Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) asylum seekers are still being held in alternative places of detention, such as hotels, in Australia;

(b) many of these individuals have now been detained for over eight years and have suffered significant psychological harm as result of their prolonged and indefinite detention;

(c) this program costs taxpayers tens of millions of dollars each year and continues despite:

(i) the impact on the physical and mental health of detainees; and

(ii) repeated offers to resettle asylum seekers from New Zealand; and

(d) the Minister for Home Affairs acknowledged in comments on 21 January 2021 that 'it's cheaper for people to be in the community than it is to be at a hotel or for us to be paying for them to be in detention and if they're demonstrated not to be a threat';

(2) applauds the significant contribution migrants and asylum seekers make to our economy, our democracy, and our vibrant, multicultural community; and

(3) calls on the Government to:

(a) address the issue of the indefinite detention of asylum seekers in hotels in Australia;

(b) honour the Minister for Home Affairs' previous comments and ensure that Australians will no longer see an expensive and cruel program of indefinite detention inflicted on people in our care; and

(c) immediately release Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharaunicaa from detention on Christmas Island and allow them to return to their home in Biloela, Queensland to the community who loves and supports them, and wants them home.

This motion was first drafted in March, and unfortunately there has been little progress since that time. I first drafted this motion in collaboration with my friend the member for Cooper, who will be contributing to this debate, and of course I sought the advice of my friends in the hardworking team at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. I want to start by again acknowledging all of the work that they and their team have done throughout the pandemic, often in extremely difficult circumstances, to support some of the most vulnerable and isolated people under our care.

As of September this year, there are 228 people in offshore detention, in Nauru and PNG, and some 90 people being detained in alternative places of detention, such as hotels. Many in alternative detention were placed there after they were brought to Australia for a medical evacuation, and they are now being held indefinitely here in Australia. I said it in June and I'll say it again: we have had options on the table to resettle people for years, and it is nothing short of cruelty and neglect that we haven't chosen to take them. We have had the New Zealand offer in particular, which has been on the table since 2013, when Prime Minister Julia Gillard did a deal with conservative New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to resettle 150 asylum seekers each and every year. But the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison government decided to rip that agreement up. We could have had zero people in offshore detention right now if we'd taken it up even just a few years ago.

The consequence of failing to resettle people in detention and in our care is becoming diabolical. The harm that these people are facing today in our care is getting worse. It's not just the isolation of being held in detention for almost nine years. Now many are facing the risk of a COVID outbreak. In recent days, we have heard of a very serious COVID outbreak at the Park Hotel in Melbourne, where 46 refugees are being held and where 20 have already tested positive. These are the remnants of the people who were transferred to Australia under the medevac agreements. Ironically, they were brought here because they needed extra medical care, but, due to the cruel choices of this government, their lives have been put at risk. We must ask why.

Why were they not released into the community when over 100 other medevac transfers were given a ticket into the community? The then Minister for Home Affairs, now Minister for Defence, said at the time that it was cheaper to have people in the community than in detention, yet this government chose to hold these 46 asylum seekers in the Park Hotel. Now almost half of them face a battle with the delta variant, and the reports are not good. Refugees have told advocates that, when they first complained of symptoms, no isolation protocols were implemented, testing was delayed and they were simply offered paracetamol. Because of this foreseeable failure, we now have an active outbreak which was entirely avoidable.

More than a year ago, Labor wrote to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs expressing our concerns for vulnerable people being detained in these places during a global pandemic. They haven't been kept safe. Recent information released by the department shows that there has been a lack of effort to vaccinate people in all detention facilities. At the moment, we're seeing about half of detainees and refugees fully vaccinated as compared to a national average of over 73 per cent. The Victorian government has expressed concerns. The ASRC has expressed concerns. The Human Rights Commission, the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases and the Australasian College for Infection Prevention Control have also been warning this government, yet it chooses cruelty time and time again. It's time to help people. It's time to end indefinite detention. The least we can do is protect those who are in our care.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and I reserve my right to speak.

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia's the most successful multicultural country on earth. We're home to the world's oldest continuing culture as well as Australians who identify with 270 different ancestries. Since the first Australian citizenship ceremony on Australia Day 1949, we've welcomed over five million new citizens to our shores. We are a prosperous, safe and united country. Our inclusive national identity is built around our shared values, including democracy, freedom, equal opportunity and individual responsibility.

