The federal government says it wants asylum seekers - attempting to arrive by boat - to face a lifetime ban from entering Australia.Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says this will send a loud and clear message to people smugglers.
"This is a battle of will between the Australian people, represented by its government and these criminal gangs of people smugglers. You should not under estimate the scale of the threat. These people smugglers are the worst criminals imaginable. They have a multibillion-dollar business. It is a battle of wills. We have to be very determined to say no to their criminal plans. Mr Turnbull says banning asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island from ever entering Australia sends the clearest message possible.The government will ask parliament to ban everyone who was sent to Nauru or Manus Island for offshore immigration processing after July 19th, 20-13.He says he wants to put into law a long-standing policy - first announced by Labor more than three years ago.
"The bill will apply to all taken to a regional processing country since the 19th July, 2013. That is the date that Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd declared and I quote, as of today, asylum seekers that come to Australia by boat without a visa will never be settled in Australia. "Mr Turnbull says the ban would apply whether or not people were found to be refugees and would extend to all types of visas, including tourist and business categories.But asylum seekers aged under 18 at the time they were sent to Nauru or Manus Island would be exempt.Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says it's one of the strongest announcements made by the current government in relation to border protection policy.
"There are still people, advocates in Australia and elsewhere, messaging to people on Nauru and Manus, at some stage you'll come to Australia. And those people are living in false hope and it cannot continue. So today, through this legislation, we send a very clear message to all the parties concerned that Australia will never be an option for people to seek to come here illegally by boat. "Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek says it's too soon to determine if Labor would support the bill.Labor frontbencher Brendan O'Connor has also been reluctant to back the plan without seeing legislation.He's told Sky News .. asylum seeker policy remains a vexed area."What we've been supportive of has been when people are leaving country of transit where they're not fleeing persecution at that given moment - we've always believed endangering their lives in that way has been awful but with any legislation you want to look at it and see whether in fact it's fair and reasonable and it's consistent with out own commitments internationally."
Lawyer and refugee advocate David Manne says the wholesale barring of asylum seekers seems excessive.He's told the A-B-C, it does nothing to resolve what is widely recognised as an appalling and unsustainable situation for those left in limbo.
"There's always going to be people who are either in Australia, who came by boat, who have been brought back from Nauru or Manus Island or indeed people in Nauru and Manus Island now, who simply cannot be resettled anywhere or sent back. To take away that humanitarian discretion, is extremely problematic because we know that some people simply cannot be sent back."Australia Director of Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson says the move is contrary to international law.She's told Sky News, she can't think of any other country that's tried to invoke such a ban.
"Under the U-N Refugee Convention there are provisions saying you can't discriminate, pick or choose which asylum seekers or which refugees you will take. So clearly this move is discriminatory and I think there could be grounds whereby Australia, as signatory to the refugee convention, a case could be made that such a lifetime ban on asylum seekers and refugees in fact goes against Australia's legal obligations."
