BY SARAH STEPHEN
Refugees on temporary protection visas make up an expanding component of the Australian government's intake of refugees. At the end of May, there were 8400 people living in Australia on TPVs.
Between July 2000 and June 2001, more than a third of visas granted were temporary: 4456 people were granted TPVs, alongside an offshore intake of 7625, who are granted permanent visas.
This represents a significant regression in Australia's commitment to the resettlement of refugees, because only some of those 4456 will be given the opportunity to settle in Australia permanently.
Asylum seekers granted TPVs cannot bring the rest of their family to Australia; nor are they allowed to leave the country to visit family members. They are barred from accessing free English-language courses and therefore have trouble finding paid employment.
After they have been in Australia for 30 months, TPV holders may apply for permanent protection visas. However, many TPV-holders face deportation when their visas expire. This is because change in their country of origin, the federal government argues, means many people can no longer claim fear of persecution.
The Border Protection Act, passed by the Senate on November 25, 1999, incorporated immigration department regulations introduced in October which established temporary protection visas for refugees who arrived unlawfully. The legislation was passed with support from the Labor Party.
While the Democrats criticised some of the government's plans and moved in the Senate to overturn the temporary visa regulations, they voted for the Border Protection Bill. Justifying their vote, Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett stated: "We are as willing as any other party to support measures that address movements of illegal migrants."
The 1999 legislation created a second class of refugees, with drastically reduced access to welfare and language services, and no right to sponsor family members migrating to Australia.
Legislation passed in September 2001 compounded this discriminatory treatment. An immigration department fact sheet on the new temporary visas explains that the laws passed in September 2001 were "designed to strengthen Australia's territorial integrity and to reduce incentives for people to make hazardous voyages to Australian territories. The laws are an important step towards the objective of deterring the activities of people smugglers."
The first group of asylum seekers to suffer under this new legislation are those who left their country of first asylum (such as Pakistan, in the case of many Afghans), but who have not yet reached Australian territory. It applies to many refugees who are in Indonesia and have been assessed as refugees by the UN High Commission for Refugees but remain stranded, waiting to be resettled. A tiny number of these have been accepted by Australia, including two survivors of the SIEV-X boat-sinking tragedy.
The visa issued to these refugees is called the Secondary Movement Relocation (Temporary) Subclass 451. It is a five-year visa, which will only allow refugees to be considered for a permanent visa if they have resided for less than seven days in a country in which the government deems they "could have sought and obtained effective protection". Those asylum seekers who spent more than seven days in such a country will only ever be eligible for another temporary visa.
The second group of asylum seekers stripped of their rights are those who attempt to come to Australia by boat, but are intercepted on the way, or reach an area outside Australia's migration zone (such as Christmas Island). The visa issued to these refugees is called the Secondary Movement Offshore Entry (Temporary) Subclass XB447.
If conditions remain the same in their country of origin and the government deems that their fear of persecution remains, they can only have their TPV renewed for a further three years. They will never be eligible for permanent protection. This type of visa has been granted to the 100-or-so asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island who have been assessed as refugees and resettled in Australia.
Of the 8400 refugees on TPVs, at least 3000 are affected by the September 2001 legislation. This includes those who arrived in Australia before September 2001, but who did not apply for a permanent protection visa until after the legislation was passed.
The first TPVs, issued in late 1999, are due to expire in November. The immigration department began sending letters to refugees in June, six months before the expiry of their visas, asking for more information.
Riz Wakil, an Afghan refugee whose TPV is due to expire early next year, explained to Green Left Weekly that when asylum seekers are granted a TPV and released from detention, they are also asked to fill out an application for a permanent protection visa in order to be legally entitled to a Medicare card.
The letters that Afghan refugees are receiving state that the immigration department has their application for a permanent protection visa, but wants a detailed written explanation of why they should be allowed to stay, given the changed circumstances in their country.
The explanation needs to include detailed information about their home town and what has happened to it over the last three years, as well as what has happened to friends and relatives a ridiculous requirement given the difficulty of maintaining contact, and the fact that some refugees have no idea what has happened to their families in that time.
From Green Left Weekly, August 14, 2002.
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