“We have made a strong commitment to assisting people who are trying to leave Gaza. But we make no apology for doing everything necessary to maintain our national security.”
The comments expand on the response provided from a spokesperson on Thursday, noting “all visa applicants undergo security checks and are subject to ongoing security assessments” and that the Australian government “reserves the right to cancel any issued visas if circumstances change”.
In short: The federal government has committed to monthly public reports on the immigration detainees released into the community late last year.
The case known as NZYQ has seen 149 people released from detention on strict visa conditions.
What's next? The government is closely watching other cases working through the courts that could have implications for the immigration system.
“Serco’s use of algorithms without oversight in immigration detention, with its profound flaws and opacity, is unacceptable and must end immediately,” said Nick McKim, the Greens immigration spokesperson.
“The Australian government and Serco owe the public a full explanation of this practice, which has severe implications for fundamental human rights.”
Human rights commissioner Lorraine Finlay said the AHRC has “consistently expressed concerns” about the SRAT and questioned whether it leads to restrictive measures that “are not necessary, reasonable, or proportionate”.
The General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific has urged the government to "urgently" reconsider its decision and enable those who had been granted visas to travel safely to Australia.
"With extreme difficulty, these individuals and families were finally able to exit through the Rafah crossing and escape unimaginable horrors in Gaza, only to find themselves stranded in transit countries, unable to travel onward to Australia," the delegation said in a statement.
"Transit countries permitted them entry for a limited time only because they held Australian visas: they will be forced to leave, but they have nowhere else to go.
"Introducing such unjustified measures will undermine the positive engagement process between the Australian government and the Palestinian community, and widen the gap that is already growing between them, worsened by Australia's ongoing suspension of aid to UNRWA."
The government said there was a technical inconsistency in migration regulations and how they apply to the Bridging (Removal Pending) - BVR - visas issued to the group of people released from indefinite immigration detention.
The inconsistency dates back to 2013 when the visa was created, and rendered the BVR visa issued to the NZYQ group invalid.
149 people were released in the grouping and 148 are known to have been on visas that were invalid due to this inconsistency in law. One person had a valid visa.
The 148 people with invalid visas have had their visas re-issued, with strict conditions attached.
In Australia’s immigration detention centres, each detainee is given security risk ratings decided by an algorithm – but they’re not even told it exists.
Developed by Serco, the company tasked with running Australia’s immigration detention network, the Security Risk Assessment Tool – or SRAT – is meant to determine whether someone is low, medium, high or extreme risk for escape or violence.
In the latest chapter of the high-profile immigration case, what has been deemed a “technical issue” in the visas given to the detainees – freed after a high court decision – has been discovered, meaning their visas were illegitimate.
Deputy Opposition leader Sussan Ley’s faux “concern” for the safety of women of Dunkley seems to have evaporated now that the polls are closed.
Her famously racist tweet about dangers of released indefinite detainees into Frankston has now been removed.
It has done its job: crisis over. Really??
Sussan Ley’s desperate dog whistling will not be forgotten. By Jane Salmon, Pearls & Irritations
Shepparton, which has the largest Afghan population in regional Victoria, has become a hub for community groups started by Hazara women to support other women still in Afghanistan.
With the establishment of the Evacuations Research Hub at the Kaldor Centre, McAdam will turn her focus to generating legal and policy innovations to protect the rights of evacuees, building on the Centre’s pioneering work on displacement in the context of climate change and disasters.
McAdam said, ‘I am immensely proud of all the Centre has achieved over the past decade and look forward to being part of the Centre team under Daniel’s extremely capable leadership. With his personal experience as the child of Iranian refugees, his practical legal expertise and a powerful record of cutting-edge scholarship, Daniel is ideally placed to lead the Centre into its next phase of growth and impact.’
The high court has agreed to hear two appeals that threaten the legality of the re-detention of more than 100 non-citizens who had been sentenced and served more than a year in prison.
Over 120 representatives from governments, NGOs, the UN and refugee-led organisations will be in Sydney this month for the global Working Group on Resettlement.
The four-day event starts with 12 site visits over two days where our international visitors will learn about Australian approaches from 18 local organisations.
Refugee Council of Australia to co-host global meeting on refugee settlement. (RCOA media release)
During the UN Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai last year, the terms “climate migrants” and “climate refugees” echoed loudly across meeting rooms and panels. These labels were passionately used by high-ranking UN officials, external stakeholders, scholars and activists grappling with the consequences of climate change.
During a panel discussion, I emphasised that these terms hold no legal weight and inquired about the need for specific legal protections for those affected by climate-induced displacement. My question was quickly shut down by the panel organisers, surprising attendees.
Protecting climate refugees requires a legal definition. By Cristina-Ioana Dragomir, Aljazeera
An Australian Home Affairs depertmental spokesperson told RNZ that "regional processing is an important measure to deter people smugglers from exploiting vulnerable persons from attempting irregular and dangerous maritime voyages, and thereby reduces the risk of the loss of life at sea".
"The Government of Nauru is responsible for the management of individuals under regional processing arrangements," the spokesperson said.
Concerns about treatment of asylum seekers sent to Nauru, RNZ
The Bibby Stockholm, which had its accommodation capacity doubled to more than 500 people with the installation of bunk beds, has been labelled a “deathtrap” by the UK’s Fire Brigades Union.
The barge had to be evacuated last August, less than a week after the first asylum seekers boarded, following the discovery of legionella bacteria in its water system.
The shadow immigration minister, Dan Tehan, has criticised a “big Australia” policy but refused to say what level of migration the Coalition would pursue in government, saying only that it wants “a better Australia”.
My life in Manus Camp was a rope that led me into the deepest recesses of the Australian psyche. It led me to Australia not as a country or a nation but as a colonial mindset. I have written quite a bit about Manus, and all those pieces had the same underlying theme: Manus is the collective unconsciousness of Australia. My writing has been an attempt at finding the deep structures that connect Manus to the colonial history of Australia.
Behrouz Boochani : The many incarnations of Australia’s convict mentality, The Saturday Paper
Sanmati Verma, acting legal director of the Human Rights Law Centre, said that “relentless hounding to drum up community fear for political gain … endangers people who have been lawfully released from detention”.
Meanwhile Clare O’Neil’s Home Affairs is only beginning to reckon with the harm done to the Australian record and budget by Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton and Michael Pezzullo, their chief public servant, recently removed in disgrace.
Australians ought to be angry, not only about the vast quantity of taxpayer money that should have been much better spent. We ought to be angry that enterprising people who could, with a little support, have achieved great accomplishments enabling a better future for them and the countries that would host them.
A little support instead of billions on toxic cruelty. By Lucy Hamilton, P&I
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