RCOA welcomes Government’s long-awaited announcement

The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) welcomes the Albanese Government’s long-awaited announcement of its plans to end the cruel and unnecessary policy of temporary protection.  

“Today’s announcement from Immigration Minister Andrew Giles is a historic moment, righting almost a decade of an inhumane policy which achieved nothing but untold harm and trauma to people who sought protection in Australia,” RCOA chief executive officer Paul Power said. 

“The announcement provides much-needed clarity about how the Government plans to implement its 2022 election promise to end temporary protection.

“Refugees subject to the temporary protection policy have been waiting anxiously for more than 10 years for the right to safety and security in Australia. We hope that the process can occur quickly so that people can finally put an end to their ongoing limbo. 

“The conversion of temporary protection visas to permanent visas will enable people who have been contributing to Australian society for more than a decade to feel finally that this country is their home. They will no longer be prevented from getting a loan for a home or their business and, most importantly of all, will be able to apply to reunite with separated family members.”  

Those who already have a Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) or Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) will be able to apply for a permanent Resolution of Status (RoS) Visa. Current applications to renew expired TPVs or SHEVs will automatically be converted to ROS visa applications. Those still waiting for a decision will be granted a RoS Visa once their need for refugee protection is determined.

Specialist refugee legal centres will be funded to provide free assistance to those who are eligible to apply for the permanent Resolution of Status Visa. There is no application fee for this visa and there is no need for applicants to pay for private migration advice.

The Government expects that the process of converting temporary protection visas to permanent ones will be concluded in around 12 months.

Once people are granted a RoS Visa, they will be able to apply to sponsor family members through the migration program, as previous barriers to family reunion have also been removed. However, restrictions are still in place for applications through the Special Humanitarian Program.

Refugee community groups and non-profit organisations have been campaigning for the removal of temporary protection visas since the policy’s inception in 2014 under the Liberal-National Coalition government.

The temporary protection policy was applied to anyone who had arrived by boat to seek protection in Australia before 19 July 2013 and had not been given refugee status prior to the change of government in September 2013. Having endured an extended period of immigration detention on arrival, their protection claims were suspended until 2015 while the Abbott Government implemented its temporary protection policy.

Those found to be in need of refugee protection were granted either a three-year Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) or a five-year Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV). They had to reapply every few years but faced significant delays. Restrictions on their rights included no possibility of reuniting with their families, no support for tertiary study, limited employment prospects because of their temporary status, travel restrictions, and limited access to disability and other social support.

As of December 2022, there are 19,693 people with temporary refugee status – 5,389 on TPVs and 14,294 on SHEVs. A further 892 people are awaiting an initial decision from the Department of Home Affairs while 845 are seeking a review of a negative decision at the Immigration Assessment Authority. Approximately 5,000 people are seeking judicial review of their negative decision.

“While we celebrate the end of this policy, we are concerned that the announcement today does not provide hope and a clear pathway for those who have been rejected through the unfair ‘fast track process’. For years, Labor MPs and Senators have acknowledged the unfairness of the fast track process, yet this announcement leaves people only with the option of seeking ministerial intervention to prevent forced return to danger.

“This omission will inevitably increase pressure on the ministerial intervention process as many people previously rejected are from countries where the risk of persecution has become more acute in recent years, particularly Afghanistan, Myanmar and Iran.

“The Refugee Council and our member organisations around Australia look forward to working with the Federal Government to ensure that the transition to permanent visas is as smooth as possible and that community concerns about separated families and people still at risk are addressed.”

Congratulation to Lyn Moore

 Redlands Coast Australia Day Awards 2023

Lyn was shortlisted in the senior Citizen of the Year category for her outstanding commitment to Redlands4Refugees. her commitment to supporting refugee families and in promoting an awareness of the challenges they face was recognised.

She is pictured here with her husband Doug, R4R treasurer, Olga and secretary John.

Behrouz Boochani

 

AU Edition | 10 December 2022

Behrouz Boochani was once told – by then home affairs minister Peter Dutton – that he would never be allowed to come to Australia. This week, he did. The Kurdish journalist and refugee, who fled persecution in Iran in 2013, was detained on Manus Island’s detention centre for six years, after the boat carrying him from Indonesia to Australia was intercepted. He wrote his award-winning memoir, No Friend But the Mountains, from Manus Prison, as text messages sent from his mobile phone. “Writing is a duty to history,” he says. Boochani, who was awarded refugee status by New Zealand in July 2020, is in Australia to promote a second book, Freedom, Only Freedom. It combines more of his writing from Manus Prison, detailing his experience of Australia’s offshore detention regime – alongside essays from experts on migration, refugee rights, politics and literature. One of those experts is University of Melbourne’s Jordana Silverstein, whose Jewish Holocaust survivor grandparents once came to Australia as refugees. She sees Boochani’s project of writing the histories of Manus Prison as “part of the same project of history-writing as the writing about the ghettos, camps and bureaucracies of violence that made up the Holocaust”. In her thought-provoking reflection, Silverstein compares Boochani’s writing about Manus to that of Italian Jewish Holocaust survivor Primo Levi’s, about Auschwitz. “They testify to history in order to do work, to make clear the workings of the world.” Levi wrote of needing “another language” to properly articulate the experience of Auschwitz. While Manus is not Auschwitz, they need to be remembered on a continued historical trajectory, Silverstein says. Boochani gives language to the violence and trauma of Manus Prison; writing in a tradition of histories written around the world by persecuted and marginalised people. He writes those people into the public record, makes us see them. “This is history from down below,” Boochani writes. His work makes us see the depth of horror experienced by those who were imprisoned at Manus. “Horror is of course too simple a word (as Levi taught us), as is pain, trauma and devastation, though they all apply,” writes Silverstein. She says his writing reminds us we’re not separate individuals – our lives are interconnected. “We are reminded of … the ways our lives are inextricably linked to other peoples’ lives. This act of memory-making, of remembering across difference, is also a profound act of solidarity.” Jo Case Deputy Books + Ideas Editor