Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Migration and Maritime Powers Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2015 contains a number of amendments to the Migration Act and a separate amendment to the Maritime Powers Act. These amendments will strengthen and clarify the legal framework in those acts, ensuring that they will be interpreted consistently with original policy intention and operate effectively as intended.

Specifically, the bill will ensure that when an unlawful noncitizen is in the process of being removed to another country and before they enter the other country, the person is returned to Australia, then that person has a lawful basis to return to Australia without a visa; ensure that when such a person does return to Australia without a visa, the visa application bars in sections 48 and 48A of the Migration Act will continue to apply as if they never left Australia; make a technical amendment to ensure that the prohibition against the making of further protection visa applications in section 48A of the Migration Act operates as intended under policy; ensure that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal can review certain character or security based decisions to refuse to grant a protection visa to a fast-track applicant; ensure that the visa ceasing provisions in sections 82, 173 and 174 of the Migration Act operate as intended under policy and to make a number of amendments to give full effect to the substantive amendments made by the Migration Amendment (Character and General Visa Cancellation) Act 2014 to make a minor amendment to address an incorrect referencing area in section 38B of the Migration Act relating to maritime crew visas; and confirm that the powers in the Maritime Powers Act are able to be exercised in the course of passage through or above the waters of another country in a manner that is consistent with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The proposed amendments in schedule 1 ensure that, when an attempt is made to remove an unlawful noncitizen from our country, that noncitizen does not enter the destination country and is instead returned to Australia, the noncitizen can be returned to Australia without a visa. In addition, they will be treated as if they had never left Australia for the purposes of the visa application bars imposed by sections 48 and 48A of the Migration Act.

Currently the Migration Act allows an unlawful noncitizen who has been removed from Australia to return without a visa, if the unlawful noncitizen was refused entry into the destination country. It does not currently allow for the return without a visa of a noncitizen who we have attempted to remove from Australia in other circumstances where it may be necessary. For example, there is no facility to return a person to Australia without a visa, if a transit country refuses to allow the removed person to transit or if the United Nations Human Rights Committee makes an interim measures request that the removal not be completed. The amendments in schedule 1 will address this inconsistency.

Similarly, the current law provides that, when a noncitizen is returned to Australia without a visa because they were refused entry to the destination country, the bars on making further applications imposed by sections 48 and 48A of the Migration Act will continue to apply as if they had never left Australia. The amendments will ensure that the same rule applies to a noncitizen who is returned to Australia without a visa in any circumstance covered by these amendments.

The amendments in schedule 2 of this bill are required to give full effect to the substantive amendments made to the Migration Act last year by the Migration Amendment (Character and General Visa Cancellation) Act of 2014.

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