Australian Human Rights Commission: Labor’s bid to change migration rules raises 'serious concerns'

Australia’s human rights commission has warned Labor’s bid to change migration rules will strip the right to a fair legal process from foreign criminals facing deportation.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke quietly introduced a bill to parliament on Tuesday that would stop the rules of natural justice applying to former immigration detainees the federal government is trying to deport.

The legislation is an attempt from the government to contain the fallout from a High Court decision in 2023 that ruled indefinite detention was unlawful, and resulted in the release of hundreds of convicted criminals as they couldn’t be deported back to their origin countries.

The commission expressed “serious concerns” the proposed changes might undermine human rights and breach Australia’s international obligations.

Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay said the amendments strip away one of the most basic legal protections of a fair society.

“Procedural fairness is a cornerstone of our legal system and a safeguard against error,” she said.

“Rather than a patchwork of reactive responses, we need to ensure principled migration and asylum policies that maintain the integrity of Australia’s migration system while also upholding our human rights obligations.”

Introducing the bill, Mr Burke said procedural fairness is a fundamental principle but was being used by foreigners to “delay and frustrate their removal” at cost to the taxpayer.

“These provisions are primarily directed to non-citizens who have exhausted all legitimate avenues to remain in Australia and for whom removal is the only remaining outcome under Australian law,” he said.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told parliament earlier this week the legislation was “rushed, secretive and chaotic”.

“Four years into this Labor government, their immigration policy is still being written on the run,” she said.

“Is this legislation closing loopholes in previous bills that were also supposed to close loopholes? What on earth is going on?”