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Australia April 29, 2011 – After the recent rioting in Australian detention centers, the Federal Government seems ready to introduce the use of temporary visas and harden the “character test” for prospective asylum seekers.

This comes about as disturbances occurred at several detention centers in recent months, with buildings at Sydney’s Villa wood centre burnt down during a riot last week.

Chris Bowen, Australian Immigration Minister, has identified new laws which would mean that any detainee caught up in any criminal action would automatically fail the character test and will not be granted a permanent protection Australian visa. However, they still could be granted a temporary visa which, along with other provisions, would allow them to return to their country of origin when safe to do so.

Mr. Bowen stated that under the Migration Act, the temporary visas are already available.

He stated that the temporary visas’ use is different from the temporary protection visas which were abolished in 2008 by the Rudd government because they were “across the board”.

Mr. Bowen clarified in a news conference in Sydney that if refugees have temporary protection visas across the board then the refugee won’t have any reason to conduct oneself in immigration detention in an orderly fashion.

He added that a genuine refugee who has conducted themselves according to the law and to the expectations of the community would then be granted a permanent visa. However, if not, then the refugee would be granted a visa with lesser rights.

Mr. Bowen said that the change would make anyone who is involved in any criminal activities to obtain a permanent protection visa.

The Government said that if the Parliament passed the amendments to the Migration Act, they would be back-dated to take effect from today.

According to Mr. Bowen, the said amendments would make clearer and sends a very clear message to people in immigration detention that destructive behavior would not be tolerated.

He also added that he also wants to increase the penalty for manufacture, use, or possession of a weapon inside immigration detention from three to five years.

However, he clarified that his power to refuse visas to asylum seekers is currently subject to legal challenge and can be contested in the courts.

Scott Morrison, the Opposition Immigration spokesman, said that the new laws may boomerang, for the reason that the minister has already got powers to punish wrongdoers.

He described Mr. Bowen’s proposal as another form of temporary protection visa.

source:
abc.net.au