Block of deportation bill humiliates government as weeks of political pain await

A humiliating defeat of the Albanese government’s latest deportation laws in the Senate has forced Labor into a stand-off with the Coalition over border protection weeks away from a High Court challenge that could trigger the release of dozens more immigration detainees.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil was twice on Wednesday pursued by cameras in federal parliament after repeatedly ducking questions about why she wanted to rush through sweeping new powers to jail detainees fighting deportation and block foreign visitors from countries that will not take citizens back.

Earlier, the Coalition united with the Greens and other crossbenchers, including One Nation senator Pauline Hanson and the United Australia Party’s Ralph Babet, to defer the bill introduced to the House on Tuesday to a Senate inquiry, defeating Labor’s attempt to ram it through in less than two days. The inquiry is due to report back on May 7, one week before the federal budget.

“Peter Dutton and the Liberals could be voting to protect Australians today. They could be taking a big step in keeping the community safe, but instead, they’ve chosen not to,” O’Neil said alongside Immigration Minister Andrew Giles during a heated press conference.

The Coalition has refused to declare support for the bill, saying several questions remained unanswered, including why the legislation was so urgent.

Immigration spokesman Dan Tehan urged the government to front up to migrant communities to discuss the bill, as Iranian and South Sudanese leaders accused Labor of fracturing communities and behaving worse than former US president Donald Trump.

What does the Migration Amendment (Removal and other Measures) Bill do?

• Labor says its bill is designed to close a loophole preventing the deportation of people who are not refugees and who have exhausted all legal avenues to stay in Australia but refuse to leave.
• The bill empowers the Immigration Minister to direct a person the government is trying to deport to co-operate with all efforts to remove them, threatening up to five years in jail if they don’t comply.
• Holding a genuine fear of harm or persecution if you are returned to your country of origin is not a reasonable excuse for refusing to co-operate.
• The government can also ban people from applying for a visa to Australia if they are a citizen of a country that does not accept the voluntary return of its citizens. This includes countries such as Iran, Iraq and South Sudan.
• The legislation also allows the government to reconsider whether Australia owes protection to somebody who has fled a perilous country if the government is trying to deport them.

Late last year the government rushed through legislation with the help of the Coalition after the High Court’s decision in November in the case of an individual referred to as NZYQ outlawed indefinite detention, triggering the release of 152 people including people who had completed sentences for rape and murder.

The latest bill was lodged on Tuesday, in the last parliamentary sitting period before another High Court hearing on April 17. That hearing will determine whether people refusing to co-operate with deportation orders should be released into the community.

O’Neil refused to comment on a link between the two before conceding, “I think the ASF17 case does show that it is important that we have these powers. [But] it’s not the only reason why we’re doing this.”

The opposition has accused the government of avoiding scrutiny over the bill, as O’Neil refused to answer questions from journalists in parliament on Wednesday morning. A snap press conference just before question time ended with O’Neil and Giles pursued by press through the Senate courtyard after repeatedly ducking questions about the need for haste.

O’Neil would only say that the new bill was “a commonsense proposition” and that the opposition was not working with the government to keep Australians safe.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Coalition senators had begged the government to explain the link between the bill and the ASF17 case but “they failed to provide it”.

“However, having said that, if there is some urgent, unforeseen need ... we will bring our senators and members back to pass this legislation if a genuinely urgent need does arise for it to be passed,” he said.

Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles leave a press conference after telling the gathered media they had to go to a division in the House.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Paterson said he was “of course” concerned about the impact on members of the Australian community with links to countries such as Iran, Iraq and South Sudan, which are among countries that do not accept the involuntary return of citizens.

Asked whether it was humane to force someone afraid of returning to their own country because of fear of persecution to co-operate with their own deportation, Paterson answered: “All good questions to be answered before a Senate inquiry.”

Tehan said people wanted to know what the government was planning, “and they are rightly worried because Labor is being so secretive”.

“Migrant communities, in particular, deserve to hear from the elected government how this legislation will affect them,” Tehan said.

In a statement, Giles said the Coalition was accountable for the consequences: “The Coalition can vote on these laws tonight. While we are working to keep Australians safe, the Coalition are playing politics.”

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