Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

On 19 July many refugees entered their 10th year in detention in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. In the Australian Labor Party national platform 2021—prior to the election—it's written:

Under Labor's policies, unauthorised arrivals who enter for the purpose of seeking asylum will be mandatorily detained, for management of health, identity and security risks to the community. Labor will strive to ensure this is for no longer than 90 days.

There are 216 people remaining in Australia's offshore facilities. They have been detained for over nine years now. Today is the 72nd day since the Prime Minister was sworn in, so I would argue that 90-day goal of process is running dangerously short. I urge the Prime Minister and the government to act urgently to end the suffering of those seeking refuge.

Yesterday I met with Betelhem and Ismail, who each spent years in offshore detention before being transferred to onshore detention in the Park Hotel in Melbourne. They described the dehumanising experience, the uncertainty driving deterioration of physical and mental health, and the pain of being separated from family indefinitely. Both Betelhem and Ismail are now living in the community, working and contributing to the vibrant communities in which they live. They told me of their sorrow for those who are still in Nauru and in Papua New Guinea. I was embarrassed, as an Australian, to sit in front of these people and feel deeply responsible for their suffering and the suffering of their friends.

Many of those who remain in offshore detention are from Afghanistan. Since the takeover by the Taliban last year, they clearly do not have a safe home to return to. There's the exhaustion of those who are now entering their 10th year of detention, engaging in the tiresome processes of the paperwork needed to be resettled in the USA, Canada or New Zealand with no time line and without adequate health care to make sure they're even well enough to engage in the process.

I was proud to support Amnesty International's Game Over campaign to finally get agreement to the New Zealand deal to resettle refugees there. But this leaves those in Papua New Guinea completely abandoned by Australian authorities, leaving UNHCR to take up the negotiation for their resettlement separately. The majority of those who remain in offshore detention have a pathway to resettlement, so there is no reason not to bring them to Australia to recover their health and spend time in community while they wait for resettlement elsewhere. Betelhem's and Ismail's stories are, unfortunately, all too familiar to the teams at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Amnesty International and the Refugee Advice & Casework Service who provide vital support services to these vulnerable people.

I urge the government to urgently accelerate resettlement processes with New Zealand, the United States and Canada; bring to Australia all those in offshore detention with resettlement pathways while they await resettlement; implement the policy of their national platform; cap processing and detention at 90 days; allow refugees and asylum seekers to work, to provide these people with an improvement in their quality of life and to address national workforce shortages; and provide a permanent pathway to those on temporary protection visas and adults on bridging visas the right to study. It is outrageous that we stand in this place and talk about skill shortages in so many caring industries where we need people to be able to contribute, and yet we have refugees in detention in our community unable to contribute in the way in which they would like to. We are better than this. We are better than the Australia that, for the last 20 years, has treated horrifically those trying to seek refuge and a better life in Australia.

I urge the government to close the door on our shameful offshore detention and processing of refugees, our shameful treatment of those coming to our shores for a better life, and make sure we now turn a page to much better policies and a humane treatment of refugees. We must do this in a timely way. I know the community of Warringah cares deeply about this, as do the constituents of many of the others on this crossbench, where communities have had enough of the political parties using the fate of these incredibly vulnerable people as political footballs. I urge the government to do better on this.

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