Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, Immigration detention in Australia: community-based alternatives to detention, together with the Hansard record of proceedings, minutes of proceedings and submissions received by the committee.

Ordered that the report be printed.

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

Just over 12 months ago the Joint Standing Committee on Migration began an inquiry into the state of immigration detention in Australia. At the beginning of December last year, the committee tabled its first report entitled Immigration detention in Australia: a new beginning: criteria for release from detention. I am very pleased to table in the Senate today the second report on behalf of the committee, Immigration detention in Australia: community-based alternatives to detention. I note that it is a very appropriate week to be tabling such report because it is Refugee Week in Australia.

The first report by the committee made 18 recommendations that were aimed at improving accountability and ensuring a timely release from detention centres following health, security and identity checks. It gives me great pleasure to note that the government has already acted on some of those recommendations from the first report, particularly with the introduction of the Migration Amendment (Abolishing Detention Debt) Bill 2009. That bill seeks to remove the liability of detention costs for detainees and also to extinguish all outstanding immigration detention debts.

The second report of the committee addresses the options available for community based alternatives to detention centres. It focuses on the conditions and material support required for a successful release into the community. Drawing on evidence from submissions, as well as looking at international approaches to immigration detention, the committee’s second report makes 12 recommendations. Those recommendations are made in the context of the government’s commitment to immigration detention reform as announced by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Evans, through the seven values that will underpin the future of immigration detention within Australia. The recommendations from this report build on those immigration detention values. The recommendations in the second report seek to uphold the security and safety of Australia’s people and its borders whilst taking a humane approach to people that arrive in Australia seeking our protection.

One of the key recommendations in the report is that the government utilise a reform bridging visa framework in lieu of community detention until a person’s immigration status is resolved. This recommendation—recommendation 2 in the report—proposes that community detention be discontinued and those people assessed as suitable for release from detention centres be granted bridging visas until either their departure or resolution of their case. That recommendation is consistent with the department’s practice of issuing bridging visas in preference over placing a person into immigration detention as well as with the fifth key immigration detention value that states that:

Detention in immigration detention centres is only to be used as a last resort and for the shortest practicable time.

However, in the shift to maximising community based alternatives to detention, the committee recognises the need for change and greater consistency in conditions applying to bridging visas. Subsequently, recommendation 1 of the report advocates for reform to the current bridging visa framework to comprehensively support those released into the community with the appropriate reporting or surety requirements.

The committee believes that there is an inadequate provision of services available to bridging visa holders. Evidence received by the committee through submissions and public hearings suggested that people can be granted but also lose access to health care or permission to work at different stages of the immigration process. The inconsistencies in the rules are not at all fair to families or individuals going through the process of having their immigration status resloved. It is anticipated that if the government adopts the first recommendation of this report individuals and families would be subject to less stress and strain whilst they undergo that assessment process. If there is an increase in the use of bridging visas without reform to the framework, it is the case that some people may be no better off or indeed could be worse off than if they were put into immigration detention. The aspects of bridging visa conditions is certainly something that the committee felt needed to be sorted out sooner rather than later.

Further recommendations in this report are focused on ensuring that migrants have access to humane and appropriate living environments whilst they await the outcome of their immigration status. The committee has considered maintaining an enforceable immigration system for Australia whilst providing affordable options for the Australian taxpayer in this context.

For the information of the senator, as at the beginning of last month—that is, May 2009—there were 84 children aged less than 18 years being held in immigration detention: 27 of those children were detained in the community under residence determinations, 52 were in alternative temporary detention in the community and five were in transitional immigration residential housing. With the committee’s aim to get all immigrant detainees out into community based alternatives to detention as soon as possible, recommendation 9 focused in particular on the welfare of those children. The committee has suggested that the government commits to ensuring that children living in the Australian community have access to safe and appropriate accommodation with their parents or guardians—as well as the provision of basic necessities such as adequate food, necessary health care, and, importantly, primary and secondary education for as long as it takes whilst their or their guardians’ immigration status is being resolved.

It is unacceptable that children, regardless of their citizenship or migration status, can be living in our community in preventable poverty. Immigrant families with children in particular have special vulnerabilities, and therefore it has already been a priority of the Australian government, I am very pleased to say, in recent years to remove children, together with their families, from immigration detention centres. With the recommendation in this second report the committee is making an additional proposal to safeguard the rights and interests of children living in our community, regardless of their immigration status. The committee also notes the need to make sure that the states and territories are sufficiently funded to meet these obligations.

In line with the recommendations of the first report, the committee has concluded that there are opportunities to improve accountability and transparency in the department’s decisions about who is eligible for release from immigration detention into the community and the subsequent conditions that will apply to that release. Recommendation 4 from the report proposes that, for any case where a person held in some form of immigration detention is refused a bridging visa, the government require that clear and detailed reasons in writing are provided to the person being detained; and also that the person has a reasonable time limit of up to 21 days in which to seek merit review of any refusal.

Finally, the other remaining recommendations from this report cover access to income, health care and housing, conditions for permission to work and community based immigration housing availability. These recommendations all build on Australia’s immigration detention values and strike a fair balance between maintaining the integrity of our immigration system and protecting the welfare of those who seek refuge here. Additionally, I would like to add that the recommendations made in this second report maintain the standards expected of us by the international community, further reflecting the values outlined by the UN refugee convention, of which Australia is a signatory.

The committee is determined in this report to ensure that our immigration system treats all people, no matter what their immigration status may be, in a humane and compassionate way whilst maintaining the security and protection of our nation. The findings of this second report will assist the government to continue to achieve a fair and equitable balance between those two things. I am pleased to say that the committee’s third and final report of the inquiry into immigration detention can be expected later this year. I would like to conclude by thanking all of the witnesses, the departmental officials, the committee secretariat, and the senators and members on the joint committee who contributed to this report.