coalition's policy announcement today is "irrelevant" and has nothing to do with stopping boat arrivals.

He says the Opposition is motivated by the desire to look tough and he described it as being "mean just for the hell of it".

The Prime Minister announced last month that all asylum seekers who arrived by boat in Australia would be processed in Papua New Guinea and if found to be refugees, they will be resettled there.

A similar arrangement was also struck with Nauru.

"Because of the regional resettlement arrangements, if you arrive by boat now without a visa, you won't be settled in Australia, therefore the question of what visa class would apply for you is completely irrelevant," Mr Burke said.

"Be it a permanent or temporary visa, it is irrelevant to the people who are making a decision now as to whether or not they will get on a boat.

"All we have from the Coalition today is a situation where they have made an announcement to show how tough they are.

"They've made an announcement to show that they can be mean just for hell of it, knowing full well, even under their own description that it's irrelevant to whether or not people are going to get on a boat."

Mr Burke also warned that the proposal to deny the right to appeal a failed refugee claim could create legal problems elsewhere.

"Similarly, the myth that you can completely obliterate an appeals mechanism is one of those 'careful for what you wish for' moments," he said.

"If the only appeals mechanism available, because you've abolished everything else, is the High Court, we end up with a legal situation which I think no one would wish for.

"Which is where each and every appeal has one place and one place only to go to, and that becomes the High Court."

This morning, Labor's Jason Clare told Channel Nine the so-called PNG solution is working.

"In the first week after Kevin Rudd announced that change over 1,000 people came to Australia by boat, this week it's about 300."

Topics: federal-elections, elections, government-and-politics, immigration, abbott-tony, nationals, liberals, australia

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