As well as building a vibrant and diverse Australia, this government has much to celebrate in its management of migration program. We've brought in skilled migrants who will contribute to our national wealth by bringing critical skills that businesses weren't able to find locally, and we've done our part through the humanitarian program to support persecuted people around the world to find refuge in Australia. Importantly, this has all been done while maintaining the integrity of the border and confidence in the migration program.

The government's policy is very clear. People have zero chance of being permanently settled in Australia if they arrive illegally by boat. After dismantling the Howard government's successful border protection policies, Labor lost control of Australia's borders. Between 2008 and 2013, more than 50,000 people arrived in Australia illegally on more than 820 boats, and, tragically, at least 1,200 died at sea. Labor's record is clear. They cannot be trusted with protecting Australia's borders.

Since 2013, the government has worked methodically and successfully to end maritime people smuggling into Australia and to clean up this mess. Since coming to government, we've returned 873 people from 38 maritime people smuggling ventures to their country of origin or departure. Over the same period, close cooperation with regional partners has resulted in disruptions of an additional 84 maritime people smuggling ventures, 2,674 potential illegal migrants, and 634 arrests in source and transit countries.

While regional processing in PNG is coming to an end, the Morrison government's strong border protection policies, including a commitment to regional processing, has not changed. The Minister for Home Affairs recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nauruan government to establish an enduring regional processing capability in that country. This will ensure that regional processing continues as a deterrent against people smuggling. Anyone who attempts to enter Australia illegally by boat will be returned or sent to Nauru. Rather than chaos and tragedy, the Morrison government has restored integrity to Australia's migration program, and we've taken back our borders from the control of people smugglers.

While we're tough, we're also doing our part. Australia is one of the most generous contributors to international refugee resettlement efforts, successfully resettling more than 900,000 refugees and others in humanitarian need since the end of the Second World War. We are one of a relatively small number of countries that operate an annual permanent resettlement program and continue to rank among the top three per cent of resettlement countries in both absolute and per capita terms.

The humanitarian intake program has been drawn from a range of nationalities, ethnic and religious groups reflecting global displacement arising from conflict and persecution. The humanitarian program aims to provide permanent settlement and resettlement to those most in need, who are often in desperate situations, including in refugee camps and protected refugee situations; to reunite refugees and people who are in refugee-like situations overseas with their family in Australia; to be flexible and responsive to changing global resettlement needs and emerging humanitarian situations to ensure Australia's approach remains comprehensive and high-quality; to use resettlement strategically to help stabilise refugee populations, reduce the prospect of irregular movement from source countries and countries of first asylum and support broader international protection; and, of course, to meet Australia's international protection obligations. All humanitarian program applications are assessed on an individual basis, with applicants required to demonstrate their humanitarian need. Visa grants are ultimately subject to rigorous assessment, including health, character and security checks which are conducted before an individual is granted a visa.

While we're supporting those in need through our humanitarian program, we're also supporting Australian businesses to get the skills they need to prosper by providing for a skilled migration program. With the onset of COVID-19, around half a million temporary visa holders, many of whom were skilled migrants, left our shores. This not only had an effect on working holiday makers and on students but on many businesses in Australia that rely on skilled migration to keep their businesses open. On migration, the government has the policy settings right. Unlike the border chaos of the Labor days, we're tough on people smugglers, making sure we stop their pernicious business model in its tracks. At the same time, we have one of the most generous humanitarian programs in the world and we're making sure Australian businesses can get the skills they need.

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

I thank the member for Macnamara for bringing forward an important motion. Our treatment of vulnerable people seeking asylum speaks to who we are as a nation. It's an issue of great concern to many people in my electorate of Warringah and, indeed, to many people in Australia more broadly. As the motion rightly points out and as has, I would say, been ignored by members of government, the program of alternative detention costs taxpayers tens of millions of dollars per year and continues despite the physical and mental health impacts on those who remain in detention. Asylum seekers being held under these arrangements face not only disconnection and uncertainty but also a greater health risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past month, nearly one-third of refugees and asylum seekers at Melbourne's Park Hotel have tested positive for COVID-19, and the number is expected to grow. At least one refugee has been taken to hospital. It's one of the reasons that the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Amnesty International and the Australian Medical Association, as well as more than 1,000 medical professionals, have been calling for all people held in alternative places of detention to be released into the community.

