Labor for Refugees splits on ‘flawed’ migration laws

Labor for Refugees says the emergency migration bill enshrines mandatory prison terms and undermines protections for refugees in breach of the ALP national platform.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Labor for Refugees group has criticised the Albanese government’s emergency migration laws, arguing provisions enshrining mandatory prison terms and undermining protections breach the ALP national platform, ­revealing a deepening divide within the party.

The party-affiliated group’s NSW/ACT branch warned that the legislation – which will give the immigration minister powers to force non-citizens to leave the country and bar arrivals from ­entire nations – was “flawed” and called on MPs to oppose the bill.

The group argued that minimum jail sentences of one year and a maximum of five for non-citizens who don’t follow government orders to return home defied a clause in the national platform that opposed mandatory sentencing.

It also cautioned that by ­extending the immigration minister’s “god powers”, the legislation would undermine a pillar of the national platform declaring that protection visa claims should be “underpinned by robust, efficient and transparent processes”.

The submission to a Senate ­inquiry into the legislation, authored by Labor for Refugees secretary Nizza Siano, questioned whether the legislation reflected the “highly successful welcoming multicultural country the PM says we are”.

“The Foreign Minister has said that the powers given to the minister will not be used very often and when they are, will be used wisely,” the submission says. “But not all ministers for immigration are kind and wise; some are the opposite. Governments change also. Social panics with strong racist goals can create political imperatives to issue directions to non-citizens to co-operate for all the wrong reasons.”

Ms Siano also argued that by placing a blanket ban on entire countries that refused to accept the return of their citizens, dubbed ­“removal concern countries”, undermined clauses in the national platform supporting family reunions for migrants and refugees.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil announced the legislation last month after a landmark High Court ruling, known as NZYQ, triggered the release of 152 non-citizens, including some with criminal histories. More than 100 detainees who the government wants to deport could be released if an Iranian man, ASF17, wins a separate legal challenge to be heard next week.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said that even Labor members were “unconvinced” about the bill, urging the government to allow the inquiry to run its course as the ­Coalition weighs possible amendments. “The Albanese government should let the parliament do its work and carefully consider the legislation and any necessary amendments,” he said.

Greens immigration spokesman David Shoebridge on Thursday accused the government of failing to consult with multicultural communities who fear being cut off from their families overseas. “(These communities) have been blindsided by the federal Labor government’s proposal to create yet more cruelty in the ­immigration and refugee system,” he said.

International Commissioner of Jurists president Nicholas Cowdery criticised the migration laws, warning that the provisions that allow the government to force non-citizens to leave the country were “unacceptable and a denial of human rights”.