Policies/Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Asylum seekers and refugees
Australia has not done well at handling asylum seekers in recent years. Previous policy changes contributed to a surge of boat arrivals which led to more than a thousand deaths at sea and overwhelmed processing capacity, leading to indefinite detention for tens of thousands More recently, policy towards asylum seekers has swung the other direction, becoming so harsh that the lives of those imprisoned have been destroyed in the name of creating a “deterrence” for others.

A more balanced and humane approach ultimately requires a regional solution. We believe efforts should begin at once to set up a single regional asylum seeker 'queue'. Asylum seekers arriving anywhere in the region should be subject to a single processing system overseen by an independent body with all participating nations accepting a share of approved refugees. The existence of a common regional queue would remove specific incentives to travel to Australia, reducing drowning and deterring backdoor economic migration. A regional approach would encourage information pooling to improve document and identity checking, and a transparent allocation process to reduce disputes between nations. The creation of a new system of oversight would allow for a best practice approach built from the ground up, with a humane appeals process and a means for swift and safe return of arrivals deemed not to be asylum seekers.

Such a scheme would require funding, leadership, and specific incentives provided by Australia to encourage sign-up. However, Australia currently spends over $1 billion per year on detention facilities, and redirection of these funds will free up significant resources. Nations such as Indonesia would have strong incentives to sign up, both to receive incentives, and to obtain help with settling their large backlog of asylum seekers. As participating countries would be required to sign the UN Refugee Convention, funding and aid from Australia could become a mechanism for improving region-wide standards in asylum seeker handling.

Asylum seeking is lawful, and processing should not last longer than the minimum time-frame necessary to assess claims and conduct health and security checks. Approved asylum seekers can be brought into the community, provided with support and training, and settled in areas where jobs remain persistently vacant (the National Farmers Federation estimates around 96,000 jobs are unfilled in regional areas).

The Pirate Party believes it is past time that our response to the plight of vulnerable people embodied our best qualities instead of our worst.

Pirate Party Australia advocates the following reforms:

Set up a single regional asylum seeker "queue" comprising willing refugee convention signatory countries
 * Australia to offer funding and leadership.
 * All countries take a share of asylum seekers according to a transparent allocation process.
 * A single process will provide common housing, education, treatment and assessment for all asylum seekers who arrive in any participating country.
 * Assessments, health & security checks to be conducted in common, agreed places.
 * Process to be overseen by UNHCR or by an independent, expert organisation.
 * Assessment of backlogged claims to be fast-tracked.
 * Families should be kept together, and asylum seekers may submit preferences on a destination nation.
 * Preferences may be taken into account, but final decisions to be made by the overseeing body in line with agreed quotas.
 * Nations to pool information to assist with document and identity checking.
 * Processing will follow all relevant international law and treaties.

Change immigration and asylum seeker processes regarding claims of gender, sex and orientation based oppression
 * Implement Kaleidoscope Australia's Guide to Best Practice in Determining Applications for Refugee Status Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Intersex Grounds:
 * Provide training for immigration on gender, sex and orientation variations context, including privacy needs and processes.
 * Inform asylum seekers of the need to state the basis of their claim early, even if that does not mean they are required to substantiate it at that time.
 * Assign advocates that speak the asylum seekers' languages.
 * Implement protocols and processes for managing privacy, including not making it obvious that additional privacy measures are being taken in specific cases.
 * Only use medical professionals to establish the truth of claimed personal conditions. Regular customs officers are not qualified for this.

Release refugees accepted into Australia into the community
 * Successful asylum seekers assigned to Australia to be brought safely as refugees (by plane or naval vessel).
 * Conditions of release should include reporting requirements and continued availability for processing.
 * Peer-driven community training and social services will help refugees understand their legal rights, build social networks, and overcome disadvantage (language barriers, skills, trauma, etc).
 * Refugees to be provided with a basic income, a right to work, and a pathway to citizenship.
 * Savings from closing offshore detention centres to be redirected in order to provide:
 * Incentives for regional nations to sign the refugee convention and engage with the plan.
 * Resources to speed processing times, develop humane processing practices, and improve support services in destination countries.