TPV’s reinstated, families with children released from Australian detention, and many other things…

Temporary Protection Visa’s reinstated, families with children released from Australian detention, and many other things. More information here:

Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Bill 2014
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm219827.htm

Remote area Citizenship testing made easier.

Good news for those in remote areas who want to sit the citizenship test, you can now do it at local Centrelink or Medicare Service Centre instead of going to a capital city or waiting for a planned visit by immigration staff.
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm217179.htm

Refugees and asylum seekers: 41 people returned to Sri Lanka

Immigration confirm they recently returned 41 people to Sri Lanka, “including 37 Sinhalese and 4 Tamil Sri Lankan nationals”.
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm216152.htm

Looking outside the influence of Australian media, this article (1) reports that “LTTE suspects abuse UNHCR refugee policy”.

In the first sentence Prof. Rohan Gunaratna says “recent arrests indicated that the majority who applied for and received refugee status were not genuine”.
Is there a correlation between the recent returns and nation.lk’s article? have we prevented LTTE members establishing here or has our Government sent people back to a horrible future? will we ever know the facts behind the articles?

What do you think?

Update: according to SMH (2) these people “all thought they could get jobs”, but the refugee convention is for protection from persecution, not job hunting.

(1) http://www.nation.lk/edition/latest-top-stories/item/31030-ltte-suspects-abuse-unhcr-refugee-policy.html

(2) http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/elite-officer-suspected-of-key-role-in-smuggling-bid-20140708-3blbe.html

Refugees and asylum seekers: Bill change from “real chance” to “more likely than not”

On Wed June 25th the Government introduced a Bill to Parliament to “provide enhanced integrity measures in the assessment of asylum claims”
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm215807.htm

According to that page the existing assessment process was “based on ‘real chance’ which can be as low as a ten per cent risk”.

Among other things it mentions:
“‘The Bill will also bring Australia’s assessment of non-refoulement obligations under the Convention Against Torture and Other Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in line with Canada, the United States and Switzerland by requiring a higher threshold in which someone engages those obligations.”

Further information is provided in an outline (1) to the Migration Amendment.

Page 7/16 of the UNHCR resettlement FAQ of Nov 2013 (2) shows the USA and Canada are 1st and 3rd in the world for UNHCR assisted resettlement, even though they already have the higher assessment threshold.

The ABC (3) says the change “breaches our international obligations”, GetUp (4) says “This latest attempt to sidestep our international obligations makes a complete mockery of Australia’s humanitarian commitments”.

If the amendment brings us in line with Canada, the USA and Switzerland then the Governments in those countries are also sidestepping their obligations and mocking their commitments, since they already have the higher threshold?

I wonder why that aspect has not been identified by the media or by campaigning groups like GetUp?

(1) http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fems%2Fr5303_ems_6ab8fffb-a1dd-4ffa-b95a-2f5852a17590%22
(2) http://unhcr.org/524c31666.pdf
(3) http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-26/barns-asylum-plan-defies-law-and-decency/5551400
(4) https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/refugees/scott-morrison-5050-announcement/heads-or-tails-life-or-death