Standing with migrants and refugees against Australia’s new anti-migrant laws
On 29 November 2024, the Australian Government passed a suite of harsh new migration laws which threaten refugee and migrant communities across Australia. These laws single people out for punishment and harsh treatment based purely on visa status, with no regard for the lives that people have built in Australia.
The laws were rushed through in the last Parliamentary sitting week of the year, causing widespread shock and fear. The government has offered no details about how the new powers will be used, leaving thousands of people with unanswered questions about their futures. We stand in solidarity with our friends and partners in refugee and migrant communities across Australia, and we commit to fighting back against attempts to apply these laws. Visa status cannot dictate who belongs in our community, or the standard of treatment that is acceptable for people.
What we do know
Australia will be able to strike deals with other countries so that people who are being deported can be sent to countries other than their country of origin.
Australia will be able to enforce travel bans on entire countries, preventing anyone from those countries from applying for Australian visas (with limited exceptions for some immediate family members).
The government can issue ‘directions’ to certain people, requiring them to take steps to assist with their deportation from Australia. Non-compliance is a criminal offence punishable by a term of imprisonment.
The Minister has the power to ban items in immigration detention, including mobile phones and anything else that could be a risk to the ‘order’ of a detention facility. However, alternative means of communication with family and lawyers must be provided.
People on Bridging ‘R’ Visas who were released from indefinite immigration detention may once again be subjected to home detention and invasive ankle bracelets as conditions of their visas.
What we don’t know
The government has not disclosed to which other countries people may be deported. It has not confirmed which people will be sent to third countries. Most likely, it will be people who cannot be returned to their country of origin.
The government has not indicated which countries will be subject to travel bans, although it is likely that Iran will be considered.
The government has not confirmed who will be targeted with removal directions, or whether people failed by the Fast Track system will be offered any pathway to permanency.
We do not know when the mobile phone ban will be introduced in detention, or exactly what alternative means of communication will be provided.
Serious questions about the constitutional validity of curfew and monitoring conditions on Bridging R Visas still remain.
For more details on the new laws, read our explainers on the Migration Amendment (Removals and Other Measures) Bill, the Migration Amendment Bill and Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill. If you are affected by these laws, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre has produced factsheets on the new deportation and travel ban laws and search and seizure powers in detention, including how to get legal help.
Resisting anti-migrant laws
These laws will give the Australian Government extraordinary power to discriminate against incoming visitors and migrants on the basis of nationality, to exile people from Australia away from their lives or families here, and to subject people to more punitive treatment and control both inside detention and out. The laws seek to avoid Australia’s international legal obligations, circumvent decisions of the High Court and evade accountability under domestic law for the harm that will be caused to people.
Now is a crucial time for all of us to stand in solidarity with people who are migrants and refugees in Australia. We cannot allow political fearmongering to convince us that people who are not citizens have fewer rights, or are somehow deserving of harsher treatment, simply by virtue of their visa status.
These laws will impact our friends, neighbours, and co-workers. They will also impact people who have already been subjected to prolonged, indefinite immigration detention at the hands of our Government. Since their release from detention, those people have endured a relentless campaign of public vilification and punitive, politically-motivated lawmaking. Every member of the Australian community should be concerned about the establishment of a parallel legal system delivering harsher treatment to one group of people.
Before these laws were passed, thousands of people, communities and organisations spoke up against them. Neither the Labor Government nor the Coalition Opposition listened to their concerns. Despite this, people whose futures are now directly at risk are still raising their voices against this anti-migrant attack and refusing to leave the lives they have built in Australia. We stand with them unequivocally and will continue fighting for people to have the chance to live in safety and dignity in Australia.