Labor left figures are pushing the federal leadership to explicitly prohibit turning asylum boats back to Indonesia or elsewhere in the lead-up to Labor’s national conference in July.
With internal concerns rising about the consequential impacts of Australia’s harsh deterrence regime and regional people movements over the past 12 months, senior Labor figures have been anticipating a fiery conference-floor stoush about Labor’s asylum policies.
A draft migration and refugee policy platform in circulation contains new commitments imposing “transparent, independent oversight” of all immigration detention facilities.
The draft platform also imposes time limits on mandatory detention. It says Labor “will strive to ensure” that 90-day time limits apply to unauthorised arrivals and unlawful non-citizens held in immigration detention.
But the platform retains Labor’s commitment to mandatory detention and offshore processing – a policy stance that is expected to be opposed by Labor for Refugees, a ginger group comprised of ALP members and unionists.
The draft party platform is also currently silent on the issue of boat turnbacks. It neither endorses nor prohibits the practice.
With concerns mounting about recent events in the region, including the current stand-off at sea involving more than 8,000 Rohingya refugees, some Labor left figures are pushing for an explicit prohibition on turnbacks to prevent any ambiguity about what a future Labor government might do.
But other party figures oppose inserting any explicit wording in the platform because it could limit a future Labor government returning unauthorised arrivals to transit countries in circumstances where bilateral cooperation allows this to be done safely.
Labor’s immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, found himself in hot water internally when, last October, he signalled the party might reverse its longstanding opposition to turning asylum back boats to Indonesia.
Since that time, Marles has engaged in an extensive round of consultations in an effort to minimise open conflict at the conference.
The turnback issue is a point of acute political pressure for the Labor party.
The Abbott government trumpets turnbacks as the key to stopping the flow of unauthorised boats, and the Coalition is keen to exploit any scintilla of difference between itself and Labor when it comes to deterrence policies.
But Labor is also under pressure from the Greens, who champion more compassionate policies towards boat arrivals, and compete with Labor for progressive voters.
One outspoken critic of Labor’s current asylum policies, Labor backbencher Melissa Parke, was prepared to express her view on the record. She said Thursday the “Labor party of the light on the hill” could not in good conscience endorse a policy that allowed boats to be turned back at sea.
“Boat turnbacks are immoral and they are illegal under international law, “ Parke told Guardian Australia.
