Labor's commitment to asylum seekers?

8 May 2008

Media Release Thursday 8th May 2008

For Immediate release

Labor's commitment to asylum seekers?

A Just Australia, a national refugee policy group, says that the Immigration Minister's comment that people who are seeking Ministerial Intervention have already been found not to be owed Australia's protection does not tell the full story.

"Australia has protection obligations under more than just the Refugee Convention. Ministerial Intervention is the only point at which asylum seekers' claims for protection under instruments such as the Convention Against Torture [CAT] are reviewed." said National Coordinator, Kate Gauthier. "To say that people seeking Ministerial Intervention have already been found not to be owed protection is a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts."

"It is ironic that protection obligations under the CAT are enacted into domestic law for criminals facing extradition, but not for asylum seekers. The potential is that war criminals are given greater protection by Australia than the victims of those war crimes. We need to overhaul Ministerial Intervention and introduce a better system for assessing these other protection cases. New Zealand has just introduced a bill to do exactly this. Are we going to let the Kiwis beat us yet again on showing some humanity to asylum seekers?" said Kate Gauthier

A Just Australia agrees with the Government that Ministerial Intervention needs a major overhaul. The Minister commissioned an external report into the system earlier this year, but there was no external consultation and the findings of that report have yet to be made public. So far there has been no commitment to make that review open and transparent to the Australian people, which is the problem with Ministerial Intervention in the first place.

A Just Australia is also waiting for the Government to live up to their pre-election promises to abolish Temporary Protection Visas and the 45 day rule which leaves many asylum seekers destitute and without medical care. "We understand that the Minister is currently working on resolving these issues, but it seems to be taking a lot longer than it needs to. Meanwhile we have refugee families separated and living in desperate situations. We encourage the Minister to move faster on promises to solve this situation." said Kate Gauthier