Government has support for 'lifetime ban' rule to open NZ resettlement option

The Morrison government has gained the numbers in Parliament to impose new controls on refugees who are transferred to New Zealand from offshore detention, clearing a potential obstacle to eventual resettlement.

The government has assurances from Labor it will support the immigration controls on asylum seekers who arrive by boat, ensuring a "lifetime ban" on any travel to Australia from a defined group of refugees who are resettled in New Zealand.

Scott Morrison raised the need for the lifetime ban a year ago, Peter Dutton saying it was needed to tell asylum seekers they could not settle in Australia.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

But the government is not pursuing the legislation as a priority despite spending the past three years demanding Labor support the bill.

The changes are now central to the debate over resettlement after the repeal of the medevac regime for refugee medical transfers on Wednesday, when the government gained crucial support from Tasmanian independent Jacqui Lambie to restore its border protection regime.

The lifetime ban was a factor in negotiations over the medevac repeal and the government is believed to have gained an assurance from Senator Lambie that she would support the ban if it was put to a vote.

Senator Jacqui Lambie said she would support the lifetime ban on any travel to Australia for refugees resettled in NZ.Credit: AAP

Prime Minister Scott Morrison raised the need for the lifetime ban one year ago when canvassing options to resettle refugees in New Zealand, but a disagreement with Labor resulted in the bill being deferred.

Asked on Thursday whether he wanted to bring back the bill, Mr Morrison indicated it remained his policy.

"Our policy is set out in the bill that we've sought to have passed, and that bill [has] to date not had the requisite support to pass the Parliament," he said.

While the government may not accept Labor's conditions on the lifetime ban bill, it may not need Labor in light of the support from the Senate crossbench if it chose to bring the bill to a vote when Parliament resumes next year.

The government appears to have support for the bill from Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts of One Nation as well as Senator Lambie and the incoming Liberal who is expected to be chosen early next year to replace conservative independent Cory Bernardi, who has announced he will leave the upper house.

The bill divided the Labor caucus three years ago when former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the measure alongside Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton as a way to resettle refugees without weakening border protection.

Mr Dutton called the lifetime ban "one of the strongest announcements yet by this government in relation to border protection policy" and said it was needed to tell asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru they could not settle in Australia.

"Through this legislation we send a very clear message to all the parties concerned that Australia will never be an option for people who seek to come here illegally by boat. And we need the bipartisan support of the Labor Party," he said on October 30, 2016.

Labor caucus members attacked the "cruel" law at the time but the prospect of a resettlement agreement with New Zealand has helped shift opinion.

Senator Kristina Keneally said Labor would back the bill subject to three conditions.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Labor home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally wrote to Mr Dutton in September to tell him Labor would back the bill subject to three conditions, in line with a position put forward last year.

The conditions are the "guaranteed acceptance" of the refugees in New Zealand, the restriction of the lifetime ban to the cohort resettled in New Zealand and limiting the legislation to the Special Category subclass 444 visa so it would be similar to a resettlement agreement with the United States.

Senator Keneally also expressed concern about any separation of family members if some were settled in New Zealand and others went elsewhere.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has restated an offer to accept 150 refugees from Australia and said on Thursday "the ball is obviously in Australia's court" on whether the transfers went ahead.

NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has restated an offer to accept 150 refugees from Australia.Credit: Getty Images

Ms Ardern expressed no concern with the prospect of Australian law to refuse entry to Australia by any of the refugees resettled in New Zealand.

"The way they choose to place restrictions on movement within Australia's borders is a matter for them not for New Zealand," she told Sky News.

The government has denied any "secret deal" with Senator Lambie to gain her vote on medevac and played down the prospect of pursuing the lifetime ban or the New Zealand offer at the moment.

"We've always been very aware of the New Zealand government's offer," Mr Morrison said.

"The government will continue to implement our policies as we've set them out and as we've decided to do as a government and that's what we'll do."