The government’s explanatory statement says the law gives the minister oversight to protect human rights.
“The minister has a personal discretionary power under the Migration Act to intervene in an individual case and grant a visa . to a person in immigration detention, if the minister thinks it is in the public interest to do so. What is and what is not in the public interest is for the minister to decide.”
The bill was supported by Labor members.
But rights groups argue that while the legislation notionally provides protections against returning refugees to a place where they face harm, the law, in effect, gives the minister a new power to overturn refugee status in breach of international law, and contains no mechanism to prevent the indefinite detention of refugees who cannot be returned.
Police reunited with family after two years
Fifteen members of the Samoan Police Force have finally been reunited with their families after serving an extended term with the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces in South Sudan since early 2019.
The Samoa Observer reports the officers were initially to serve a 12-month mission but the global lockdown from the covid-19 pandemic delayed their return.
Police Commissioner Fuiavailili Egon Keil and senior officers held a welcome function for the officers this week.
Deputy Police Commissioner, Papalii Monalisa Tiai-Keti, says the officers arrived three weeks ago and were quarantined for two weeks before being released last Friday.
Date Time
Amendment to migration law will cause serious harm
New laws passed today that allow the Government to lock people in immigration detention indefinitely will cause serious harm, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).
“Locking up people indefinitely will clearly lead to a high risk of self-harm or suicide,” said Mr Greg Barns SC, spokesperson for the ALA. “It amounts to detention without trial and is a gross breach of Australia’s human rights obligations.”
The Migration Amendment (Clarifying International Obligations for Removal) Bill 2021 will affect asylum seekers in immigration detention who cannot return to their home countries because of a risk of persecution or serious harm, but their visa application has been rejected.