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| Down Under |
| Australian Islands lose asylum status |
| 2005-07-30 |
| DOZENS of Queensland islands including the Townsville suburb of Magnetic Island have effectively been removed from the list of official Australian territories under changes to the migration zone. The changes, along with a detention centre to be built at Burpengary north of Brisbane, will place Queensland in the front line of the Federal Government's campaign to dissuade asylum-seekers. Boatpeople will have to reach the mainland before being able to claim refugee status and before being able to apply for visas. Islands including the Whitsundays, Lindeman Island, Hayman Island, Magnetic Island and Dunk Island are included in the latest list of land that will no longer be part of Australia for the purposes of people seeking asylum. Every island north of the Tropic of Capricorn has been excised. In Queensland, that includes islands north of Mackay, or in Western Australia, islands north of Exmouth. The Federal Government has been trying to implement the migration zone changes since the rush of boatpeople to Australia in 2001, when 1544 people were intercepted en route to Australia in three months, and were processed in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. That number has fallen considerably since border protection amendments were introduced after the Tampa incident. Despite four attempts, there has been Senate opposition to making all islands outside the migration zone. But with the Government set to gain control of the Senate this month, Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has asked the Governor-General to approve the new regulations. Major settlements outside the list of official territories for migration purposes already include Thursday Island in far north Queensland and Groote, Melville, Barrow and the Tiwi islands in the Northern Territory. In 2001, the Labor Party voted with the Government to remove Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Ashmore Reef and Christmas Island. The Government believes ruling islands out of the migration zone will deter asylum-seekers by boat because they are likely to be detected before reaching the mainland. Asylum-seekers cannot make a valid visa application outside the migration zone. Refugee advocate Kate Gauthier from A Just Australia said the Government was tinkering with the edges of Australia itself. Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said: "This latest excision raises alarm bells about whether the Howard Government has any intention of changing the culture of the Immigration Department." The new $2.8 million detention centre will hold low-risk illegal immigrants detained in Queensland. The "lodge and motel-style accommodation" for up to 18 people is part of the Federal Government's so-called "flexible detention arrangements" aimed at keeping people out of correctional institutions. It comes just weeks after a damning report into the wrongful detention of Cornelia Rau, who was held in a Queensland prison for six months before being transferred to Baxter Detention Centre in South Australia. To be called the Queensland Immigration Transit Accommodation Centre, it will hold people who have been refused entry at Queensland's international airports, or those overstaying their visas who have have been picked up during immigration raids. There are four illegal immigrants in Queensland correctional facilities. A controversial 550-bed immigration detention centre earmarked for Pinkenba in Brisbane's northeast remains on hold. Senator Vanstone said the new residential accommodation for short-term immigration detainees would be located at Shaftesbury Campus, about 40km north of Brisbane. "In all cases, it is envisaged that people accommodated at QITA will be either removed, or considered for alternatives locally or interstate within a very short time, generally less than a week," Senator Vanstone said. But the announcement has been attacked by state member for Murrumba Dean Wells, whose electorate takes in the centre. Mr Well said Senator Vanstone had not considered the wishes of local residents before giving the green light for the new centre. "My view of this is that it would have been really good if they'd consulted the community," Mr Wells said. The facility will be privately run by GSL Australia, which has operated Australia's detention centres since February last year. On Magnetic Island, the president of the community association and local tour bus operator, Lorna Hempstead, said the change did not make the locals feel less Australian. "It's just an administrative title - it doesn't make us feel less like Australians," she said. |
| Posted by:Spavirt Pheng6042 |
| #3 From Tippers link - Australia's Refugee and Humanitarian Program offers protection to asylum seekers who have entered Australia, either without a visa or as temporary entrants, and who are found to be owed Australia's protection under the United Nations 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (the Refugees Convention) and relevant Australian laws. Asylum seekers who are found to be owed Australia's protection under the Refugees Convention, and who satisfy health, character and security requirements, are granted a Protection Visa. Applicants may be granted either a permanent Protection visa, for those who have entered Australia lawfully, or a three-year Temporary Protection visa in the first instance, for those who entered Australia in an unauthorised way. It looks like a way to get around this UN Convention on asylum seekers. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-07-30 05:39 |
| #2 This is the Immigration Dept. explanation. |
| Posted by: tipper 2005-07-30 04:06 |
| #1 I believe this is a 'loophole' in an 'international treaty' Australia is a signatory to. I'd be interested to hear the details if anyone knows. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-07-30 00:43 |