Labor's refugee and immigration stance
Laurie Ferguson

The shadow Minister for Immigration and member for Reid in Sydney’s mid-west, Laurie Ferguson, mounted a robust defence of ALP immigration policy when he addressed members of inner Sydney branches on 2 May 2005.

Mr Ferguson has come under attack from certain quarters within and outside the party for his public comments on the issues of immigration, asylum seekers and mandatory detention, which are seen by some as insufficiently critical of the Howard government’s policies, and as adopting a more restrictive approach to the asylum seeker issue than they themselves favour.

In an exclusive to The New City, Mr Ferguson has authorised the following summary of his address.

The refugee intake

The ALP takes a substantially more open and humanitarian approach to the issue of refugees and asylum seekers than the Howard government does. Labor would not tie the size or composition of its refugee intake primarily to economic considerations in the way that the government does, but rather to Australia’s international responsibilities.

This is immediately evident in Labor’s commitment to increase the refugee proportion of our overall immigration intake from the current level of 9 per cent to around 16 per cent – the level it was at when Labor was last in government. This is dependent upon the willingness of rural and regional Australia to welcome these people into their communities.

The ALP is, however, firm in the view that the tendency for refugees – and new arrivals generally – to settle closely in a few Sydney regions needs to be tackled. If one wanted only a single indicator of new settlement densities, Mr. Ferguson’s own area of Reid and the adjacent Blaxland had 17.1% and 16.9% Islamic populations respectively according to the last census. In a third of Australian electorates, the ratio was 1 in 200 or less.

In particular, Labor will look closely at measures to persuade new arrivals to establish themselves in regional areas, and to support regions that seek to encourage new arrivals to settle there.

Temporary protection visas

Labor will also adopt a more sympathetic approach to the extension of temporary protection visas. Applicants will receive prompt stay/leave decisions, and the onus will be on the department, when issuing a “leave” decision, to disprove the original decision to allow the asylum seeker to stay. Those who have been in Australia for two or more years under a TPV will have their contribution to this country explicitly recognised as a factor in reaching a subsequent stay/leave decision if they are specifically rejected as refugees.

Mandatory detention

The ALP supports the principle of mandatory detention – which was brought in by Labor when in government – but the detention regime will be very different under Labor’s administration. The regime will be restored to public control – privatisation and market competition entail reduced service standards and an increased likelihood of abuses.

The media will be given full access to detention centres. Independent medical services will be provided, and an independent inspectorate established to pursue complaints.

Labor’s target will be to determine 90 per cent of claims for refugee status within 90 days. After a reassessment by an independent committee, the government will be required to justify an individual’s continued detention to that independent body, on a monthly basis.

Labor will also explore more sympathetic temporary release measures so long as they do not jeopardise the system’s security.

Foreign aid

Restoration of the Howard government’s cuts to foreign aid would help alleviate the refugee problem. In particular, Labor will contribute at least $25 million to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees – not just because of the pressing humanitarian crisis in many parts of the world, but more directly because slow and inadequate processing of refugees in overseas camps encourages people, and people smugglers, to attempt unauthorised entry.

Why 90 per cent succeed in their applications

Mr Ferguson made the forceful point that it is patently discriminatory to treat refugees in overseas countries – usually living in wretched and dangerous camps – less sympathetically than those who arrive uninvited on our shores. The people languishing in these camps are at least as deserving of our help as the uninvited arrivals.

While it’s true that around 90 per cent of onshore TPV applications succeed, we should ask ourselves why this figure is so much higher than the corresponding figures in different jurisdictions that operate under the same international criteria as we do – why just 34 per cent are successful in Britain, why even the UNHCR rejects more applications than us, and in particular why the success rates in our own overseas offices are far lower than they are in Australia.

Mr Ferguson believes the government is partly to blame – it took the view that the restoration of civil society in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan would occur quickly and smoothly, so there was no great harm in approving a high rate of TPV applications from former residents of these countries, who could then be repatriated in quite short order. As a result, Australia has become a target for people smugglers.

Overall, Labor will be compassionate in its approach to asylum seekers, but will keep its eyes wide open. We need to recognise that some people do destroy documents to make the task of disproving their claims harder – particularly when purported former residents of certain countries are much more successful in their applications than others.

Settlement policies and illegal employment

Labor does not believe that religious and charitable bodies and other contractors, however well-intentioned, are best equipped to deliver services to recent arrivals. Contracting out means more paperwork, disjointed service delivery and variable service quality. Labor will restore medical, legal, language and educational service continuity under overall public administration.

The Howard government has never taken the problem of illegal employment seriously. Labor will issue a “green card” to every non-permanent resident who has the right to paid employment in Australia, and will enforce harsh penalties on those who employ non-green card holders. Tax file numbers will be used as an additional enforcement tool.

In 1999, Phillip Ruddock promised to change the law to make it easier to prosecute employers utilising illegal workers and exploiting cheap labour. Six years of inaction followed.

Selling the Labor approach

Labor needs to establish the space to sell its more open and compassionate approach to immigration, and particularly to asylum seekers, by acknowledging the legitimacy of public concerns on issues such as security, community tension and concentrated immigration settlement. This means recognising that the broad thrust of government policy – border security, deterrence of uninvited arrivals, and mandatory detention – has traditionally been popular in the public mind. We need also to acknowledge that even with the Howard government’s refugee intake cuts, Australia remains generous by international standards in its settlement program.

Labor’s approach on the immigration detention system, which is presently the most sensitive and serious issue, is based on the following objectives:

• fast, fair and transparent mechanisms
• assessing, processing and releasing
• a protective, not punitive, system

Labor’s stamp will be through a commitment to efficient and accountable processing, an honouring of both the spirit and the letter of our international obligations, and a wholehearted commitment to making settlement policies work, particularly in regional Australia.

Labor believes in access and equity for all. Labor recognises the specialised needs of refugees, based upon their country of origin. Labor is dedicated to integrating migrants into the broader Australian community, thereby encouraging migrants to benefit from and contribute to Australia’s economic, social and cultural development.