The government has begun telling asylum seekers Australia will grant them only temporary protection visas, despite the fact TPVs are currently illegal.
The government appears to have pre-empted its temporary protection visa legislation, which it is attempting to get through parliament this week, by telling asylum seekers in a new video they will get only temporary protection.
The videos are designed to explain to asylum seekers the Australian immigration system and asylum process.
In 13 languages, the government tells those making a protection claim in Australia: “If you are granted a protection visa, the Australian government will only allow you to stay in Australia temporarily.”
The videos have already been posted online on the government’s YouTube channel, the department website, and have been emailed to the Department of Immigration’s community networks.
But in September, the high court unanimously ruled temporary protection was invalid.
In deciding the case of a stateless man held on Christmas Island for two years, the court found the government – having found the man was a refugee that Australia was obliged to protect – could not detain him indefinitely, nor grant him only a temporary visa.
The government is desperate to have its temporary protection legislation passed this year.
The Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Bill 2014 has passed the House of Representatives, but the government is struggling to get the legislation through the Senate, and has only three sitting days left before parliament rises for the year.
Immigration minister Scott Morrison won agreement with the Palmer United party on the legislation, but Clive Palmer has since argued the government reneged on the deal, by putting into the legislation “a lot more … than we ever agreed”.
The disunity in Palmer’s party has only complicated the government’s task in finding the votes it needs.
The Senate has already voted down TPV legislation once this year, in March.
But Morrison has said he remains determined to reintroduce TPVs in order to deter people from boarding boats to Australia.
“There is no way I will lift the bar to give someone a permanent visa,” Morrison told the Australian last week.
The immigration minister’s office declined to respond to questions about the promotion of unlawful temporary protection.
Globally, temporary protection is usually only offered in cases of a mass influx of refugees – such as when millions of people suddenly cross a land border fleeing persecution.
TPVs have been controversial in Australia. Between 1999 and 2007 – when they were discontinued – Australia issued 11,206 temporary protection visas. Ninety-five per cent of those people were later granted a permanent visa to stay in Australia.
Critics argue TPVs leave refugees in a state of permanent limbo, unsure if they will suddenly be sent home, and often re-traumatised, by having to revisit their persecution every visa reapplication.
The government argues the new TPVs, which will bar a refugee from ever receiving permanent protection, will stop asylum seekers boarding boats for Australia.
Advocacy groups the J’Accuse Coalition and Doctors for Refugees have written to parliamentarians urging them to vote down the bill.
“It reintroduces temporary protection visas that are already shown to harm people who have no certainty and will prevent any prospect of family reunion. It will allow government to refoule men, women and children, who come to us in extremis, to the danger spots from which they originated, thus further jeopardising their lives,” the letter says.
Serina McDuff from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said the new legislation would create “a situation of uncertainty and limbo for thousands of people in our community who deserve protection, not punishment”.
