Date: November 22, 2012
Michelle Grattan, Bianca Hall
THE federal
government has announced it will keep refugees who have been processed onshore
in limbo - without the right to work and at risk of being sent to an offshore
centre at any time - in a tough new attempt to attack the people-smuggling
trade.
The
indefinite bridging visas - which will apply to arrivals after the August 13
announcement of offshore processing - will put refugees on the same basis
regardless of whether they are processed in Australia or on Nauru or Manus
Island.
The visas
are just a step short of the Howard government's harsh temporary protection
visa system - under which refugees could be returned to their home countries if
conditions allowed.
The fresh
crackdown follows a continued big inflow of asylum seekers - more than 7500
since August 13 - with no sign that offshore processing is acting as a
deterrent.
Immigration
Minister Chris Bowen conceded that, given the numbers, it would not be possible
to transfer all of them to Nauru or Manus Island.
Under an
extension of the ''no advantage'' test, Mr Bowen said these people - who will
be housed in the community - would not get permanent visas until they had
waited as long as if processed offshore. The wait on bridging visas could be as
long as five years, he said.
In other
actions, the government has transferred the first asylum seekers to Manus
Island - seven Sri Lankan and Iranian families including four children, the
youngest aged 10 - and announced an expansion of accommodation on the Australian
mainland to cope with the numbers.
Capacity at
the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation will be increased by 300 places
and the Pontville site near Hobart will be re-opened.
Amid hunger
strikes and self-harm by asylum seekers on Nauru and searing criticism by
Amnesty International of their conditions, Mr Bowen said processing of claims
there was expected to fully begin early next year. He said that if Amnesty had
constructive suggestions ''we will listen to them, but they have a fundamentally
different approach''.
Specialised
children's services on Manus Island will be provided by Save the Children,
including child protection and education activities.
Meanwhile,
another 100 Sri Lankan men were sent home on Wednesday, bringing to 426 the number
of Sri Lankans returned involuntarily since August 13. When voluntary returns
are included, 525 Sri Lankans have gone back. There has been a spike in those
coming from Sri Lanka and the government says many are driven by economic
reasons rather than the fear of persecution.
Mr Bowen
said that people processed in the Australian community and put on to bridging
visas ''will have no work rights and will receive only basic accommodation
assistance''. A single man will get a basic payment of 89 per cent of the
lowest Centrelink payment - about $438 a fortnight - plus 89 per cent of rent
assistance, or a maximum $107.69 a fortnight.
''It's not a
generous allocation, but it's an appropriate allocation that means that they
can, obviously, provide for the basic needs that they have,'' Mr Bowen said.
He said ''no
one should doubt this government's resolve to breaking the people smugglers'
business model and save lives at sea''.
The
Coalition and the Greens combined in the Senate on Wednesday night to disallow
a government regulation that would have enabled public servants to roll over
bridging visas rather than having to go back to the minister for renewal.
Opposition
immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the government ''just hands out
welfare and entry permits to people who come on boats now''.
He slammed
the government's failure to set up permanent facilities on Nauru. ''The
government has not even laid a slab,'' he said. Mr Bowen said a contract has
been signed for work on the permanent facilities on Nauru.
Opposition
Leader Tony Abbott, who is committed to even tougher policies including
temporary protection visas, dismissed Amnesty's criticism of conditions on
Nauru. ''People who come illegally to this country can't expect to be treated
like they're staying in a four-star or a five-star hotel,'' he said.
Greens
leader Christine Milne accused Mr Bowen of ''an appalling shift back to even
worse and more extreme'' treatment of people than John Howard's approach.
Refugee
Council of Australia chief executive Paul Power said the government was ''tying
itself in knots'' to make the no-advantage test work.
Amnesty
International campaigns director Andrew Beswick said: "This milestone
marks yet another attempt by the federal government to create an elaborate plan
to punish vulnerable people for seeking safety and protection and squibs our
responsibilities under the UN Refugee Convention.''
Pamela Curr,
of Melbourne's Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said Labor was ''winding back
everything they stood for while they were in opposition''.
