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Australia has a bunch of offshore islands. A couple of years ago, to make things difficult for asylum seekers, the gov't decided to excise these islands from the 'Australian migration zone.' So anyone arriving on those islands would no longer have their claim for refugee status dealt with by Australia.
In January, a group of Papuans arrived in Cape York (mainland) claiming asylum. They were found to have well-founded fears of persecution and were granted temporary protection visas. Segue to storms of diplomatic indignation from the Indonesian government.
In a weak-ars3d attempt at appeasement, the gov't has now effectively excised the mainland as well.
In other words, any refugee arriving in Australia will now be treated as an illegal entrant and be shipped off-shore where any claim for refugee status will be dealt with by a third party.
Amnesty International states that this constitutes a breach of Australia's international treaty obligations regarding the treatment of refugees.
Australia has a bunch of offshore islands. A couple of years ago, to make things difficult for asylum seekers, the gov't decided to excise these islands from the 'Australian migration zone.' So anyone arriving on those islands would no longer have their claim for refugee status dealt with by Australia.
In January, a group of Papuans arrived in Cape York (mainland) claiming asylum. They were found to have well-founded fears of persecution and were granted temporary protection visas. Segue to storms of diplomatic indignation from the Indonesian government.
In a weak-ars3d attempt at appeasement, the gov't has now effectively excised the mainland as well.
In other words, any refugee arriving in Australia will now be treated as an illegal entrant and be shipped off-shore where any claim for refugee status will be dealt with by a third party.
Amnesty International states that this constitutes a breach of Australia's international treaty obligations regarding the treatment of refugees.
New asylum policy sneaked through: Labor
April 14, 2006 - 11:51AM
The federal government's tough new immigration laws were deliberately announced while the nation was focused on Prime Minister John Howard's appearance at the AWB inquiry, Labor says.
Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said while the laws were designed to defuse a diplomatic crisis with Jakarta over the granting of temporary protection visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers, the timing was cleverly planned.
When asked if the announcement had deliberately been made while people were preoccupied with John Howard's questioning at the Cole inquiry, Mr Burke said it was difficult not to be cynical.
"The Papuans arrived at the beginning of the year, Indonesia made (its) disquiet known immediately," Mr Burke said.
"To leave it right up until the day John Howard fronts the AWB inquiry is a long way from a coincidence."
Under the hardline immigration policy announced on Thursday, people arriving illegally by boat will now have their asylum claim processed at one of three offshore detention centres.
The government says those found to be genuine refugees will then be sent to a third country.
"Yesterday we had one of the most radical changes imaginable to our immigration policy where the government seriously proposed effectively excising not one more island but the entirety of Australia from the immigration zone," Mr Burke said.
"Our immigration policy is not being run by Canberra. It's being run by Jakarta."
Mr Burke said while the new laws effectively handed control of Australia's immigration to another country, they would also cost taxpayers millions of dollars a month.
The Pacific Solution, under which asylum seekers are transferred to Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, is maintained at a cost of about $4 million a month, he said.
"That's only going to go up if we move all the processing offshore," he said.
The new laws are an extension of the Pacific Solution, which was introduced in 2001.
Any illegal entrant to Australia will be shipped to Nauru, Manus Island or Christmas Island, where they will stay until their visa applications have been processed.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has indicated the government wants all boat people to be sent to a country other than Australia after their claims for asylum are processed.
Meanwhile, Australia could breach its international obligations if it sends all asylum seekers arriving by boat offshore, Amnesty International says.
Amnesty International said Australia could be in breach of its international obligations to refugees if it had one policy for asylum seekers arriving by boat, and another for those who arrived by plane.
"All asylum seekers must be treated equally.
"Australia's commitment under the international refugee convention ... is that it will not penalise refugees based on their method of arrival," the human rights group said in a statement.
"The continued use of offshore processing for boat arrivals does not meet Australia's international obligations."
© 2006 AAP
April 14, 2006 - 11:51AM
The federal government's tough new immigration laws were deliberately announced while the nation was focused on Prime Minister John Howard's appearance at the AWB inquiry, Labor says.
Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said while the laws were designed to defuse a diplomatic crisis with Jakarta over the granting of temporary protection visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers, the timing was cleverly planned.
When asked if the announcement had deliberately been made while people were preoccupied with John Howard's questioning at the Cole inquiry, Mr Burke said it was difficult not to be cynical.
"The Papuans arrived at the beginning of the year, Indonesia made (its) disquiet known immediately," Mr Burke said.
"To leave it right up until the day John Howard fronts the AWB inquiry is a long way from a coincidence."
Under the hardline immigration policy announced on Thursday, people arriving illegally by boat will now have their asylum claim processed at one of three offshore detention centres.
The government says those found to be genuine refugees will then be sent to a third country.
"Yesterday we had one of the most radical changes imaginable to our immigration policy where the government seriously proposed effectively excising not one more island but the entirety of Australia from the immigration zone," Mr Burke said.
"Our immigration policy is not being run by Canberra. It's being run by Jakarta."
Mr Burke said while the new laws effectively handed control of Australia's immigration to another country, they would also cost taxpayers millions of dollars a month.
The Pacific Solution, under which asylum seekers are transferred to Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, is maintained at a cost of about $4 million a month, he said.
"That's only going to go up if we move all the processing offshore," he said.
The new laws are an extension of the Pacific Solution, which was introduced in 2001.
Any illegal entrant to Australia will be shipped to Nauru, Manus Island or Christmas Island, where they will stay until their visa applications have been processed.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has indicated the government wants all boat people to be sent to a country other than Australia after their claims for asylum are processed.
Meanwhile, Australia could breach its international obligations if it sends all asylum seekers arriving by boat offshore, Amnesty International says.
Amnesty International said Australia could be in breach of its international obligations to refugees if it had one policy for asylum seekers arriving by boat, and another for those who arrived by plane.
"All asylum seekers must be treated equally.
"Australia's commitment under the international refugee convention ... is that it will not penalise refugees based on their method of arrival," the human rights group said in a statement.
"The continued use of offshore processing for boat arrivals does not meet Australia's international obligations."
© 2006 AAP
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