A billion-dollar plan to outsource the visa processing system is facing uncertainty with advice from officials warning legislative change is likely to be needed for the overhaul to go ahead.
The Department of Home Affairs is tendering to build and manage a new online visa system to assist in the processing of more than nine million applications each year.
But the push is facing political opposition from Labor, the Greens and Centre Alliance concerned the "privatisation" would undermine the system's integrity.
Labor’s assistant immigration spokesperson Andrew Giles told SBS News the plan to outsource the visa system is “disastrous” and should be scrapped.
Labor assistant immigration spokesperson Andrew Giles. Source: AAP
“It is impossible to understate how important having public confidence and ultimately public oversight for our visa processing system is,” he said.
"We've seen an enormous amount of public money spent on a plan that has no public merit."
A department briefing, dated May 2019, released under Freedom of Information, and seen by SBS News, has advised the commercial model would “likely require new supporting legislation.”
This means any attempt to overhaul the visa system could require political support, despite the so-called Global Digital Platform already being put out for tender last year.
A spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s office said it would not comment on whether new supporting legislation “is or isn’t required”.
The Department of Home Affairs says steps to transform the processing model does not involve "privatising" the visa system or "decision making”.
The briefing explains the overhaul would replace “ageing legacy” systems with a single workflow operation that would assist in “ensuring the integrity” of visa processing.
The visa system currently involves more than 50 different computer systems, two of which are more than 25 years old.
Two private consortiums are vying for the $1 billion contract to build and manage the single online platform, which would receive, process and provide visas for applicants.
But there are fears the move could de-humanise the visa process, despite assurances from the Department of Home Affairs their oversight will remain.
“The Department will retain responsibility for business rules that determine what the platform does, and accountability for sovereign functions including decision making, security, and risk assessment,” the briefing said.
Greens immigration spokesperson Senator Nick McKim told SBS News he thought that what the government is proposing is “nothing less” than a full-scale privatisation of visa decision making.
“The idea that access to our country could be packaged and sold off to the highest bidder is deeply troubling,” he said.
“This is something that should remain in the public sector and not be privatised.”
He said there are concerns the move could lead to increased costs for applicants and undermine the integrity of the system through the use of artificial intelligence and algorithms.
Greens Senator Nick McKim. Source: AAP
“That will remove accountability and transparency from the decision-making process,” he said.
“It will make it very difficult to impossible for people to understand how decisions have been made and, importantly, to challenge those decisions.”
In the United Kingdom, a "privatised" visa system has led to private firms taking in millions in pounds, with vulnerable people forced to pay extortionate fees and travel long distances, to apply for UK status.
The proposed overhaul in Australia would result in private service providers processing certain “low-risk” visas rather than department staff to improve efficiencies.
But Centre Alliance Senator Stirling Griff told SBS News the government should remain in full control of the system.
“I mean keeping our citizens safe and ensuring the right people come into and leave our country are core functions of government,” he said.
“Their argument for outsourcing is that they really haven't invested or developed appropriate infrastructure themselves."
Centre Alliance holds two votes in the upper house, meaning their support could be crucial.
Centre Alliance Senator Senator Stirling Griff. Source: AAP
Senator Griff said the fact visa processing had been allowed to “languish” to the extent it has should not be used as an “excuse” for outsourcing the system.
“There certainly needs to be significant scrutiny of the oversight associated with the proposal, and the proposed tenders,” he said.
The Department of Home Affairs has spent more than $80 million so far on the bid for the new processing system.
The $1 billion tender process is being managed by the department with Peter Dutton holding the final oversight.
But Labor's Mr Giles said the government should "walk away" from the plan.
“We just have this constant uncertainty in an area that is so important to a multicultural country like Australia,” he said.
"It is replacing the national interest with corporate interest."
