Senate Committee to hear evidence calling for the Deportation and Travel Ban Bill to be scrapped

Refugee Women Action for Visa Equality (WAVE) and the Human Rights Law Centre will give evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry today calling for the Albanese Government’s dangerous and draconian proposed deportation laws to be rejected.

Under the proposed new laws, people could be jailed for five years for not assisting with their own deportation – no matter how long they have been in Australia or whether they have family here. People could be stripped of their refugee status and returned to harm. The laws would also allow the Minister for Immigration extraordinary powers to impose a Trump-style travel ban by preventing visa applications from entire countries of people.

The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee is conducting an inquiry in to the Bill. In public hearings today the Committee will hear from legal experts, community groups and people who could be criminalised by the new laws. Refugee WAVE, a coalition of 22 staunch Iranian and Sri Lankan women who fled war and oppression and have lived in Australia for the past decade, will call for the Australian Government to provide safe and permanent futures, not prison cells.

Read Refugee WAVE's submission to the Inquiry here

Read the Human Rights Law Centre's submission to the Inquiry here

Quote from Piumetharshika Kaneshan, student and member of Refugee WAVE:

"I am a 19-year-old student at the University of Canberra, studying a Bachelor of Nursing. I have dreams of being a registered nurse, so that I can make sure that people like me receive proper care and do not die before their time, like my father did in Sri Lanka. I am also one of the people who might be jailed, if this Bill is passed into law.

“I am one of hundreds of people who have been failed by the ‘fast track’ asylum process, but have been in Australia for over a decade. I should not be put in jail, just for refusing to leave a country that has become my home."

Quote from Sanmati Verma, Acting Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre:

“The Albanese Government is seeking to criminalise and punish people based on their visa status. These laws would see people thrown into prison for failing to complete a form, and families torn apart by discriminatory travel bans. The sweeping impacts of the Bill would be felt by tens of thousands of people across the Australian community.

“This deplorable attack on people's lives, for the sake of political capital, must be firmly rejected. Instead of using harsh criminal sanctions to coerce people into leaving a country that has become their home, the Albanese Government should be working on humane alternatives to detention and allowing people to resume their lives in the community, in freedom and with dignity.”

Media contact:
Thomas Feng
Media and Communications Manager
Human Rights Law Centre
0431 285 275
thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au