Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Bartlett, I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

26 September 2006 marks the 5th anniversary of the guillotining through the Senate of seven separate pieces of legislation amending the Migration Act 1958,

(ii)

some aspects contained in these pieces of legislation have caused enormous suffering and hardship to asylum seekers who were fleeing persecution, and

(iii)

5 years on, numerous reports and inquiries have uncovered multiple cases of damaged lives due to flaws in the legislation and in the culture of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, and repeated failures to ensure that the rights of asylum seekers and refugees are protected and that their cases are processed fairly;

(b)

expresses the view that some of the changes made to the Migration Act in the wake of the Tampa incident undermined basic legal principles such as equality before the law, procedural fairness, transparent accountability of the actions of Commonwealth officers and protecting against refoulement; and

(c)

calls for reform of the Migration Act to ensure greater fairness, transparency, accountability and compliance with Australia’s obligations under international law, and an end to the Pacific solution, mandatory detention and temporary protection visas.

Question negatived.