No Script

Please Wait...

Al-Ahed Telegram

Australia Toughens up Immigration but Lets in more Refugees

Australia Toughens up Immigration but Lets in more Refugees
folder_openMore from Asian States access_time9 years ago
starAdd to favorites

Local Editor

Australia's conservative government on Friday further tightened immigration laws, introducing controversial temporary visas for refugees which do not grant permanent settlement in the country.

Australia Toughens up Immigration but Lets in more RefugeesThe amendments to the Migration Act narrowly passed the lower house Friday morning after a stormy late-night debate in the upper house Senate.

The "temporary protection visas" [TPVs] grant refugees protection for up to three years but do not give them the right to settle in Australia for good.

They could also be returned to their home country at the end of that period.
The government re-introduced the visas, used by previous conservative governments, to deal with a backlog of 30,000 asylum-seekers who arrived by boat.

However, it also pledged to increase the overall refugee intake by 7,500 and free hundreds of children held in detention.

"This is a win for Australia," Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.

He confirmed that in a trade-off agreed by the government to get the bill through the Senate, about 470 asylum-seeker children will be among 1,500 people released from detention centers and placed in the mainland community.

Australia has come under international pressure over the offshore detention of asylum-seekers on its Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island, where some children are held, and in Pacific island camps as well as for the turning back of asylum boats.
 
"We always said that three things were necessary to stop the boats -- offshore processing, turning boats around and temporary protection visas and last night the final piece of policy was put in place," Abbott said.

"This will enable the government to deal with the backlog of 30,000 people who came to Australia illegally by boat under Labor," Abbott told a press conference, referring to the previous government.

"These people, if they're found to be refugees, will receive temporary protection visas which means that no one coming to Australia illegally by boat can expect to get permanent residency."

Human rights group Amnesty International warned the legislation left no avenue for appeal and would see refugees returned to their torturers.

"It violates international law by removing any requirement to consider whether a person will be tortured or persecuted if returned home," said Graham Thom, Amnesty's refugee coordinator.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team