Refugee lobbyists take aim at Labor over ‘work scam' plane arrivals crackdown

A pro-refugee lobby group has lashed Labor over its calls for a crack down on plane arrivals claiming asylum.

The Refugee Action Coalition has taken aim at Labor over its calls for a crack down on plane arrivals claiming asylum. Picture: Troy Snook

A pro-refugee lobby group has lashed Labor over its calls for a crack down on plane arrivals claiming asylum, after opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally warned against a “work scam” being run by people smugglers.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said Senator Keneally’s calls for stronger action was “counter-productive” and only bolstered the Morrison government’s immigration policies.

Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally. Picture: AAP

“Rather than countering the Coalition’s anti-refugee policies, the calls to kerb asylum-seekers arriving by air bolsters (Home Affairs Minister Peter) Dutton’s border policing stance and government rhetoric about people smugglers that is directed against boat arrivals,” Mr Rintoul said.

“There are already too many Border Forcer officers patrolling overseas airports to prevent asylum seekers reaching Australia.”

Senator Keneally on Monday said there was nothing wrong with claiming asylum, which was an “important right”, but 90 per cent of applications from people arriving by plane had been found to have no merit.

“New statistics released under an order of production of documents reveal another 1,931 people arrived by plane and claimed asylum in Australia in January – adding to Peter Dutton’s 100,000-person tally,” Senator Keneally said.

“The rising number of aeroplane arrivals claiming asylum represents a work scam run by people smugglers, pure and simple.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. Picture: Kym Smith

“People are being trafficked to Australia on tourist visas, made to apply for asylum, then being sent to work in exploited conditions on farms or other jobs for the three or so years it takes to determine the asylum claim.

“I was hoping that Peter Dutton would have taken some action to disrupt the people smuggling operations trafficking migrants through our airports in record numbers.”

The Australian has revealed that in 2018-19, Australian Border Force officers intercepted 387 people at international airports around the world who were attempting to travel to Australia without proper documentation.

This compared with just 205 in 2017-18, representing an 89 per cent increase.

Mr Rintoul took aim at the Coalition’s “hard line” and “discriminatory” policies directed at asylum-seekers that arrived by both boat and plane.

He called on the government to overturn laws against boat arrivals.

Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge has accused Senator Keneally of lacking basic understanding when it comes to the Home Affairs portfolio and for pushing false information to suit her own political agenda.

“She is wilfully ignoring the advice of our most senior public servants who have told her time and time again that she is simply wrong,” Mr Tudge said.

“People who arrive in Australia via plane cannot be compared to people arriving by boats. Those who arrive by plane have a valid visa and have been health and security checked. No one dies from purchasing a valid plane ticket to Australia.”

Mr Tudge said that in contrast to those who arrive by plane, asylum-seekers who travel to Australia by boat are unknown, have not been security checked and have paid a people smuggler to reach Australia.

Earlier this month, Senator Keneally’s attacks on the use of temporary visa holders sparked accusations of her being a “foghorn for the unions” who have “long detested the working holiday-maker program”.

In her first major policy speech since taking on the home affairs portfolio, Senator Keneally repeated earlier warnings that people-smugglers had switched their business model from boats to planes, with 100,000 asylum-seekers arriving by air over the past six years.

But her views drew the ire of Migration Alliance, which has more than 4000 members and represents registered migration agents in Australia, with the group telling the senator to “stop playing dirty politics”.

Mr Tudge has previously told The Australian the nation had one of the most “generous humanitarian programs in the world” but warned that too many people had tried to take advantage of the system by falsely claiming they needed protection.

“We settle thousands of people in desperate need every year,” Mr Tudge said.

“Some people unfortunately seek to exploit our international obligations by lodging protection claims onshore which have no foundation — this issue is not new and is not unique to Australia.”