Across the immigration detention network, vaccination rates are significantly lower than in the community at large: only 61 per cent have had one dose and 54 per cent are fully vaccinated. I call on the government to increase the vaccination efforts for all those who are vulnerable in those environments and expedite the release of asylum seekers and refugees into the community. We're not talking about a large group of people, and some of the narrative that comes from members of government really is ridiculous when it comes to this issue. There are currently 114 people being detained in the alternative places of detention. Earlier this year, Jacinda Ardern reaffirmed New Zealand's offer to resettle them in New Zealand, so I reiterate the call from Craig Foster, Sonny Bill Williams and many in our community to accept this offer. It's time to call game over and ask: why won't the government accept or even consider this offer? We know that 1,440 refugees are being held in onshore immigration detention and there are over 500 people in community detention, including 175 children. That is shameful. The case of the Biloela family continues to linger. That number in community detention includes them, three of whom have been granted year-long visas. But the youngest daughter is a pawn in the government's game and is not being granted that same status. That's why they remain indefinitely suffering in community detention in Perth while they're being prevented from being able to return to their home. It's time to end this charade of saying that this has, in some way, got something to do with protecting our border.

Finally, I turn to the Afghan evacuation. I'd like to think that, in these circumstances, we have actually had some common sense, some humanity. I want to thank Minister Payne and Minister Hawke and their officers for their cooperation and assistance during the recent evacuation efforts following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. I provided some assistance in getting female athletes out of the country. It was humbling and eye-opening for me and for my staff to hear about their experiences, and I thank the ministers and their teams for their assistance. I thank people like Craig Foster for his tireless efforts, as well as Nikki Dryden, Alison Battisson, Kurt Fearnley and the many, many others who were involved in this effort. Thank you for your dedication to getting these very vulnerable young women and their families to safety.

I'm continuing to work closely with groups supporting those who have made it here to Australia, and I will be following how they go in resettling here. And there are still so many trying to flee Afghanistan. The Sydney Alliance is one such group, who I will be meeting with next week to discuss their concerns with the government's response to the ongoing situation in Afghanistan. We need to expand our humanitarian visa scheme to include 20,000 places for Afghan refugees. We need to assist the Afghan Australians with urgent family reunification applications. And we need to grant permanent protection to Afghan nationals already in the community or in Australian immigration detention facilities.

It was devastating to hear earlier this week of the death of an interpreter who had assisted Australian Defence Force officials in our mission in Afghanistan. Sadly, I'm sure they're not the only one. I urge the government and its members to do more to assist the provision of temporary visas to those who are very much in need and those who have helped us. There are still so many questions around how we are treating these most vulnerable people and, as always, there's a lot of fearmongering that somehow this goes to our broader border policies, but, at the end of the day, it's our humanity that's at stake. Unfortunately, our actions do not say much for the humanity in Australia.

Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in this chamber to speak on the member for McNamara's motion on those seeking asylum in Australia. Australia has a long and proud tradition of resettling migrants and refugees and vulnerable people in humanitarian need. The horrific situation in Afghanistan is the most recent example of Australia supporting the evacuation of asylum seekers to escape unbearable and dangerous circumstances. In August this year, the Australian government, led by Minister Payne and Minister Hawke, were able to evacuate over 4,000 people from Kabul, making it the largest humanitarian airlift operation in our history. Thank you to Professor Sharon Pickering, a Higgins constituent, who helped bring the plight of a large group of fleeing Afghans with connections to Monash University to my attention so that we could work together to safely bring them to Australia.

Following this crisis, the Morrison government announced new funding of $27 million for a tailored Afghan settlement support package to help recent evacuees from Afghanistan settle successfully into their new lives in Australia. Amongst that includes $6 million committed to a specialist legal support for those evacuees and subclass 449 temporary humanitarian stay visas to transition to permanent visas. A further $7.9 million is being committed to the program of assistance for survivors of torture and trauma. We know many of those fleeing Afghanistan have suffered. Many Afghan arrivals are highly skilled professionals with strong English language skills, so $4.8 million has been committed to help new arrivals navigate skills recognition and education pathways to quickly secure suitable employment. These programs follow extensive consultation by Minister Alex Hawke with the Advisory Panel on Australian Resettlement of Afghan Nationals. We are determined, as a government, to help these people resettle quickly, efficiently and safely.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' most recent estimate, the number of people forcibly displaced globally is now more 80 million, with more than 26 million refugees. This does not include people fleeing the most recent crisis in Afghanistan. Australia needs to continue to make its contribution to dealing with this problem, and encourage our government to continue to increase the envelope that we can provide, particularly as we come out of COVID. However, we never want to return to the situation that was allowed to happen under the Labor government in 2013, when at least 50,000 people arrived in Australia by boats that were often not seaworthy, with, tragically, more than 1,200 dying at sea. Since 2013, our government has worked methodically and successfully to end maritime people smuggling.

