Asylum claims double in past 12 months to more than 50 per day

As the number of people flying to Australia seeking asylum doubles, Labor is accused of being “all froth, no beer” on acting. Critics say arrivals have little risk of deportation, although 90 per cent of applications are ultimately rejected.

The number of poeple making refugee claims in Australia after arriving by plane on visas allowing them to work, study or travel has nearly doubled in the last year, leading to accusations Labor is “all froth, no beer” on border protection.

According to data released by Home Affairs over the weekend some 1762 applications for protection were made in June, bringing the total number of refugee claims made by people who landed on other visas for the last financial year to 18,738 – or 52 a day.

In that same month, 1237 claimants received a ruling on their application for refugee status.

Of that number, only 78 – or around six per cent – were found to be genuine.

The total is nearly twice the 10,564 claims made over the 2021-22 financial year.

The applications were made for what are officially known as “Subclass 866” protection visas, which according to the Home Affairs website are “for people who arrived in Australia on a valid visa and want to seek asylum.”

Despite the large number of applications that were found to be invalid, just 13 people were deported over the month of June.

Shadow Immigration Minister Dan Tehan has accused the government of being “all froth, no beer” on rising asylum seeker numbers

The data also showed a huge backlog of claimants to be processed, with more than 28,000 people who had applied for protection still waiting for a final determination and nearly 75,000 more having been told they would not be granted a Final Protection Visa awaiting deportation.

At the same time, just 15,726 applicants had their visas processed over the past 12 months.

A recent submission by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to a government review of migration policies revealed that the average case takes more 1,000 days to be processed, meaning that even if no more future claims were to be made it would take years to clear the backlog.

In the submission, the AAT said that further appeals and “applications for judicial review” were “burdening a court system already under pressure.”

While claimants from countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ethiopia were granted protection 100 per cent of the time, figures also revealed that some 272 Indians made bids for asylum in June alone, despite less than a two per cent chance of success.

The number of people who have arrived by plane on other visas and later claimed asylum has nearly doubled in the last year. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Shadow immigration spokesman Dan Tehan slammed Labor for being “all froth and no beer” when it comes to border protection.

“Labor know that 90 per cent of asylum seekers who arrive by plane are not genuine, but they are doing nothing to address this scam which is impacting on housing, our court system, as well as real refugees,” Mr Tehan said.

“The average protection visa case tqakes 1,000 days to be finalised by the AAT and there are almost 29,000 asylum seekers working through the system.”

“This scam is only going to get worse without strong action from the government … the number of asylum seekers arriving by plane keeps getting worse because when it comes to border security, Labor is all froth and no beer.”

Shadow Minister for Home Affairs Kristina Keneally was a strong critic of the Coalition on asylum seeker numbers in opposition. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Mr Tehan said that while in opposition Labor had attacked the then-Coalition government for failing to tackle the problem of asylum seekers who land in Australia on other visas and later make claim for asylum to remain in the country.

In 2019, then-shadow Home Affairs minister Kristina Keneally said that “if the government is serious about stopping a flow of people coming to Australia, then it would be doing something about aeroplane arrivals.”

Home Affairs figures show that in November and December 2019, the oldest data available, around 2200 people per month were applying for onshore protection visas, however by the end of the following year the figure had fallen to under 1,000 per month.

The Department of Home Affairs has been contacted for comment.

Originally published as Asylum claims double in past 12 months to more than 50 per day