The government has proposed legislation that would allow it to waive the requirement of procedural fairness for non-citizens facing removal to a third country.
Human rights groups released a joint statement on Thursday criticising Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's bill introduced to parliament earlier in the week.
The proposed changes in the bill would suspend the rules of natural justice for decisions involving "third country reception arrangements" in Australia, meaning the government would no longer be required to provide a fair hearing or consider individual circumstances when deporting non-citizens to those countries.
The changes, however, would not remove the right to procedural fairness regarding decisions related to visa cancellations or refusals.
Burke said on Tuesday: "Procedural fairness is a fundamental principle in many areas of decision-making; however, these provisions can and are being used by non-citizens to frustrate their removal at cost to the Commonwealth in circumstances where it is neither necessary or appropriate for it to continue to apply."
"These provisions are primarily directed to non-citizens who have exhausted all legitimate avenues to remain in Australia and for whom removal is the only remaining outcome under Australian law," Burke said.
Australia is looking to resettle three people in Nauru who were released as a result of the landmark "NZYQ" High Court decision, but their removal has been stalled since February due to ongoing court challenges.
Concerns for legal rights
Burke said the purpose of the law should be clear "to give effect to removal as swiftly and effectively as possible".
"All individuals affected by these decisions will have already had full access to visa application processes, merits review, judicial review, and ministerial intervention opportunities," he said.
Sanmati Verma, legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre, told SBS News there are serious concerns about how the new powers could operate in practice.
"It would deprive people of fair notice and a fair opportunity to make their case before they are deported to a third country under the government's new powers," she said.
"And it would deprive people of the right to respond before a deportation notice is issued to them, exposing them to prison time if they fail to comply."
Verma said removing procedural fairness means people could be essentially "banished" to another country without their individual circumstances being taken into account.
"What is their health situation? Are they owed protection? Are they going to be harmed in that other country? Do their personal circumstances mean that, once they are sent to a third country, they will never be able to leave? Will they ever practically be able to reunite with their family again?" she questioned.
"These are the sort of basic human questions that the government should have to ask before exercising these powers."
Verma said an example of a critical misunderstanding relates to the three men set to be sent to Nauru, where the government "misunderstood certain critical health details in relation to some of these men and misunderstood the nationality of one of them".
Sarah Dale, centre director and principal solicitor at the Refugee Advice and Casework Service, told SBS News another element of the proposal is around retrospective criminality, which has the potential to criminalise something that was not a criminal activity at the time.
"I think we're still coming to terms with what that means specifically in this legislation, but that retrospective nature is something that all lawyers around Australia should be deeply concerned by," she said.
"We were assisting one man who had been issued with this removal notice to Nauru, and the courts determined that his previous legal proceedings were flawed, that he had not been afforded due process, and thus that affected his ability to be removed to Nauru," Dale said.
"The fact that the government is looking to legislate around these court decisions is incredibly alarming."
Legislation 'secretive' and 'extremely dangerous'
Jana Favero, the deputy CEO at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said the legislation sets an "dangerous precedent".
"We know that there are times when mistakes are made. We know that there are times when there have been delays in procedural fairness where there have been errors, either bureaucratic or in courts," she told SBS News.
"Everyone should have the right to absolutely exhaust all their legal avenues."
Favero alleged the proposed changes followed a pattern of the Albanese government targeting the rights of vulnerable people in Australia.
"It can't be read in isolation. It also has to be read in conjunction with the three brutal bills that Labor passed at the end of last year, all of which are really forming this cobweb and framework that is denying access to legal justice, access to human rights safeguards for people in our community," she said.
The government passed laws last year granting immigration officials additional powers to facilitate deportations, including the option to pay other countries to accept non-citizens from Australia.
'This is not the way'
Opposition leader Sussan Ley has described the bill as "rushed, secretive and chaotic", saying the Coalition was only briefed about the bill on the day it was introduced.
"This is not the way that the prime minister and his ministers should conduct policy around critical issues of national security," she said at a press conference on Tuesday.
SBS News has contacted the Department of Home Affairs for comment.
