Chris Bowen announcement: Off-shore processing should be scraped

While the Social Justice Network is welcoming the minister for immigration’s reply to High Court ruling but consider the reply to be “so little so late” and lack any political courage. The SJN understands that the High Court ruling actually dismantled the validity of off-shore processing system, including the excision of thousands of Australian islands from migration zone.

“The minister reply was lacking any political context. He affirmed that the government will comply to the ruling, as it constitutionally and legally should” said Jamal Daoud, the spokesperson of SJN. “The minister should have gone further and declared the death of off-shore processing regimes”

“Now, regardless of the way you arrive to Australia, all asylum seekers will have access to legal system. In practical terms, the off-shore processing system is buried and cremated”

“But the minister did not tell us also how his department will deal with the lengthy delays in processing of cases. Some of these asylum seekers are in detention centers for more than 1.5 years and suffering from deep mental health issues”

We expect that ALL detainees will apply for judicial review. This will flood the judicial system with cases. But it also means that the detention centers overcrowding and flourishing of mental health troubles.

“The department should expect that it will deal with some unrest, protests and even desperate action by unstable detainees. The minister should have announced some progressive steps to avoid this”

“The minister should have considered taking some steps in this regard. Steps like releasing long time detainees and detainees with mental health problems into community on temporary visas until their cases finalized”.

“The government will have blood on their hands if more detainees will lose their lives inside detention centers waiting for judicial review and release”.

“The department’s own statistics show very clearly that the overwheliming majority of boat people arrived to Australia in the last decades are genuine refugees. The government has responsibility to insure quick status determination, as per Labor own policy to not keep any detainee more than 3 months in detention”.

Later on, and after the majority of these detainees will be found to be refugees, we will have enough time to ask the Labor immigration ministers why panic during election campaign resulted in the high rejection of genuine refugees and the consequent overcrowding and deep troubles inside detention centers, including suicide of many asylum seekers.

The government should have the courage to announce progressive steps to release the largest bulk of detainees on temporary visas until judicial system finalized. The government should have also some courage to announce the end of off-shore processing system. The smaller partners of the government (mainly the Greens, who flourished on asylum seekers’ issues) should demand change of policy now.

The SJN still believe and still fight to see the mandatory detention system scrapped altogether. Australia should end playing political football with this highly humanitarian issue. Such game costs lives and social cohesion.

Any resort from the Liberal opposition to play the game of claiming that these changes will encourage people smugglers activities should be condemned by strongest words. The people smugglers work never stopped in the history. If opposition are serious to stop people smuggling activities, they should help in ending conflicts and social injustices around the globe. Such conflicts and injusticies that are playing major role as pushing factors.

For more information or to arrange media talks, Jamal Daoud can be contacted on 0404 447 272