Senate Committee considers "privative clause"

In this issue we report on the investigation into the government's "privative clause" legislation being conducted by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee

Inside this issue:

Senate Committee considers "privative clause" legislation
1999-2000 Migration and Humanitarian programs - submissions called for
Hot links
Contact us

Senate Committee considers "privative clause" legislation

The government's attempt at blocking access to the judicial system for visa applicants, enshrined in the Migration Legislation Amendment (Judicial Review) Bill 1998, came under the scrutiny of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee at the end of January.

The Committee of Senators from all political parties heard submissions from a variety of eminent commentators, including Mr Peter Nygh, a former judge of the Family Court and Acting Principal Member of the Refugee Review Tribunal, Mr David Bitel, Secretary-General of the Australian Section of the International Commission of Jurists (and a partner at Parish Patience), Dr Mary Crock, a respected academic working in the field of immigration and refugee law, and Mr Chris Sidoti, Australian Human Rights Commissioner.

The legislation, which has already been passed by the House of Representatives, would have the effect of legalising decisions under the Migration Act regardless of whether they contained what would otherwise be errors of law such as failure to take into account all relevant considerations, misunderstanding of the law, denial of the right to be heard, even total unreasonableness. Given that immigration has in the past been the testing ground for new developments in administrative law, many fear that such a radical departure from democratic norms would be the thin edge of the wedge leading to virtually unfettered bureaucratic power over the lives of all of us.

Once again, only the "unrepresentative swill" of the Senate (to quote a former Prime Minister) stands between the rights of the people and the power of the executive.

Migration Legislation Amendment (Judicial Review) Bill 1998: http://www.aph.gov.au/parlinfo/billsnet/98229.pdf
Article by Michael Jones: http://www.parishpatience.com.au/immigration/privativ.htm

1999-2000 Migration and Humanitarian programs - submissions called for

The Minister has called for written submissions from individuals and organisations concerning the migration and humanitarian programs for the coming financial year.

Submissions should be forwarded no later than 19 February 1999 to:

Director
Economic and Environment Section
Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
PO Box 25
BELCONNEN ACT 2616

Any enquiries should be directed to Mr John Ryan on (02) 6264
1765 or Mr Ebenezer Banful on (02) 6264 1668.

An issues paper is available in HTML and PDF formats:
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/issues/consult1.htm
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/issues/consult.pdf

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://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/nineplanets.html - The Nine Planets, a multimedia tour of the Solar System, by Bill Arnett
http://promo.net/pg/pgframed_index.html - Project Gutenberg, fine literature digitally republished
http://www.lawasia.asn.au/lawasia/ - LawAsia, the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific

Contact us:

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

Tel: +612 9286 8700
Fax: +612 9283 3323
Email

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

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Disclaimer

The contents of this newsletter are not intended to be legal advice. Parish Patience accepts no responsibility for any action taken in reliance on anything contained in the newsletter. Individuals should seek advice about their own circumstances only from a registered migration agent.