Independent MP Kylea Tink is advocating for a new bill that would limit the Australian government’s ability to detain asylum seekers for more than 90 days and would ban the detention of children in immigration centers.
Tink is set to reintroduce the Migration Amendment (Limits on Immigration Detention) Bill 2024 on Monday, citing a worrying rise in the number of people held indefinitely in costly and secretive offshore facilities. The bill aims to amend the Migration Act 1958, ensuring that Australia adheres to international human rights standards.
“In the current environment, Australia is still known as one of the worst countries in terms of fulfilling international human rights obligations,” Tink stated. “The broader Australian population expects that it is unacceptable to hold people indefinitely, and it is certainly unacceptable for our government to detain children. This is a deeply troubling chapter in our nation’s history.”
Recent data reveals that the average time spent in Australian immigration detention centers is 565 days, significantly longer than in countries like Canada, where the average is 30 days, and the United States, where it is 48 days. As of now, over 900 people are in immigration detention, according to the Department of Home Affairs.
A significant ruling by the High Court in November declared that non-citizens could not be held in indefinite immigration detention, resulting in the release of around 150 detainees.
Tink’s bill proposes that if a person’s detention exceeds 90 days, it can be extended by an additional 28 days only if absolutely necessary. She believes this approach provides a practical solution, allowing the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) to assess each case.
The bill also includes provisions to ban the detention of children in facilities described by experts as “factories for producing mental illness.” Additionally, it extends its regulations to cover offshore detention.
“We must determine as a nation where we stand on humanitarian principles and apply them consistently,” Tink emphasized. “We do not get to pick and choose whose human rights we will uphold and when.”
In support of the bill, the Melbourne-based Asylum Seeker Resource Centre is presenting a petition with 10,000 signatures, demanding the immediate evacuation of nearly 140 people held in offshore detention. Jana Favero, the center’s Head of Systemic Change, urged the Albanese government to pass the bill swiftly, noting that it aligns with the Labor party’s platform.
“Mandatory detention must be abolished, and setting time limits on detention is the first crucial step toward achieving this,” Favero said.