Australia politics live: Labor lines up trio of immigration bills dubbed ‘cruelty package’ by activists; Assange supporters push for pardon
Labor pushes three controversial migration bills
Paying countries to accept deported non-citizens, banning mobile phones in immigration detention and barring entry of people from certain nations to Australia are all part of the government’s legislative push before year’s end, AAP reports.
Independents, the Greens, legal experts and human rights advocates have condemned the three bills, with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre dubbing them “a cruelty package”.
The government doesn’t have a majority in the Senate and will most likely find support from the coalition to get the legislation across the line.
Proposed amendments to the Migration Act seek to deport non-citizens, including people not convicted of crimes and to pay third countries for their part in the removals regime.
An inquiry revealed more than 80,000 people could be affected but the Department of Home Affairs maintains the legislation impacts about 5000 people on bridging visas and another 1000 in immigration and community detention.
It would grant extensive immunity to government officials and those in third countries involved with the removals as well as reversing protection findings for refugees.
Key events
Good morning
Emily Wind
Emily Wind here, signing on for blogging duties – many thanks to Martin for getting us started this morning.
We’ve reached the second-last day of the parliamentary sitting year, and it’s bound to be jam-packed. You’ll have the whole Canberra team bringing you the latest – Karen Middleton, Paul Karp, Josh Butler and Sarah Basford Canales, as well as Mike Bowers capturing all the action.
Let’s get into it.
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An interview with Dick Smith broadcast around the country on a long-running ABC radio program earlier this month caused environment and climate correspondent Graham Readfearn to raise an eyebrow. He examines the millionaire businessman’s claims about renewable energy and why his comments matter.
Campaigners for Julian Assange hope the prime minister can put pressure on outgoing US president Joe Biden to deliver a pardon for the WikiLeaks founder, AAP reports.
Assange’s wife Stella and his brother Gabriel Shipton will be in Canberra today to lobby MPs for support in placing diplomatic pressure on America for a pardon to be granted during the dying days of the Biden administration.
A multi-partisan group of MPs had been instrumental in helping to raise the plight of Assange and secure his release from custody on espionage charges after years behind bars.
Shipton said time was running out for a pardon to be secured before Donald Trump was sworn in as president in January.
“The parliament was integral to getting Julian out and they were the key to unlock his cell basically, and they can continue and finish the job and push for this pardon,” he told AAP.
“There’s a ticking clock going on for when the president can make the decision to pardon Julian.
“It really is in the power of President Biden to unwind this precedent that originated with the Trump administration.
“(A pardon) would be a real coup for the prime minister.”
More on that legislative agenda: the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, introduced another bill that would confiscate mobile phones from detainees and use sniffer dogs in immigration detention centres.
Jason Donnelly, a prominent immigration barrister, said: “The broad and discretionary determination of ‘prohibited items’ by the minister, including items like mobile phones, risks arbitrary and inconsistent application.”
The minister said the powers were needed to end a “prison-like” culture.
The third bill, which Labor first introduced in March before being shot down, gives the home affairs minister unilateral power to ban visa classes for relatives of asylum-seekers from blacklisted countries that don’t accept deportees.
People from Iran, Iraq, Russia and South Sudan had been floated as possible targets of the ban but no exhaustive list has been released by the government.
The Greens, who described it as a “Trump-style ban”, along with the Coalition and crossbench previously blocked the legislation.
Labor pushes three controversial migration bills
Paying countries to accept deported non-citizens, banning mobile phones in immigration detention and barring entry of people from certain nations to Australia are all part of the government’s legislative push before year’s end, AAP reports.
Independents, the Greens, legal experts and human rights advocates have condemned the three bills, with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre dubbing them “a cruelty package”.
The government doesn’t have a majority in the Senate and will most likely find support from the coalition to get the legislation across the line.
Proposed amendments to the Migration Act seek to deport non-citizens, including people not convicted of crimes and to pay third countries for their part in the removals regime.
An inquiry revealed more than 80,000 people could be affected but the Department of Home Affairs maintains the legislation impacts about 5000 people on bridging visas and another 1000 in immigration and community detention.
It would grant extensive immunity to government officials and those in third countries involved with the removals as well as reversing protection findings for refugees.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Emily Wind on deck.
The Albanese government is closing in on a deal to pass three migration bills that have been introduced to before parliament, including paying third countries to take people who can’t be deported, and creating powers to confiscate mobile phones in detention. The bills are listed to be debated today, but asylum seeker advocates have dubbed them a “cruelty package”.
Meanwhile the government will claim it is on track to meet its legislated 43% emissions reduction target by 2030 after a departmental analysis found it had improved its position over the past year. It comes as ministers launched a review of how the power grid can accelerate the take-up of renewables when existing support ends.
And supporters of Julian Assange are in Canberra today campaigning for the prime minister to put diplomatic pressure on the US to pardon Assange. More on that soon.
