Oceania Province Support Centre - Queensland

70 Kate Street (P.O. Box 923) Indooroopilly
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 4068
Ph: +61 7 3327 2200, Fax: +61 7 3327 2222
Email: click here

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SOCIAL JUSTICE BULLETIN

“EDMUND JUSTICE” Vol 4, June 2005

“REFUGEES - I was a stranger and you made me welcome!”

“ Welcome begins when we look into the faces and learn the names of those who are different from us.”

(Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, 2003)

Part 1

Refugees are people who flee their country of origin,

“owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted on grounds of race, religion, membership of a particular social group or political opinion…”

(U.N. Refugee Convention of 1951)

2 Types of Refugees

1. On-shore arrivals - refugees who arrive on Australian soil, normally by boat without approval by the government.

	taken by (DIMIA) Department of Immigration and Indigenous Affairs to processing and detention centres at Baxter, Villawood, Nauru and Maribyrnong. (Port Headland, Curtin and Woomera now closed.)
	process includes checking claims of being genuine refugee
	vast majority come from Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran (predominantly Muslim countries)
	minority are Christians or Chaldaeans (followers of John the Baptist)

2. Humanitarian refugees – normally found in refugee camps not located in their country of origin.

	screened by Australian officials for disease and suitability before being brought to Australia
	mainly from African countries or countries with large humanitarian problems
	during 2004-5 Australia committed to 13000 humanitarian refugees.
	over the last 50 years more than 630000 humanitarian refugees have been accepted by Australia.

2 Types of Protection Visa

1. Temporary Protection Visa (TPV)

	normally those released from detention centres
	Temporary visa normally valid for 3 years
	may apply for permanent residency after 30 months
	entitled to some, but not full range of government services.
	tertiary education and large bank loans are limited
	cannot sponsor family members to Australia.

2. Permanent Visas

	all humanitarian refugees have permanent visas
	government has checked and approved before arrival
	receive most government benefits (except voting rights)
	may be sponsored by groups in community
	furniture provided by the government
	access to special refugee education program

Bridging Visas

	people on study, work or travel visas may seek refugee status from DIMIA -they are normally granted bridging visa while their claim is checked.
	some refugees released from detention may also be on bridging visas.
	cannot work for pay or access government services.

Pending Bridging Visas

	TPV holders whose visa not renewed may be granted (RPV) Return Pending Visa
	allows people 18 months of lawful stay in Australia with access to same benefits and conditions as TPV’s.
	During the time they make arrangements to depart Australia.

Appeal Process

1. All people on bridging or temporary visas must make application for permanent residency with Immigration dept

2. If unsuccessful, then Refugee Review Tribunal

3. If this fails then appeal to the Federal Court

4. Federal court may refer case back to Refugee Review Tribunal

5. If at any stage an application fails then the person has 28 days to lodge an application with the next step, otherwise they will be deported

“Well-founded fear of being persecuted” is the basis for approving claims for refugee status. “Sur place” principle allows for any political or natural events that have taken place in the country of origin since the person has left that may pose a threat to them.

Deportation

Section 48 A of the Immigration Act - “non-person may not make further application”

This refers to the situation where all avenues of appeal have failed and people are in the process of being deported by the government.

Section 48 B of the Immigration Act - “minister may determine S48A does not apply”.

Due to special circumstances e.g. new information regarding the person’s case or the situation in their home country, the person may apply to the Immigration minister for special consideration and seek direct intervention.

If DIMIA goes ahead with deportation, then they must make every effort to contact their counterparts in the country of origin to make adequate and suitable arrangements.

“Our encounter requires that we strive to discern and welcome whatever is good and holy in one another, so that together we acknowledge and promote the spiritual and moral truths which alone guarantee the world’s future.”

(Pope John Paul 11, meeting with religious leaders 1999 New Delhi)

number of people in detention centres

Location	Adults	Children	Total
Baxter	211	4	215
Baxter ‘residential’ housing project AKA mini-baxter	11	19	30
Christmas Island	26	6	32
Maribyrnong	68	1	69
Perth	24	0	24
Villawood	463	27	490
Other	87	7	94
total	890	64	954

NAURU has 54 (10 are being released this week into Melbourne & Sydney)

Part 2

1. “Why are there so many refugees these days?

	Causes – famine, flood, war, rising tides
	One in 115 people in world is refugee
	New refugee created every 21 seconds

2. “Why do these people all come to Australia?"

	There are 71 countries who accept refugees
	Of these 71 countries Australia is ranked 32^nd
	On per capita basis Aust is ranked 38th
	Of 29 developed countries Aust ranked 14^th
	USA takes twice many as Australia

3. “What about these ‘queue jumpers’ ?”

Aust has no diplomatic reps in Iraq & Afghanistan - no standard refugee process means no “queue”

4. “What about the ‘illegal refugees’?”

	Under Aust & international law, people entitled to apply for refugee status
	“illegals” are “overstayers” who stay beyond tourist or travel visas
	Vast majority of 4500 overstayers in Australia are from UK, USA & NZ

5. “They all should have some documents & papers!!”

	Many forced to leave in a hurry not able to access documents because of natural disasters (famine, flood etc)
	Likewise those fleeing dictatorships or war often unable access legal documents

6. “ How do we know that these people are not terrorists?

By 2003, only 11 out of 13000 processed by Immigration dept were rejected on “character grounds”

Part 3

Changes in Immigration policy in response to Petro Georgiou’s proposals - 20/6/05

BEFORE 20/06/05

AFTER 20/06/05

Processing People in detention

	Detention centres processes claims for refugee status
	Normally released with 3 year Temporary Visa
	Slow process - 900 people still not processed

Processing People in detention

	Same criteria & process
	Maximum of 6 months for people in detention

Application for Permanent Visa

	People may apply for permanent visa after 30 months
	Primary assessment involved checking documents & interview with applicant
	4000 TPV holders still not processed
	Process – slow & indeterminate

Application for Permanent Visa

	DIMIA must give decision within 3 months
	Refugee review Tribunal must decide within 3 months
	DIMIA to complete all primary assessments by 31 Oct, 2005
	In future all processing to be done by 6 months

Families & Children

	housed in detention centres or
	Residential Housing projects in the centre or nearby towns

Families & Children

	All families & children to be released into community detention –still under detention
	Parents on community detention cannot work, must rely on charity
	Community detention only applies to those families for whom arrangements of removal are not underway
	Guards or approved social workers “to accompany & restrain Detainees at all times”
	Residential Housing to still go underway

Ombudsman

Did not exist before 20th June 2005

Ombudsman

	Can make recommendation to minister about any detainees
	Can conduct inquiries
	Advisory power
	DIMIA must report to ombudsman every 6 months about all detainees held longer than 2 years
	Minister must table in parliament any DIMIA assessments, reports or recommendations from ombudsman

Minister’s powers

Already had powers to intervene on cases facing deportation

Minister’s powers

	More discretionary power (non-compellable) to grant visas to anyone in detention
	Wider discretionary powers to ensure child only “detained as measure of last resort”

Web links

http://www.ajustaustralia.com/home.php

http://www.acsjc.org.au

http://www.erc.org.au

http://www.barc.org.au

http://www.immi.gov.au

Past Volumes

Vol 1, February 2005 3RD WORLD POVERTY – The Other Tsunami

Vol 2, March 2005 STILL COOKING WITH GAS IN EAST TIMOR

Vol 3, April 2005 INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS – SOME HARD TRUTHS