Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

We've seen someone rise to power in the US trying to get around the legal system, ignoring the courts and punching down on migrants. That sort of politics makes the world a worse place. The Migration Amendment Bill, though, is part of that race to the bottom on migration that we are seeing from Liberal and Labor. This bill builds on the cruel regime of offshore detention and processing that started over a decade ago, deliberately subjecting thousands of people to torturous conditions.

The High Court found in YBFZ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs that the government cannot inflict punitive conditions—like ankle monitors and curfews—on people recently released from detention. Instead of listening to the courts and listening to the rule of law, the government sought not only to get around the courts but also to introduce sweeping changes to the migration system.

This bill will effectively allow governments to bribe other countries to take people that Australia is forcibly removing from Australia. Someone can be removed to a third country when they are without a visa or on a bridging visa R, a BVR, and cannot return to their country of origin. That is thousands of people. This law cannibalises part of Labor's failed Trump-style travel ban bill. In particular, it allows the government to force people to choose between indefinite detention or forced removal to a third country where they have no rights or protections. Based on past practices, these third countries are likely to be Nauru, PNG or even Cambodia. It could be countries with very poor human rights records and indeed where it can be a criminal offence to identify as LGBTIQ+.

Many other countries would point to laws like this to legitimately criticise Australia's human rights protections. Once people are deported to that third country, there are no protections, and the country does not even need to be a signatory to the refugee convention. It would even be lawful under this bill for people to be deported to a third country only to be placed in jail or immigration detention immediately on arrival. It is most definitely not a requirement of this bill that people are given work or other basic rights on arrival.

In fact, the only protections in this bill are for the decision-makers, who cannot be held liable for sending people to third countries even if they are aware it is likely to cause them serious harm. That's what this bill does. It provides immunity for the government and decision-makers to send someone to another country even if they are aware it is likely to cause that person serious harm. You know that the government is about to do something very bad when a large part of the bill is dedicated to making sure that people cannot be held to account for the decisions they are making. We've already seen in the context of Nauru and PNG that Australia effectively bribes third countries to commit what on any reasonable interpretation are human rights abuses on Australia's behalf, and it has lasting damage on people—to the people we send there but also to political and moral standards here.

This bill also gives the government the unrestricted ability to share criminal records with any other government to help facilitate the removal of people to third countries. This means you could have a situation where someone could flee Saudi Arabia because they criminalise homosexuality there, only to have the Australian government force that person into a third country that also criminalises homosexuality and share their criminal record. All of that is now permissible under this bill. That is what people are voting on here.

There are principles that we in the Greens hold dear and that most people in this country, I think, would hold dear. When someone commits an offence, they go to court, and the judge decides what happens. That is how the law works, and it only works because everyone is treated the same. The government here, though, wants to create a new quasi-legal system to allow politicians and bureaucrats to punish people outside the courts. That is a clear threat to the rule of law in this country.

Just this week, I met with people who were subjected to the cruel and unfair fast-track system. This system was abolished because Labor worked with the Greens to end it. However, those who were failed by that system remain in limbo, without a pathway to permanency. I met someone who came here alone as a child more than a decade ago. The government prevents him from studying. I met another man who was working in construction, building homes, and then, out of nowhere, the government stopped renewing his visa, and he has been unable to work. Under this bill, that person, who fled a country fearing persecution, lived here for more than a decade, worked here and paid taxes, can now be forced to choose between detention forever or forcible removal to a country like PNG or Nauru. That's what this bill does.

The government, we know, will try to demonise and dehumanise migrants and refugees when passing this bill. But make no mistake: the people who will be punished are those like the people rejected from fast-track—people who, in many instances, want nothing more than to live here and live a good life for themselves and their families. For this reason, we support the member for Wentworth's amendments, which seek to address some of the bills cruellest aspects such as reducing who can be forcibly removed. However, we still reject the fundamental assumptions that this bill makes that the government is able to extrajudicially punish people. The High Court made it clear that the law needs to be applied equally to everyone, no matter where you come from, and you cannot have bureaucrats and politicians punishing people outside the courts. That's what the High Court decided.

It does not need to be this way—as is set out in the legislation. The Greens are asking Labor to work with us to protect multicultural Australia and to stop the fear and division around migrants and refugees. For example, it was very concerning to hear even the minister for immigration in question time yesterday giving repetition to the argument pushed by the Leader of the Opposition that somehow people who are unable to find a home have migrants to blame. We are witnessing a very distressing race to the bottom again at this election where Labor and the Liberals outcompete each other as to who can punish migrants more. We have seen this happen at previous elections. One of the things about the Leader of the Opposition is that, when it comes to punching down on migrants, he'll just keep going.

I urge Labor to stop joining in this race to the bottom, because it's a race you can never win, and it will hurt multicultural Australia. It will hurt migrants and refugees. The only way to take on those who seek to demonise migrants and refugees is to stand firm on principle, including on the principle of the rule of law and the principles of multiculturalism. This election could be a very dirty and distressing race to the bottom on migration, and it looks like it's going that way. This bill is another example of that. You don't beat the politics of Dutton and Trump by rolling over; you beat it by holding firm to core principles.

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