Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, I present the seventh report of the 44th Parliament of the committee on the examination of legislation in accordance with the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Ordered that the report be printed.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

I rise to speak to the tabling of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights seventh report of the 44th Parliament. This report covers 42 bills introduced in the period 13 to 29 May, seven of which have been deferred for further consideration, and 218 legislative instruments received during the period 8 March to 30 May. The report also includes the committee's consideration of 15 responses to matters raised in previous committee reports.

Of the bills considered this report, I note that the following bills are scheduled for debate in the parliament this week: the Migration Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014 and the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2014. The report outlines the committee's assessment of the compatibility of these bills with human rights. I encourage my fellow senators to look to the committee's report to inform their deliberations on the merits of the proposed legislation.

I would like to draw senators' attention to one bill in this report which is of particular interest and relevance to the committee's task of assessing legislation of compatibility in the area of human rights. The Migration Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014 consists of six schedules of amendments to the Migration Act and the Australian Citizenship Act. Key changes include: amending the existing limitations on applying for a further protection visa whilst in Australia to include situations where the first visa application was made on behalf of a non-citizen—this would cover situations where the non-citizen did not know of or did not understand the nature of the application due to a mental impairment or because they were a minor; extending debt recovery provisions for detention costs to all convicted people smugglers and illegal foreign fishers; amending the role of authorised recipients for visa applicants; the Migration Review Tribunal and Refugee Review Tribunal's obligations to give documents to authorised recipients; providing access to and use of material and information obtained under a search warrant in migration and citizenship decisions; and amending the procedural fairness provisions that apply to visa applicants.

As noted in the report, the committee has raised concerns about each of these amendments. In most cases, the committee has sought more information from the minister, noting that the statement of compatibility for the bill did not provide an adequate assessment of how the limitation on rights in each case was reasonable, necessary and proportionate. In particular, the committee noted that extending the statutory bar on repeat protection visa applications to children and persons with a mental impairment engages a number of human rights. These include the best interests of the child and the rights of persons with a mental impairment to legal capacity. The schedule also engages Australia's non-refoulement obligations, the obligation not to return people to harm. In this regard, the committee notes that merits review of decisions to remove people from Australia is an important aspect of our non-refoulement obligations. I encourage senators to consult the full discussion of the bill in the report, which provides a more detailed account of the issues raised.

Finally, in relation to the responses to matters previously raised by the committee, the report contains consideration of 15 such responses and the committee's concluding remarks on these matters. With these comments, I commend the committee's seventh report of the 44th Parliament to the Senate.

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to briefly speak to the seventh report. As Senator Smith said, there are 42 bills and 218 instruments in the seventh report of this parliament, which is only six months old. I want to express my appreciation to the members of the committee and the secretariat, and to Senator Smith for his chairmanship of this committee since the government came to power. This committee was established by the former government. I was privileged to be a member of the committee from its formation and have continued to be actively involved. It is an incredibly important committee. What we see in the work of this committee is a totally non-partisan approach to the task at hand. The key principles about whether the legislation or the instruments before the committee are reasonable, necessary and proportionate underpin all the work that we do.

I commend the committee and I commend Senator Dean Smith for the improvements to the process that he has introduced. They have been very thoughtful and very helpful, because we can sometimes be overwhelmed by the amount of work that is present to us. I thank the committee for the opportunity to be part of such an important part of our legislative process.

Question agreed to.