Albanese Government’s brutal deportation and surveillance laws must be stopped
The Human Rights Law Centre will call for the Albanese Government to abandon its brutal deportation and surveillance laws, in evidence to a Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee inquiry this evening.
If passed, the Migration Amendment Bill 2024 would allow the Government to exile refugees and migrants to other countries where they could be warehoused indefinitely. It would put thousands of people at risk of forced removal to unknown third countries where they may face inhumane conditions and mistreatment. The Bill would also give the government extraordinary powers to reverse protection findings made for refugees and continue imposing punitive visa conditions on those who remain here.
The Bill was introduced just one day after the High Court ruled that forcing people released from indefinite immigration detention to wear ankle bracelets and live under curfews is unconstitutional.
Quotes attributed to Josephine Langbien, Associate Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre:
“Everyone should have the same right to freedom, dignity and safety, regardless of their visa status – but in the final parliamentary sitting days of the year, the Albanese Government is rushing through brutal laws to expand Australia’s disastrous offshore detention regime.
“The proposed laws will rip people from their families and homes, preventing them from ever returning to their lives in the Australian community. Warehousing people offshore is a practice that must be abandoned, not expanded.
“Instead of seeking to punish the same group of people over and over again, through rushed and constitutionally unsound laws, the Albanese Government should focus on investing in real solutions that will allow people to rebuild their lives.
“Parliament must not allow this Bill to become law.”
Quotes attributed to Farhad Bandesh, an artist, musician and winemaker who was detained on Manus Island:
“After taking six years of my life on Manus Island and another two in hotel detention prison, the government now wants the power to exile me again to a third country where I could be imprisoned for the rest of my life. After all I have been through, I have spent the past four years trying to rebuild my life in Australia with my partner. This is my home now. I have lost my country, my family, and my freedom once before—I cannot let it happen again.”
The Human Rights Law Centre and Farhad Bandesh are scheduled to appear before the inquiry at 5.30pm, Thursday 21 November. Watch the live stream here.
Read the Human Rights Law Centre’s submission on the Migration Amendment Bill 2024.
Read the Human Rights Law Centre’s explainer on the laws.
Media contact:
Chandi Bates
Media and Communications Manager
Human Rights Law Centre
0430 277 254
chandi.bates@hrlc.org.au
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