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Senate votes to block temporary protection visas Senate votes to block temporary protection visas
(about 1 hour later)
Labor and the Greens banded together in the Senate on Monday to block the government’s temporary protection visas in a move the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, has said honours the “promise” of people smugglers. The Senate has vetoed one of the key elements of the Abbott government’s asylum seeker policy: the reintroduction of Howard-era temporary protection visas.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young moved on Monday evening that TPVs be disallowed, arguing the visas exemplified the government’s “cruelty”. The motion was passed 36 votes to 26. Labor and the Greens used their combined majority in the upper house to pass a disallowance motion against the government’s “cruel” TPV regulations.
“We know that the disastrous effects of temporary protection visas on genuine refugees are real,” Hanson-Young said. The immigration minister, Scott Morrison, was undeterred by the government’s setback, flagging fresh efforts to ensure people who arrive in Australia by boat do not gain permanent protection. He is due to make an announcement later on Tuesday.
“The reason we know that is that we have seen the dramatic, harmful and dangerous effects firsthand. We have had temporary protection visas before in this country and they were incredibly cruel, incredibly dangerous and created incredible suffering for the people they were imposed upon.” Legislation often allows ministers to set detailed rules and regulations within their portfolio, but such instruments are liable to be struck down by a majority vote of either house of parliament. A similar regulation cannot normally be made within six months of a successful disallowance motion.
Labor abolished the Howard-era TPVs in 2008; they were reintroduced by the Abbott government in October. The government’s regulation prevented unauthorised maritime arrivals, as defined by the Migration Act, from being able to apply for or be granted a protection visa that allowed the holder to remain in Australia indefinitely. Instead, protection would be temporary.
It is likely the government will now have to wait six months for the new Senate if it wants to reverse Monday’s decision. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young moved the disallowance motion in the Senate on Monday night, saying TPVs led to “dramatic, harmful and dangerous effects”.
Hanson-Young said in parliament that the visas had never worked as a deterrent, instead having the reverse effect as women and children got on boats because they had no option through family reunion visas. “We have had temporary protection visas before in this country and they were incredibly cruel, incredibly dangerous and created incredible suffering for the people they were imposed upon,” Hanson-Young said.
“In the two years prior to temporary protection visas being introduced, 1,078 people arrived by boat,” she said. “Temporary protection visas under this government are for punishment's sake only. They are only being given to people who have already arrived in Australia. They have waited for years in immigration detention and then waited more years, perhaps on a bridging visa or in community detention, only to finally have their application for asylum assessed, be found to be genuine refugees and then be slapped with a temporary protection visa.”
“In the two years after temporary protection visas were introduced, that number went to over 8,000 – eight times as many people came by boat after the Howard government introduced temporary protection visas. That is a 700% increase.” The assistant minister for immigration and border protection, Michaelia Cash, said the government’s military-led Operation Sovereign Borders had reduced the flow of boats and TPVs were an important plank in the suite of measures.
Morrison claimed otherwise, telling ABC radio on Tuesday that the Labor party had “repeated one of their worst mistakes in government". “The former government … have left a Labor legacy caseload of in excess of 32,000 people who had arrived in this country and they had not commenced processing them, and more than 20,000 of those people are living in the community and are now on bridging visas,” Cash said.
"Over five and a half years ago they abolished temporary protection visas, and in the wake of that over 50,000 people turned up on over 800 boats, including over 8000 children. “In the short time since temporary protection visas have been reintroduced, 181 asylum seekers who were in the community on bridging visas have made their own decision to return home. That is because they were offered a temporary protection visa, and that was not what they wanted when they came to this country.”
"There were more than 1100 deaths at sea, and over those five and a half years the Labor party has learnt nothing about their border failures." Cash said asylum seekers who had already arrived by boat would not be granted access to family reunion under the Abbott government or be allowed to leave Australian then return. They would also be “required to satisfy mutual obligation requirements in return for welfare payments”.
TPVs were a cornerstone of the government’s election promises on asylum seekers. The visas, which would also apply to asylum seekers already in Australia whose applications had not yet been finalised, allowed people to stay in Australia for three years before their case was reassessed for a further three years. But Labor senator Kim Carr argued the removal of the prospect of family reunion, or departure and return to Australia, would ensure TPVs acted “as a magnet to women and children seeking reunification with their loved ones”.
Speaking at the time of the Greens motion, the Labor senator Kim Carr said TPVs “limited the type of protection available to genuine refugees” and the Abbott TPVs went further than those put in place by the Howard government. Carr also argued TPVs were redundant in light of the implementation of the Rudd government’s regional resettlement deal with Papua New Guinea in July.
“The new regulations do not allow TPV holders to apply for or be granted permanent protection at any point in the future,” Carr said. Labor abolished TPVs in 2008. Morrison said the Senate vote showed Labor had “learnt nothing from their border failures”. He foreshadowed an announcement on fresh government measures designed to ensure boat arrivals did not gain permanent protection.
“Under the Howard government, upon the expiry of a TPV, its holder was entitled to apply for permanent protection.”
He said there was no need to introduce TPVs as a deterrent because the PNG arrangement already ensured no one seeking asylum in Australia by boat would ever settle here.
On Tuesday Morrison said only a handful of the visas had been granted since TPVs were reintroduced.
He said more than 180 people on bridging visas had returned to their home countries "because they knew there was nothing of an incentive in hanging around for a temporary protection visas".
"It doesn't matter if people turned up three days ago, three weeks ago, or three years ago, if you come to Australia the wrong way, a serious government on border protection will not reward that act with permanent residency," he said.
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