Code of conduct threatens cancellation of visa and transfer to offshore processing if asylum seekers fail to meet obligations

Asylum seekers already in Australia can have their visas cancelled or their meagre government payments reduced if they breach a new code of conduct prohibiting “antisocial behaviour” or “lying to a government official”, or if they fail to attend an interview.

Many of the regulations in the code, which was quietly gazetted last week and came into force on Saturday, are requirements to obey existing laws, including: “You must not disobey any Australian laws including Australian road laws” and “You must not make sexual contact with another person without that person’s consent, regardless of their age; you must never make sexual contact with someone under the age of consent.”

Others are very broad, or impose extra obligations of the approximately 33,000 asylum seekers already in Australia, who live on 89% of the standard unemployment benefit rate for which they are now required to do community work, but are not allowed to do paid work.

These include “you must co-operate with all reasonable requests from the department or its agents in regard to the resolution of your status, including requests to attend interviews or to provide or obtain identity and/or travel documents” and “You must not harass, intimidate or bully any other person or group of people or engage in any antisocial or disruptive activities that are inconsiderate, disrespectful or threaten the peaceful enjoyment of other members of the community.”

Asylum seekers will be asked to sign the code and are warned: “If you are found to have breached the code of behaviour, you could have your income support reduced, or your visa may be cancelled. If your visa is cancelled, you will be returned to immigration detention and may be transferred to an offshore processing centre.”

In an explanatory memorandum for the regulation imposing the code, the government says it has “become increasingly concerned about non-citizens who engage in conduct that is not in line with the expectations of the Australian community. The objective of this proposal is to ensure the safety of the Australian community and to preserve those rights owed to Australian citizens.”

It discusses at length the possible violation of Australia’s human rights obligations by the code, but the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, concludes: “The legislative instrument is compatible with human rights because to the extent that it may limit human rights and the government considers those limitations are reasonable, necessary and proportionate.”

Under the Abbott government asylum seekers already in Australia at the time the former Labor government introduced its so-called “Papua New Guinea solution” to send all asylum seekers arriving by boat offshore for processing and resettlement, will remain on a temporary bridging visa until the parliament allows the Coalition to reintroduce temporary protection visas.

The Greens have said they will seek to disallow the code of conduct when parliament resumes.

“This is a move straight from the Liberal party handbook on fearmongering and hysteria,” said the Greens immigration spokeswoman, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

“We have behaviour protocols, they’re called Australian law and they should apply to everyone equally. This is clear discrimination against a specific group of people and it needs to be called out for what it is.”

But Labor, whose support would be necessary for any disallowance, has not yet formed a view about how to react to the move, according to immigration spokesman Richard Marles.

Morrison first called for such “behavioural protocols” in February after a Sri Lankan asylum seeker was charged with sexual assault.

At the time the idea was criticised by the Victorian Liberal backbencher Russell Broadbent, who said there should ''never be special categories of laws for different categories of people … the rule of law should apply to all and we should not set some people apart''.

Pamela Curr, campaign co-ordinator at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said implementation of the code was "singling out asylum seekers as a group in need of special rules, the inference being that they are a threat".

"Until now asylum seekers released into the community had requirements attached to their bridging visa; including not being allowed to commit a crime, notifying the department of their residence at all times, not moving or going interstate without notifying the department, and generally conforming to the community rules.

"This has has introduced a punishment without trial as the the minister can decide if a person should be punished, without consulting the police and the court.”

Daniel Webb, director of legal advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the introduction of the code raised serious legal questions.

"People may be indefinitely locked up on the basis of untested allegations of traffic infringements or bullying,” he said.

“The suggestion from the government that such an arbitrary and draconian deprivation of liberty is ‘reasonable, necessary and proportionate’ is dubious at best.

"Morrison says these reforms uphold fundamental Australian laws and values. Well, the right to liberty and the presumption of innocence are pretty fundamental. And these reforms trash them."

The code of behaviour – in full

The code reads as follows:

“This Code of Behaviour contains a list of expectations about how you will behave at all times while in Australia. It does not contain all your rights and duties under Australian law. If you are found to have breached the Code of Behaviour, you could have your income support reduced, or your visa may be cancelled. If your visa is cancelled, you will be returned to immigration detention and may be transferred to an offshore processing centre.

• You must not disobey any Australian laws including Australian road laws; you must cooperate with all lawful instructions given to you by police and other government officials;

• You must not make sexual contact with another person without that person’s consent, regardless of their age; you must never make sexual contact with someone under the age of consent;

• You must not take part in, or get involved in any kind of criminal behaviour in Australia, including violence against any person, including your family or government officials; deliberately damage property; give false identity documents or lie to a government official;

• You must not harass, intimidate or bully any other person or group of people or engage in any antisocial or disruptive activities that are inconsiderate, disrespectful or threaten the peaceful enjoyment of other members of the community;

• You must not refuse to comply with any health undertaking provided by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection or direction issued by the Chief Medical Officer (Immigration) to undertake treatment for a health condition for public health purposes;

• You must co-operate with all reasonable requests from the department or its agents in regard to the resolution of your status, including requests to attend interviews or to provide or obtain identity and/or travel documents.