The federal parliament has rushed through three immigration bills that, once again, strip people of rights, dignity and humanity.
Confiscating phones. Separating families. Banishing people to countries they’ve never set foot in.
This hysterical reaction panders to the dog-whistling of those who have turned migrant-bashing into a sport, sometimes literally.
Migrants have become the scapegoats for everything – the housing crisis, the education crisis, the cost-of-living crisis. They’re an easy target, even when the evidence doesn’t back up the claims. And if you keep stoking that fire, then you create the social licence to do unconscionable things.
One of the immigration bills enables the government to pay other countries to accept the non-citizens we don’t want. According to the Immigration Department, this could potentially affect up to 80,000 people already living here. The bill does not contain safeguards to protect people from the risk of persecution or other serious harm in those countries. And it gives the government immunity if anyone is harmed when deported.
A second bill could impose gaol terms up to five years on non-citizens who do not cooperate with removal proceedings. And even if they are willing to return but their home country won’t take them, then a travel ban could be slapped on its nationals seeking a visa to Australia, potentially separating Australians from their family overseas.
The third bill is a rehash of a failed 2020 bill – which Labor opposed – allowing officials to confiscate mobile phones and other ‘dangerous’ items from people in immigration detention.
Australia is often hailed as a success story because of its multicultural fabric and immigration history, despite having pursued some of the world’s most racist immigration policies. The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 was one of the first pieces of legislation passed by the federal parliament, and the White Australia Policy that operated for most of the 20th century excluded ‘coloured aliens’ from ‘white Australia’.
It seems that many of our current politicians are hellbent on infusing today’s politics with the same exclusionary sentiments.
Racist and other incendiary rhetoric that, at least for a time, was unimaginable in public discourse is now unashamedly employed to incite hatred, division and fear.
When the Albanese government took office, it promised to be ‘strong on borders without being weak on humanity’. It did well for a while, but got lost some time ago.
The Coalition is no better. It designed many of the most draconian aspects of our immigration law, including stripping out references to the international legal frameworks which we still purport to observe.
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Australians had their liberty curtailed and their rights restricted. Many people were shocked that the government could so readily strip away rights they thought were sacrosanct. In that moment, it seemed possible that people might become more attuned to what it means to be confined, detained, separated from family and loved ones, and uncertain about what comes next.
Yet, here we are again. The three bills were rushed through the lower house yesterday, despite vociferous opposition by the crossbench and legal advocates.
What has happened to us? We are better than this. We must do better than this.