- Paul Maley and Lauren Wilson The Australian March 07, 2014 12:00AM
Tony Abbott with The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrison. Picture: Gary Ramage Source: News Corp Australia
REFUGEES who arrive by boat will no longer be eligible for one of Australia’s 13,750 protection visas, with the government announcing last night it had formally “de-linked” the humanitarian program from boat arrivals.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday the government had restored 4000 places in Australia’s special humanitarian visa program, which in years gone by had been overwhelmed by boat arrivals.
Coupled with the 6000-odd places Australia sets aside for refugees selected by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the roughly 500 places rolled over from last year, the announcement means almost 11,000 of the 13,750 available places will go to offshore applicants.
Mr Morrison said 1000 of those places would be given over to women at risk.
The Coalition trumpeted the announcement as wresting control of Australia’s humanitarian program back from people-smugglers and self-selecting asylum-seekers, to whom Australia is obliged to issue a protection visa once their refugee claims are successful.
“This is the very essence of our we-will-decide policy,” Mr Morrison told The Australian. “We have de-linked the programs. People who have arrived by boat will not be eligible for one of these places.”
Last night, Labor was withholding judgment on the government’s announcement.
“We will be seeking urgent clarification on what impact this will have for people currently on shore and also on the permanent intake program,” a spokesman for opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles said.
Typically about 4000 places in the special humanitarian program have been devoted to people overseas who are at risk or have some connection to Australia, for example, a family member who is already a refugee in the community.
The program has been used to reunite and stabilise families or to assist special categories of people, such as Syrian refugees.
But since the boats began coming in 2008 the program has been eroded, with a greater number of places given to boat people.
Mr Morrison said more than 15,000 protection visas had been issued to asylum-seekers since the boats began.
His remarks came as a Senate committee urged the government to consider making substantial changes to parliamentary processes so the Abbott government could not use claims of public interest immunity to refuse to provide information about its military-led Operation Sovereign Borders.
