Morrison government rushes through new laws that allow lifetime detention of refugees

The Morrison government has today rushed through legislation that will allow it to lock up refugees in detention centres, potentiality for the rest of their lives. The legislation - one of the first laws passed under new Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews – continues the previous Minister Peter Dutton's legacy of punitive action towards refugees.

The Migration Amendment (Clarifying International Obligations for Removal) Bill 2021 targets refugees in immigration detention who cannot return to their home countries because of a risk of persecution or serious harm.

While the new laws notionally provide protections against sending people to harm, the legislation actually gives the Minister a new power to overturn refugee status in breach of international law, and contains no mechanism to prevent the indefinite detention of refugees who cannot be returned.

The legislation is an attempt to shield the Morrison Government from legal challenges currently in the courts against lifetime detention of refugees. In April, the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights raised concerns that the legislation would result in fewer checks on indefinite detention and had sought clarification from the Minister. No response was published before the legislation was rushed through Parliament.

David Burke, Legal Director, Human Rights Law Centre said:

“The legislation exposes Minister Andrew’s willingness to leave growing numbers of refugees languishing in detention without any plan.

“The government should not have the power to lock people up for potentially the rest of their lives without any safeguards. This forces refugees into an unthinkable choice between spending potentially decades in immigration detention, or agreeing to go back to a country where the Federal government recognises they will be persecuted. These new laws allow the Morrison government to warehouse people who have nowhere else to go.

“There is no justification to give the Minister a new power to cancel refugee status. The Minister should not be able to waive a pen and overturn the fundamental protection the government has given someone whose life is at risk. Refugee status should never be a day-by-day proposition.

“Government decisions about who is detained, on what grounds and for how long, are matters that need more oversight, not less. We urgently need changes that do more than forcing people to choose between languishing in immigration detention or being forced back to harm.”

Media contact:

Evan Schuurman, Media and Communications Manager: 0406 117 937.

Notes to Editor:

In January 2012, less than 3 per cent of people in immigration detention had been detained for more than two years. Nine years later, that number has grown to almost 30 per cent.

The average period that a person is detained after being taken into immigration detention in Australia has increased steadily from less than 100 days in mid-2013 to more than 600 days at the end of 2020. This is vastly more than comparable jurisdictions, such as the UK and Canada, where people are more often detained for a period of days or weeks. 

In contrast, it is now not uncommon for people to be held in detention in Australia for five years or more. Australia has no legal framework for reviewing keeping someone in immigration detention is appropriate or necessary, and no limit on how long they can be held.