AUSTRALIA:IN A major reform of immigration policy, the Australian government yesterday announced that most asylum seekers would no longer be kept in mandatory detention, writes Pádraig Collins.
While the policy is not being completely scrapped, the department of immigration will now have to justify why a person should be detained.
"A person who poses no danger to the community will be able to remain in the community while their visa status is resolved," said immigration minister Chris Evans. Senator Evans said the change was being made for reasons of compassion.
"This isn't about a mass opening of the gates. This is about a more humane treatment of asylum seekers, a more humane detention policy," he said.
"Labor rejects the notion that dehumanising and punishing unauthorised arrivals with long-term detention is an effective or civilised response."
Though mandatory detention was widely associated with the 1996-2007 Liberal government under prime minister John Howard, it was first introduced in 1992 under the previous Labor government, led by Paul Keating.
It was greatly expanded by Mr Howard, though, and proved very controversial in recent years, with several cases making international headlines.
These included the wrongful detention of a mentally ill German woman with Australian residency, riots in detention centres, and children who suffered psychological damage. There were another 32 known cases of people being wrongfully detained under the Migration Act.
Under the reforms, children will no longer be detained and mandatory detention will now apply only to those who pose a danger to the wider community through security or health risks, or who have repeatedly breached their visa conditions.
Senator Evans acknowledged that mandatory detention had damaged Australia's international reputation.
"A great deal more work needs to occur to develop a modern and robust system for management of people in immigration detention," he said. "Once in detention, a detainee's case will be reviewed every three months to ensure that the further detention of the individual is justified."
The policy change has been widely welcomed by refugee advocacy groups.
Dr Graham Thom from Amnesty International said he was hopeful that most people currently detained would be released.
"This is a very fundamental change, because really for the last 15 years Australia has reserved the right to mandatorily detain somebody simply based on their lack of a visa and wanting to keep them in detention for as long as possible," he said.
"Hopefully these changes will bring Australia in line with other western democracies and into line with our international obligations," Dr Thom added.
Currently, 385 people are being held in immigration detention. Of those, 64 are seeking asylum, or waiting for a result from an application for a protection visa.
All 385 cases will now be reviewed and asylum seekers will have access to lawyers at the government's expense.