Albanese Government entrenches cruelty with sweeping anti-migrant laws
The Human Rights Law Centre and refugee advocates have criticised the Albanese Government’s cruel attacks on migrant and refugee communities, after some of the most brutal migration laws Australia has seen in years were passed overnight.
In a deal between the Albanese Government and Dutton Opposition, the Migration Amendment (Removal and Other Measures) Bill 2024, Migration Amendment Bill 2024 and the Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2024 passed Parliament overnight, giving the Australian Government unprecedented powers to:
impose travel bans on entire countries;
jail people who have lived here for years for refusing to assist with their own deportation;
exile people to be warehoused in third countries forever; and
disconnect people from lifesaving communication with their families by stripping mobile phones in immigration detention.
The bills were rushed through with minimal scrutiny and overwhelming opposition from community groups, legal experts and human rights organisations. The Albanese Government has refused to disclose the intended countries for the travel bans, and re-imposed punitive visa conditions on people released from detention that have already been deemed unconstitutional.
Sanmati Verma Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre said:
“These anti-migrant laws will affect tens of thousands of people who are part of our community – our friends, family members, neighbours and co-workers.
“They will allow travel bans to be placed on entire countries and people to be jailed if they don’t cooperate with removal from Australia – no matter how long they have been here, and even if they Australian family members. They allow migrants and refugees to be warehoused on unspecified third countries, extending Australia’s offshore detention regime across the whole world.
"Labor started its term with smiling photos of Priya, Nades and their family in Biloela, receiving the permanency they deserve. It now ends its term by passing laws that would see people like Priya and Nades jailed and permanently separated from their children.”
Rathy Barthlote, a spokesperson from Refugee Women Action for Visa Equality said:
“We have been in Australia for over ten years with our families. We are part of this community. Our kids were born here. We are nurses, care workers and cleaners. These laws now mean our families could all be thrown in jail.”
Farhad Bandesh, an artist, musician and winemaker who was detained on Manus Island said:
“I was detained and tortured on Manus Island for six years. Now the government wants to warehouse me in a third country – away from my partner and community in Australia.”
Ned Kelly Emeralds, former engineer and refugee from Iran said:
“I was locked for nearly eleven years while seeking asylum. I was beaten up and brutalised in detention. My phone was my only lifeline - seeing the faces of family and friends kept me alive. My phone helped me hold the government to account for what it did to me, and it helped me show that my detention was illegal. Without it, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Media contact:
Chandi Bates
Media and Communications Manager
Human Rights Law Centre
0430 277 254
chandi.bates@hrlc.org.au