The government is committed to the welfare of those seeking refuge here. Healthcare services are provided through onsite primary and mental health clinics, with referral to allied and specialist health providers as required as their claims are being processed. Acute medical care is provided by hospitals, if needed. I understand the government is presently in discussions with New Zealand with regard to a generous resettlement offer. The contents of these discussion remain confidential, but I look forward to a speedy resolution.

Since the first Australian citizenship ceremony on 26 January 1949, we've welcomed more than five million new citizens to our shores, including 900,000 refugees. They bring with them stories of their journey to our country as well as their rich culture and a myriad of languages and religions, which add to the wonderful and diverse multiculturalism that's modern day Australia.

One such person is Najaf Mazari, who runs a successful business in my electorate of Higgins. He came to Australia 20 years ago as a refugee from Afghanistan. He's written a very moving book about his extraordinary story of escape from Afghanistan and his new life in Australia. The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif was on the VCE reading list for four years, and Najaf was nominated for Australian of the Year in 2012. Proceeds from the sale of Najaf's book have funded the development of AusGhan Aid, a charity that Najaf founded to support over 70 villages in Afghanistan—a true story of hope. Najaf has been very grateful for the support the Australian government has given to help bring his compatriots safely to Australia following the most recent crisis in Kabul.

As I said in my first speech:

I want to ensure that those who seek a better life in our country are warmly welcomed and made at home, that they are given the same opportunities as all Australians to aspire to a better life.

I'm proud of Australia's response to the recent crisis in Afghanistan and look forward to the successful resettlement of those fleeing persecution and their contributions to Australia like Najaf's.

Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the motion moved by my good friend and colleague the member for Macnamara, and I thank him for moving this motion. Two years ago, I was horrified to discover that in my electorate of Cooper a local hotel on a busy Melbourne arterial road was being used pretty much as a prison. The Mantra Hotel was an alternative place of detention, or an APOD, housing men who had come to Australia under the medevac legislation. They had come to Australia to be treated for their ill health. This hotel in my community was part of a complex of hotels, conference centres, bars, wedding reception halls and even a suite of offices for local businesses, a place where lots of people from our community would mix, celebrate and work. I myself attended many events there. It was so hard to believe that, all the while we were going about our business and pleasure, on that same site sick, very unwell men were locked up and being subjected to treatment that amounted to mental torture, right before our unseeing eyes. It was confronting. I, of course, had known about the horror of indefinite detention, both offshore and in places like MITA, with its barbed wire and high walls, and that is horror enough. Indefinite detention of asylum seekers should not happen, but I'd never heard of an APOD before. Such a term wasn't in my lexicon. It's a new kind of terror, particularly because it predominantly affects very unwell people.

Back in January 2020 I managed to visit the men in the Mantra. I saw the toll that indefinite detention had taken on them. I could see it in their eyes. Some were of course angry, some were sad and some were numb, and others were clearly so unwell that they could hardly speak. My old nursing assessment skills kicked in, and alarm bells rang very loudly in my head. I saw one man who was so ill and so thin, and his skin was such a dusky colour. He was unable to eat because his teeth were so bad. I sat with the men and I listened. A couple of them I met bravely became the public voice of the group inside. 'Moz' and Farhad are two well-known advocates now. Farhad called me one night when he was in the Mantra. He was being subjected to a cruel, late-night upheaval, being forcibly removed from his room, with no explanation. He was not allowed to take any of his belongings. He was extremely distressed. I was speaking to him as it was happening and I felt powerless.

Then, in March that year, COVID-19 broke. I immediately wrote to the then minister about the potential for an outbreak at Mantra, as did the shadow assistant minister, the member for Scullin. Numerous organisations, including the Human Rights Commission, the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases and the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control also warned the government about the potential for an outbreak. The conditions were perfect for it to spread. Anyone could see it coming, with guards coming and going, cramped, overcrowded conditions, the inability to social distance and poor ventilation. It was always going to happen, and the government should have seen that. The men should have been released into the community, for so many reasons, but, importantly, to avoid the spread of COVID-19. But there was no action from the government. Some people were, thank goodness, released into the community, but others were not, and now, in the new APOD, the Park Hotel, the worst has happened: of 46 men held at the Park Hotel, 20 have been infected with COVID-19. We now have an APOD health crisis. One man is in hospital. It's difficult to know how ill the others are.

