REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT ARRANGEMENT WITH NEW ZEALAND

October 16, 2018

Labor welcomes the Government’s sudden and unexplained interest in considering a regional resettlement arrangement with New Zealand with eligible refugees.

We have long called on the Liberals to accept New Zealand’s generous offer to resettle refugees from Manus and Nauru and negotiate conditions similar to the US refugee resettlement agreement to prevent people smugglers exploiting vulnerable people.

The Government’s “lifetime ban” legislation – which has been sitting in the Senate for nearly two years without debate – is not required to secure regional resettlement arrangements.

The “lifetime ban” legislation permanently excludes any person who travelled to Australia by means other than the normal channels for immigration, including by boat, from ever entering Australia.

This would include someone who has subsequently settled in the United States and, decades later, needs to come to Australia for a short business trip, or to visit a dying relative.

Other examples of people who would be banned from ever coming to Australia include:

• politicians undertaking a political exchange;
• elite athletes hoping to compete in Australian sport events;
• tourist visits by former refugees who are now citizens of another country; and
• business owners or employees visiting in Australia to discuss the expansion of companies and businesses into the Australia market.

The legislation is a ridiculous overreach and is irrelevant to securing third country resettlement arrangements and Labor does not agree to the legislation in its current form.

Scott Morrison has not explained why these laws are required for a resettlement deal with New Zealand and the Liberals have not reached out to Labor to give an assurance of any such deal.

The United States refugee resettlement deal is already underway and operating successfully without these laws. If Malcolm Turnbull was able to negotiate conditions for the US arrangement, then Scott Morrison should be able to negotiate them for any arrangement with New Zealand.

We urge Scott Morrison to do what he should have done on his first day in the job – pick up the phone to New Zealand and negotiate a resettlement arrangement and appropriate conditions and restrictions.

If the Government is incapable of doing this, a Labor Government will get it done.

Authorised by Noah Carroll, ALP, Canberra.