Asylum seekers: New laws will ban boat arrivals for ever applying for Australian visas

ASYLUM seekers who arrive by boat will be banned from setting foot in Australia for life — even if they are genuine refugees. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton made no apologies for the tough new measures, which will not apply to children.

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ASYLUM seekers who arrive by boat will be banned from setting foot in Australia for life — even if they are genuine refugees.

The ban will apply to any adult who has been sent to Manus Island or Nauru since July 19, 2013, when former prime minister Kevin Rudd declared: “As of today, asylum seekers who come here by boat without a visa will never be settled in Australia.”

The new laws, to be rushed into parliament when MPs return to Canberra next week, mean that even those who have chosen to return to their home country after 2013 will be banned from obtaining a visa of any kind, even as a tourist.

Asylum seekers behind fences at the Manus Island detention centre in 2014. Picture: AP

Up to 3000 asylum seekers held on Nauru and Manus or receiving medical treatment on the mainland will be hit by the ban, including 1551 people already found to be genuine refugees.

However, children who arrive by boat to Australia with their parents or unaccompanied will be excused from the laws.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton made no apologies for the tough new measures, warning that up to 14,000 asylum seekers are waiting to board boats in Indonesia.

“This is the next step in cleaning up Labor’s mess,’’ he said.

“The government has consistently said no one who attempts to enter Australia illegally by boat will ever settle here. This puts into law that crucial aspect which has been central to stopping the boats and stopping deaths at sea.

“It sends a further clear and consistent message to people smugglers that the government’s resolve on protecting Australia’s borders is as strong as it has ever been.’’

First Tampa asylum-seeking refugees at their camp on island of Nauru in 2001.

Refugees fleeing Vietnam on wooden fishing trawler boat in South China Sea in 1983.

By backdating the legislation to Mr Rudd’s declaration, the government believes Labor leader Bill Shorten will have “no excuses’’ not to support the ban.

So far 520 people have returned home from Manus Island and 148 from Nauru, as well as those who chose to accept an offer to go to Cambodia.

The government believes the visa ban will strengthen its position as it continues to negotiate with other countries to resettle hundreds of ­refugees held on Manus ­Island in Papua New Guinea, where the High Court has ruled the centre must be shut down.

However, it rejected suggestions that it would clear the way for New Zealand to take 150 refugees, an offer previously rejected by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

“Settlement in a country like New Zealand would be used by the people smugglers as a marketing opportunity,’’ Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Dutton had warned that the proposal would do nothing but ­encourage people smugglers to “get back into business” because people with New Zealand citizenship can settle in Australia.

He described the laws as “critical to support key government border protection policies — Temporary Protection Visas, regional processing and boat turnbacks where safe to do so”.

The legislation will amend the 1958 Migration Act to prevent illegal maritime arrivals taken to a regional processing country from ever making a valid application for an Australian visa.

REFUGEES’ MIXED LOTTERY IN AUSTRALIA

1954 Australia signs UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

1973 The Whitlam government abolishes the White Australia policy.

1975 More than 2000 Vietnamese boat people arrive after the Vietnam War; 94,000 refugees from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam settle here over next decade.

1992 The Hawke government introduces mandatory detention for asylum seekers.

1998 Pauline Hanson calls for temporary protection visas. Howard government rejects the idea before finally introducing them.

Aerial view of refugees on deck of Norwegian container ship Tampa off Christmas Island.

2001 The Tampa Crisis: Norwegian ship rescues 439 asylum seekers (left) from international waters but government refuses entry to Australia, sparking diplomatic dispute. Laws passed giving power to remove any ship from territorial waters, using reasonable force to do so and guarantee that no asylum-seeker application can be made by people on board.

Children overboard: Howard government claims asylum seekers threw children off boat. The Australian reveals photos were taken during the rescue and navy had disputed claims parents threw children in the water.

2005 Cornelia Rau, a mentally ill woman with permanent residency, wrongly detained for 10 months.

2007 Newly elected Rudd government abolishes Pacific Solution and temporary protection visas. Boat arrivals rise.

Vietnamese asylum seekers aboard boat on river south of Kalimantan, Indonesia, en route to Australia in 2003.

2009 Oceanic Viking stand-off after Australia rescues 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers in Indonesian zone.

2011 PM Julia Gillard announces Malaysian Solution. High Court places injunction on the plan.

2013 Boat arrivals peak at 300 with 25,000 asylum seekers. Rudd announces offshore detention model, including reopening PNG and Nauru.

2014 Abbott government elected promising to stop the boats. Policy of boat turnbacks and temporary protections visas.

2015 Abbott makes 12,000 humanitarian places available to refugees from Syria and Iraq crisis.

2016 PNG rules detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island illegal.