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre have said that there have been significant delays in test results for people in the Park Hotel and that people are being re-tested due to poor quarantine conditions. The care has not been adequate. It's dangerously inappropriate to have the men on this site, particularly when they are immunocompromised and at heightened risk. We've heard that they have to monitor their own oxygen levels. What happens, I wonder, if someone becomes far too ill in the night to even lift their arms and test their own oxygen level? They wait hours to see the single nurse. They can't, often, even get Panadol.

Two years ago, when word spread about the APOD, the community held protests, first weekly and then daily. Our wonderful Cooper Grans for Refugees were among the amazing advocates. The Refugee Action Collective have been instrumental in organising these actions. I want to thank everyone who has spoken up. We will not stop till these men are safe. In Australia, everyone deserves that. (Quorum formed)

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank my colleague the member for Macnamara for moving this very important motion. He is absolutely right to note that asylum seekers are still being held in alternative places of detention in Australia, such as hotels, and that this is just not appropriate. It is just not good enough that people are still being held in unsafe and cruel conditions. In Melbourne at the moment, asylum seekers are being held at the Park Hotel, and we now have a situation where there's been an outbreak of COVID and at least one person has had to be taken to hospital. It is not clear if the appropriate arrangements around infection control are in place to keep people safe in this place of detention. It is unacceptable that the Morrison government has left these asylum seekers in an unsafe position during a global pandemic.

I thank the members of my community who have contacted me who are very concerned about these asylum seekers at the Park Hotel and about the government's lack of care for them. They've been very concerned about evidence put to a Federal Circuit Court hearing recently that an ambulance called for one of the men who was detained in this hotel—called by his friends when they were concerned that he was having difficulty breathing—wasn't allowed access to treat him. These members of my community are, rightly, horrified at the possibility that this is how we treat anybody in our country. Of course, many of these people in detention have been detained for far too long, and they are already suffering significant psychological harm as a result of their prolonged and indefinite detention. It is not okay for asylum seekers to be detained in hotels indefinitely. We must move away from this practice of detaining people indefinitely. It doesn't have to be this way. This government has had repeated offers from New Zealand since 2013 that would have allowed them to resettle asylum seekers, yet they refuse to take up these offers, despite this detention being unnecessarily cruel and despite it costing tens of millions of dollars each year. But unnecessary cruelty is a hallmark of this government when it comes to treatment of asylum seekers.

I have spoken before in this place about the situation of Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharunicaa: the Biloela family. This family has been held in detention for years, including in isolation on Christmas Island. It was only after Tharunicaa got very sick with a blood infection that the government removed them from Christmas Island. This is the level of humanity of this government; it takes a little girl ending up in hospital for some degree of decency to be shown. And of course it is only some degree, because this family is still in community detention in Perth and cannot return to Biloela. But the community of Biloela have made it clear that they love and support this family, and that they're valued members of their community. They want them back as valued members of their community, but, despite this government having the power to rectify the situation at any time, they continue to separate the Biloela family from their community. It is time to bring them home to Bilo.

That brings me to another very important part of this motion: that this House 'applauds the significant contribution migrants and asylum seekers make to our economy, our democracy, and our vibrant, multicultural community'. It is so important that we recognise this. Biloela wants their family back because they work in their community and they contribute to community life—and that happens right across our country. You wouldn't hear about it if you listened to this government, if you heard the fear that is pushed out from this government. But it certainly happens in my community, where we appreciate the contribution that refugees and asylum seekers make locally.

There are so many groups in my community who work on behalf of supporting refugees and asylum seekers, and I want to thank them all. I thank the Montmorency Asylum Seekers Support Group, who are in constant contact with me about individual cases that they think need following up on because they're concerned about the conditions these asylum seekers are being detained in, and about broader issues of policy around how we are unnecessarily cruel under this government. I thank Jagajaga Grandmothers for Refugees, who also speak up. I thank Welcome to Eltham, a real example of what can be achieved locally. They supported Syrian and other refugees to be settled successfully into our local community and to be welcomed.

These are the success stories. These are the people who care. These are the people this government should be listening to, and this is what should be happening across this country. It is what would be happening if it were not for the needless and pointless cruelty of this Morrison government.

Debate adjourned.