REFUGEES MUST NOT BE PUNISHED FURTHER

Michael Cope, QCCL President, said today, “The Council condemns the decision of the Government to rush through legislation enabling it to continue to deprive refugees of their liberty.”

Following the decision of the High Court last week, a small group of refugees who faced spending the rest of their lives in immigration detention, were given their freedom[1].

All the refugees in question had served the sentences which have been imposed upon them by Australian Courts. Consequently, if they had been Australian citizens, they would have been free to move about in the community.

"The only fact that allows the government to justify the continuing deprivation of these people of their liberty, is the entirely arbitrary happenstance that they were in this country on a visa and were not citizens. Otherwise, they would be free to walk amongst us."

Making it a criminal offence to breach visa conditions puts these individuals in a worse position than a parolee. Parolees appear before the relevant authority. They don't face a criminal charge.

The presumption of innocence dictates that the State has no greater obligation to protect its citizens from a person who has been released from custody than it has to protect its citizens from any other member of the public.

This legislation is part of an increasing trend by which people who have served their sentences are being subject to further detention or restrictions on their liberty on the basis that they are "dangerous". These types of laws started with sex offenders, moved to bikies, terrorists and recently the High Court said there was nothing wrong with Western Australia legislation that detained people after completing their sentence who had been convicted of house breaking.

“These types of laws represent not only an unjustified further punishment of already harmed people but are part of a concerning trend. As the great British Philosopher John Stuart Mill argued the preventive power of the state is, “far more liable to be abused, to the prejudice of liberty, then the punitory function””

ENDS

For further information contact Michael Cope President QCCL on 07 3223 5939 during office hours and on 0432 847 154

16 November 2023

[1] Our position as to when non-citizens can be deported is set out here https://qccl.org.au/newsblog/minister-dutton-glories-in-his-cruelty?rq=immigration