Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

I move Democrat amendment (11) on sheet 4868:

(11)  Page 66 (after line 20), at the end of Part 3, add:

55 Review

        (1)    The Minister must cause an independent review of:

             (a)    the extent to which Australia discharges its obligations to stateless persons; and

             (b)    the extent to which the Department of Immigration and Citizenship has conferred with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission on Australia’s obligations to stateless persons.

        (2)    The person who undertakes the review under subsection (1) must give the Minister a written report of the review.

        (3)    The Minister must cause a copy of the report of the review to be tabled in each House of Parliament within 12 months after the second anniversary of the commencement of this Act.

This amendment is fairly self-evident. It seeks to cause an independent review to be performed regarding the extent to which Australia discharges its obligations to stateless persons and the extent to which the Department of Immigration and Citizenship has conferred with the UNHCR and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission on Australia’s obligations to stateless persons. From my recollection of the genesis of this amendment, I think the drafting instructions on this went in about 10 or 11 months ago when the Senate committee reported. It was really generated from some of the discussions and submissions around statelessness and our obligations to stateless persons, which I accept is a murky area. Indeed that is part of the reason to suggest this review to make clear the extent of exactly how adequately we are discharging our obligations in that area and whether there are ways we can improve that performance.