A bipartisan group of MPs claim a new bill giving the Australian government new powers to deport criminal so-called refugees violates 10 different human rights.
The proposed amendments to the Migration Act would allow the forcible deportation of non-citizens to third countries, expand powers to revisit all refugee determination findings, give immunity from being sued by people who claim harm from being deported, and enable the re-imposition of ankle bracelets and curfews.
The legislation would also allow the government to pay third countries for accepting deportees, share information with foreign governments about the criminal histories of deportees, and protect officials in those countries from legal action.
Parliament’s human rights committee, chaired by Labor MP Josh Burns, said on Thursday that the bill could restrict rights related to criminal process, effective remedy, expulsion of aliens, freedom of movement, health, liberty, non-refoulement, privacy, protection of the family and torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment, ABC News reported.
Mr Burns’ committee has asked Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke for more information so it can “assess the compatibility of these measures with these human rights”, and the left-wing Human Rights Law Centre said the government should abandon the bill, which it called “brutal”.
So-called refugees living in Australia claim the legislation is causing widespread fear in their communities.
The new removal powers would also apply to so-called asylum seekers without criminal histories, including 452 people on Bridging Visa E, 986 in immigration detention, 193 in community detention, 246 “NZYQ detainees” on Bridging Visa R, another 96 on the same visa and possibly another group of 75,400 people, secretary of immigration compliance Michael Thomas confirmed on Friday.
The bill was introduced after the High Court ruled earlier this month that curfew and ankle monitoring requirements imposed on a former immigration detainee from Eritrea known as YBFZ were unjustifiable and punitive.
YBFZ arrived in Australia as a “stateless” refugee in 2002 and was jailed after being convicted of serious offences between 2006 and 2017. He was put in immigration detention after completing his prison sentence in 2018 and had his application for a protection visa refused in 2020.
Then late last year he was released after the High Court found so-called indefinite detention was unlawful, and was ordered to wear an ankle monitor and abide by a curfew. In June this year he was charged with six offences for failing to comply with both conditions – four relating to monitoring and two to alleged curfew breaches.
The High Court in November 2023 ruled on convicted Rohingya Muslim paedophile NYZQ, who raped a 10-year-old boy, and as a result the Labor government has since freed 224 other detainees who authorities claimed could not be deported.
The resulting outrage led to preventative detention laws being passed through parliament allowing any illegal immigrant criminals released from indefinite detention to be held for three years if it is decided they might be a danger to the community, and the ankle monitoring and curfew conditions which have since been struck down.
Mr Burns, who is Jewish, had his Melbourne office firebombed by far-left pro-Palestinian terrorists earlier this year, and is in a relationship with Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell.
Header image: Left, violent Sudanese refugee Jok Gar. Right, Anthony Albanese and Josh Burns visit the Sydney Jewish Museum in July (Facebook)
