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Parish Patience Solicitors, Immigration Law Section
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No Amnesty! 

Government launches "No Amnesty" campaign, increases use of character grounds for refusal

In response to rumours being spread in some ethnic communities in Australia, the government has begun distributing leaflets proclaiming that it has no intention of announcing an amnesty for illegal immigrants and that anyone illegally in Australia should make immediate arrangements to depart. "It is only a matter of time before you are caught", the leaflet warns.

While there has not been a general amnesty for illegal immigrants since 1980, a variety of "special programs" during the 1990s permitted people to remain if they satisfied certain criteria. These criteria included the nationality of the immigrants, their qualifications and work skills, and their personal relationships with Australian residents.

The most frequently quoted argument against granting amnesties is that they encourage more people to enter or overstay illegally to wait for the next one. If so, the "special programs" of the last decade will have had a similar effect. When the government decided in 1998 to grant an amnesty limited to people of certain nationalities, the Federal Court class action to challenge the limitation as racially discriminatory brought forward thousands of individuals who had been living in this country for as long as 20 years in the hope of eventually being able to legalise their status. Most of them have developed very close ties with the Australian community.

If the current campaign convinces these people that their is no hope of a general amnesty, many may wonder whether they could have any chance of migrating back to Australia legally if they took the government's advice and went home. Those with work skills in demand or close personal relationships with Australian residents might think that they would satisfy immigration criteria and so the best course of action would be to now "do the right thing".

Unfortunately recent developments in immigration policy are likely to discourage anyone contemplating going home with the intention of applying to return legally. It is now standard practice at Australian Embassies to refuse migration applications from people who have previously broken immigration laws on the ground that they are not of "good character", which is a general requirement for any visa applicant. The fact that the applicant may be married to an Australian citizen and even have Australian citizen children is no guarantee of waiver.

It is hard to see how the government hopes to encourage people to leave Australia when the consequences for their families may be devastating. On the contrary, the policy backflips of past years can only lead to feelings of resentment against those who have benefited, particularly where the criterion has been nationality, and a loss of respect for a legal system which produces such obviously unjust outcomes.

Australian response to British Child Migrants report

In January the Australian government issued its response to the British Government's response of a British House of Commons report on the welfare of former child migrants.

The Health Committee of the House of Commons, which published its report in July 1998, noted that "Child migration was a feature of British social policy for many years. Legislation allowed children in the care of voluntary organisations to be transported to Commonwealth countries. In total it is estimated that some 150,000 children were dispatched over a period of 350 years—the earliest recorded child migrants left Britain for the Virginia Colony in 1618, and the process did not finally end until the late 1960s."

Substantial evidence was provided to the Committee of physical, psychological and sexual abuse of these young people, who included real orphans as well as the children of unmarried mothers and others taken from their families for a variety of reasons, many of whom were told they were orphans. Many of the reports of abuse related to the treatment of these children in Australia.

The response of the Australian government, as outlined by the Minister, includes facilitating access to records for surviving child migrants, but little in the way of compensation or current assistance. In line with government policy in other areas, there will be no official apology.

Population Flows report for 1999

The annual report of the government publication "Population Flows: immigration aspects" was released at the end of 1999. The document provides useful statistical information about population growth and prospects in Australia with projections into the future based on various options for immigration and natural population growth.

The report finds that the overseas-born population of Australia at the end of the 20th century is proportionally about the same as it was at the beginning, a little under 25%. Major birthplaces remain overwhelmingly the UK, New Zealand and Europe.

The latest report gives serious attention to non-permanent migrants. An increase in the number of long-term (12 months or more) temporary residents is one of the more significant features of recent immigration trends.

Population Flows: Immigration Aspects 1999 - http://www.immi.gov.au/population/flow-dec99.htm

Minister travels to stop refugee flows

The Minister has been travelling around the Middle East over the past few weeks, visiting Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, and dropping in on Indonesia on the way back.

The extensive publicity provided by the Department for the Minister's travels stressed the evils of "people smuggling" and the cooperation offered by the governments involved, all of whom have extensive records of forcing their own citizens to seek the protection of the international community as refugees.

The Minister's concern, however, is with the people transiting these countries from two major sources, Iraq and Afghanistan, whose claims to be genuine refugees cannot be denied by the Australian government once they reach our shores. The simple bureaucratic response, easily understood by the regimes visited by the Minister, is to stop them getting here.

Hot links

With each edition of Australian Immigration Law Update we will try to find some new or interesting sites that you might enjoy visiting. This month, you might like to try out some of these*:

• http://www.discovery.com/ - Website of the Discovery cable television channel
• http://flatstanley.enoreo.on.ca/ - An international literacy and communications activity for primary and junior teachers and their students
• http://fullcoverage.yahoo.com/fc/US/Black_History_Month/ - Yahoo listing of items on Black History Month

* These sites are not in any way endorsed or connected with Parish Patience. The listing of a commercial site does not imply any recommendation or warranty concerning the products or services offered.

Contact us:

Parish Patience Solicitors
Immigration Law Section
Level 1, State Street Centre
338 Pitt Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000
AUSTRALIA 

Tel: +612 9283 1333
Fax: +612 9267 8808
Email

Liability is limited by the Solicitors Scheme under the Professional Standards Act 1994 (NSW)

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