Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2020
This submission resists a proposal to enable searches of people in detention without warrant or suspicion, and to remove items from people in detention including mobile phones.
The Working Group was invited to give evidence at the Inquiry.
Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill 2019
This submission was made to the Inquiry by a Senate Joint Standing Committee.
The submission calls for the Bill to be rejected in its entirety on numerous bases, including the unintended consequences that would flow. The Bill, the submission posits, offers no improvement in powers to cancel and does not meet its objective.
The Working Group was invited to give evidence before the Committee.
Migration Amendment (Strengthening Information Provisions) Bill 2020
This submission resists a proposal to allow visa decision-makers access to 'secret' information about a person that the person may not know even exists, and to make decisions that may result in detention or removal on the basis of that information.
The Working Group was invited to give evidence at the Inquiry.
Review processes associated with visa cancellations made on criminal grounds
This submission was made to an Inquiry by the Senate Joint Standing Committee.
The submission advocates for an administrative law system that is transparent, consistent, rational, and fair; in particular, it emphasises the importance of merits review in the Australian legal framework, and of protections for people affected by visa cancellations.
Explainer: the Djokovic case and visa cancellation
The cancellation of the visa held by Novak Djokovic has rightly drawn attention to Australia's cancellation and detention system.
The case sheds light on three main areas of concern: Australia’s visa cancellation regime, Australia’s immigration detention regime, and the breadth of personal powers available to the Minister for Home Affairs.