Scott Morrison may be forced to give 31,000 asylum seekers chance of settlement
Exclusive: Senate numbers firming to compel minister to honour deal he did with Clive Palmer on five-year ‘safe haven enterprise visas’
Asylum seekers on Manus Island. Guardian Australia understands the
Senate is likely to insist on a clear ‘pathway to permanence’.
Photograph: Eoin Blackwell/AAP
The government would be forced to provide 31,000 asylum seekers with
the possibility of a permanent visa or else abandon sweeping new asylum
laws under a plan being negotiated by Labor, the Greens, the Palmer
United party and other crossbench senators.
The asylum bill is one of a number of unresolved issues – or “barnacles” – the government wants resolved by Christmas.
But the numbers in the Senate are now firming to force Scott Morrison,
the immigration minister, to make a big concession – to honour a deal
he did with Clive Palmer in September in which the PUP believed it had
won support for a new five-year “safe haven enterprise visa” (for
refugees who agreed to work in regional areas) that would lead to a
permanent visa.
The
legislation implementing the deal between Morrison and Palmer, which
passed the lower house last month, went far beyond what had been agreed
with PUP and did not provide any details or any clear pathway for safe
haven visa holders to achieve permanent residency.
Guardian Australia understands the Senate is very likely to insist on a clear “pathway to permanence”.
Morrison has insisted this won’t happen – leaving the likely fate of his legislation resting on his willingness to compromise.
“There’s no way I will lift the bar to give someone a permanent visa …
We gave an absolute commitment on that and I’m not going to send a
message … that permanent visas are on offer in Australia again for
people who have arrived illegally by boat,” he said this week.
Morrison has insisted it is the fault of Labor and the Greens that
the 31,000 asylum seekers who arrived before the new “Pacific solution”
are languishing, without work rights, because of the political deadlock
in the Senate over the terms under which they might stay.
He says the “bloody-minded’’ ideological refusal of the opposition
parties to consider the Coalition’s policy to reintroduce temporary
protection visas has left asylum seekers as “collateral damage”.
The Greens accuse him of “bullying” the crossbench and using the plight of asylum seekers as a form of “blackmail”.
As revealed by Guardian Australia, Palmer had immediate concerns about the bill and sent a “please explain” letter to Morrison
when a parliamentary human rights committee including five members of
the Coalition found the bill was incompatible with human rights.
Furious lobbying of the crossbench continues.
The Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm
said he was considering his position. “I like the idea of the new safe
haven visas, but the government is working on the assumption that it
will be almost impossible for people on these visas to get permanent
residency,” he said. “It still seems pretty mean.”
The independent senator Nick Xenophon said there were “aspects of
this bill that cause me deep concern”. His fellow independent John
Madigan is opposed to the government’s bill.
As well as reintroducing TPVs and the new safe haven visas, the
legislation redefines who is eligible for refugee status and seeks to
prevent future high court challenges against boat turnbacks, against
claims by asylum-seeker children born in Australia or against claims of
human rights breaches under the UN refugee convention.
It also “fast-tracks” refugee processing, removes rights of appeal
and allows authorities to take detained vessels or persons anywhere in
the world regardless of international or domestic law.
It is understood that Labor, the Greens and the crossbench will seek
to remove many of these additional measures, leaving the bill focused on
the visa issue.
Morrison has said he hopes to get the bill through before parliament rises next week.
the possibility of a permanent visa or else abandon sweeping new asylum
laws under a plan being negotiated by Labor, the Greens, the Palmer
United party and other crossbench senators.
The asylum bill is one of a number of unresolved issues – or “barnacles” – the government wants resolved by Christmas.
But the numbers in the Senate are now firming to force Scott Morrison,
the immigration minister, to make a big concession – to honour a deal
he did with Clive Palmer in September in which the PUP believed it had
won support for a new five-year “safe haven enterprise visa” (for
refugees who agreed to work in regional areas) that would lead to a
permanent visa.
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legislation implementing the deal between Morrison and Palmer, which
passed the lower house last month, went far beyond what had been agreed
with PUP and did not provide any details or any clear pathway for safe
haven visa holders to achieve permanent residency.
Guardian Australia understands the Senate is very likely to insist on a clear “pathway to permanence”.
Morrison has insisted this won’t happen – leaving the likely fate of his legislation resting on his willingness to compromise.
“There’s no way I will lift the bar to give someone a permanent visa …
We gave an absolute commitment on that and I’m not going to send a
message … that permanent visas are on offer in Australia again for
people who have arrived illegally by boat,” he said this week.
Morrison has insisted it is the fault of Labor and the Greens that
the 31,000 asylum seekers who arrived before the new “Pacific solution”
are languishing, without work rights, because of the political deadlock
in the Senate over the terms under which they might stay.
He says the “bloody-minded’’ ideological refusal of the opposition
parties to consider the Coalition’s policy to reintroduce temporary
protection visas has left asylum seekers as “collateral damage”.
The Greens accuse him of “bullying” the crossbench and using the plight of asylum seekers as a form of “blackmail”.
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when a parliamentary human rights committee including five members of
the Coalition found the bill was incompatible with human rights.
Furious lobbying of the crossbench continues.
The Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm
said he was considering his position. “I like the idea of the new safe
haven visas, but the government is working on the assumption that it
will be almost impossible for people on these visas to get permanent
residency,” he said. “It still seems pretty mean.”
The independent senator Nick Xenophon said there were “aspects of
this bill that cause me deep concern”. His fellow independent John
Madigan is opposed to the government’s bill.
As well as reintroducing TPVs and the new safe haven visas, the
legislation redefines who is eligible for refugee status and seeks to
prevent future high court challenges against boat turnbacks, against
claims by asylum-seeker children born in Australia or against claims of
human rights breaches under the UN refugee convention.
It also “fast-tracks” refugee processing, removes rights of appeal
and allows authorities to take detained vessels or persons anywhere in
the world regardless of international or domestic law.
It is understood that Labor, the Greens and the crossbench will seek
to remove many of these additional measures, leaving the bill focused on
the visa issue.
Morrison has said he hopes to get the bill through before parliament rises next week.
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