Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before my contribution to the debate on the Migration Amendment (Designated Unauthorised Arrivals) Bill 2006 was interrupted by question time, I was discussing Australia’s offshore processing arrangements. These arrangements guarantee proper care and protection for asylum seekers as well as access to the refugee assessment process, and the changes contained in the amendments in this bill today will in no way erode those guarantees.

The offshore location of Nauru will be given additional government support in order to continue to meet human rights standards in providing protection and care to people while their claims are being assessed. This protection will also extend to those people found to be genuine refugees who are awaiting resettlement. Anyone found to be a genuine refugee will be able to remain in the location to which they have been processed until resettlement is arranged for them. Protection will also be offered to those who are planning an eventual return to their homeland.

The Australian government will ensure that there is continued access to a reliable refugee assessment process for all groups who claim refugee protection. This process was developed by Australian officers in conjunction with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and mirrors that used by the UNHCR itself. There are existing provisions that will continue to protect people being processed offshore, including the commitment that if anyone needs urgent medical attention they will be brought to Australia and looked after.

For people brought temporarily to the mainland for periods extending to more than six months, the right to request an assessment of their refugee claim by the Refugee Review Tribunal will also continue. Obviously people who are not meant to be caught by these new arrangements will not be defined as designated unauthorised arrivals. These include New Zealand citizens, permanent residents of Norfolk Island and anyone brought to Australia for the purposes of the Customs Act.

The bill will also allow the minister to declare that specified persons or classes of persons are exempt from being classed as unauthorised arrivals, which will allow important flexibility within the range of the complex circumstances that can arise when we are dealing with controlling our borders. This bill will also introduce a requirement for the Secretary to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs to report annually to this parliament on the offshore processing arrangements and refugee assessment outcomes. These reports will be tabled in both this place and the other place.

Processes are already in place that will put us in a state of readiness with regard to the processing arrangements for any unauthorised arrivals. However, let us remember that this is a measure designed to operate as a deterrent. It continues the existing arrangements that we put in place in October 2001, which have successfully deterred further arrivals. These changes will undoubtedly go even further in reducing the incentive for people to arrive illegally in Australia, and they are an important measure in strengthening the control that the government has over our borders.

These amendments are simple, sensible, and flexible. They are a reasonable approach to dealing with the continued protection of our borders. They will ensure that there are appropriate and effective measures in place so that Australia can continue to provide for an orderly and fair process to allocate the generous number of places that we do for refugee arrivals into the future.

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