Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to oppose the Migration Amendment (Abolishing Detention Debt) Bill 2009. The policy of billing people for the cost of their detention was introduced in November 1992 by the then Labor government. Speaking during the introduction of the Migration Reform Bill in 1992, the then Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs, Gerry Hand, stated:

A primary objective of the Migration Act is to regulate, in the national interest, the entry and presence in Australia of persons who are not Australian citizens.

This very simple but important objective should guide all that we do in relation to changes to immigration policy, in particular when amendments are proposed that may further weaken this objective or put more border crossing decisions into the hands of international criminals.

The objective of this bill is to remove the liability for immigration detention debt and related costs for detainees and liable third parties and to extinguish all outstanding immigration detention debts other than those incurred by convicted illegal foreign fishers and people smugglers. Given the fact that detainees who make a successful bid to remain in Australia, and eligible third parties, very rarely pay any detention debt, virtually nothing, in effect, changes with the amendments introduced by this bill other than the principal itself. Right now, people who incur debt as asylum seekers are very rarely required to pay. In recognition of their means, less than 2.5 per cent of the detention debt invoiced since 2004-05 has been recovered, with nearly 95 per cent of the debt waived or written off. It should also be noted that the latest statistics show nearly 80 per cent of detainees are in detention for less than three months, which would create debts of around $10,000, not the hundreds of thousands of dollars often referred to in discussing this amendment. Nonetheless, the coalition agrees that such comparatively smaller amounts should still be waived or written off if the asylum seeker cannot pay.

A recent report by the Joint Standing Committee on Migration recommended the abolition of detention charges. The committee has also called for the release of detainees into the community before the processing of their identity, health and security status has been completed. It would mean even less time in detention for all if this very unwise recommendation were adopted by the Rudd government. I repeat that the coalition fully supports the waiving of detention debts and write-offs for asylum seekers found to be refugees and who are unable to pay. If, as the government argues, there is a problem with record keeping and the administration of the debt recovery or write-off programs then this government should improve that administration, not abolish the program that, I argue, serves a very important purpose. It would be an extraordinary precedent for any government if an important program were removed simply because it was maladministered.

There is no doubt that announcing to the region that this Rudd Labor regime is abolishing the 17-year-old policy of recovering detention debt would bring great joy to the people smugglers who are once again very active in our waters. Just yesterday we saw the arrival of the 22nd boat—and there have been over 800 unauthorised arrivals—since the softening of policy in August 2008. Abolishing the detention debt principle is going to remove one more deterrent in the way of people smugglers arguing now that Australia has a wide-open backdoor.

Members need to be reminded that ALP minister Gerry Hand introduced the measure to recover detention debts 17 years ago, for this program to be a deterrent. At the time, Australia was experiencing an early surge in unauthorised boat arrivals. The government of the day, the ALP, introduced a range of amendments to the Migration Act to try to restore order and to save lives. Measures included mandatory detention, the establishment of the migration and refugee review tribunals, time limits on the lodgement of applications for asylum and also this detention charge we are discussing today. In his second reading speech Gerry Hand said:

In spite of the 1989 reforms, a major issue confronting the government is border control. There are people who are intent on bypassing the established categories of entry into this country. Some do this by trying to avoid immigration processing altogether by arriving in Australia without authority. The boat people are a good example. Owing to weaknesses which have been inherent in our migration laws for many years, these people are often successful. Many manage to stay here, even though they do not fall within the specific visa categories, which is the only lawful way to enter and stay in Australia. At the very least, many manage to delay the substantive decision on their case and, as a consequence, their departure, by using the courts to exploit any weaknesses they can find in our immigration law. This must stop.

These of course were the words of Gerry Hand, a Labor minister who knew all too well that the cost of compromising the integrity of the migration and humanitarian programs for our nation was a loss of our capacity to help those suffering in refugee camps around the world, people who would never have the cash or contacts to engage the people smugglers. Without good regional engagement and a properly managed migration and humanitarian program, we cannot afford to offer safe haven to those most in need—people, for example, like those who are coming out of Africa, the Thailand border regions and the Bangladeshi border regions.

Writing most recently in theAustralian on 26 May, another former ALP minister for immigration, Barry Cohen, pondered Australia’s response to people like his ancestors, the European Jewry, fleeing after World War II. He said:

How many should Australia have taken: 30,000, 300,000, three million? There was always going to be a limit that would be too many for some, too little for others. Which brings us to the present debate in Australia about refugees, illegals, asylum seekers; call them what you will. It’s still a matter of numbers.

Labor minister Gerry Hand also identified the problem that a surge of unauthorised arrivals posed for Australia’s capacity to offer new settlers comprehensive support for some of the world’s most desperate refugees. He was also, of course, concerned about our orderly migration program.

The Hon. Julia Gillard was once similarly convinced about the need for a strong migration policy with integrity, but of course she has since been silenced. In 2004 Julia Gillard, the now Deputy Prime Minister—

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