The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) is among many human rights organisations criticising a new Labor bill that undermines the refugee program, by giving three ministers extraordinary powers to prevent people fleeing a conflict zone from seeking asylum.
The Migration Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Bill’s explanatory memorandum states that the home affairs minister only needs to get written agreement from the PM and the foreign affairs minister to make an “arrival control determination” on who can or cannot enter the country.
It was introduced on March 10, the same day Labor offered asylum to the Iranian women’s soccer team, who were in Australia competing in the Women’s Asian Cup.
The bill was tabled just days after Labor announced it did not have a problem with the United States and Israel’s illegal strikes on Iran, justifying its position as a contribution to the “collective self-defence” of the United Arab Emirates.
RCOA CEO Paul Power said the bill, which amends the Migration Act 1958, “seriously undermines” the country’s commitment to the 1951 Refugee Convention. He said people “who have already been fully screened” can be prevented from entering Australia.
Power said The Refugee Convention — drafted 75 years ago, including by Australia — was aimed at preventing a repeat of when, in the 1930s, governments like Australia “closed their doors to Jewish refugees trying to leave Nazi-controlled Germany”.
“In 1938, Australia’s Trade and Customs Minister Thomas White attended an international conference in France on the fate of Jewish refugees, declaring that Australia would not help because it did not want to import a ‘racial problem’.”
Power pointed out the hypocrisy of Labor deciding to protect five at-risk Iranian citizens while introducing an anti-asylum bill. “It seems that much less has changed since 1938 than we would like to believe.”
He said if the bill becomes law, which it is likely to, it would be “another step towards ending access to asylum in Australia”.
The Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) said the bill gives the home affairs minister extraordinary powers, including being able to make an “arrival control determination” for people arriving from an “event or circumstance” that means that the visa holders may seek to remain in Australia because of a war.
It said the minister has the power to determine this based on Australia’s “national interest”. Natural justice does not have to be applied and neither do those it may affect have to be given prior notice. The minister can do this for a maximum of six months but can also renew it.
An “arrival control determination” does not apply to some protection or humanitarian visa holders, those who have already entered Australia and immediate family members of Australian citizens or permanent residents.
The HRLC said the “arrival control determination” can take place at any time before the visa-holder enters Australia, “including when they are in transit in a third country”. The minister has discretion to exempt people and is under no obligation to consider a request for a “permitted travel certificate”.
The HRLC said previous governments’ anti-asylum laws denied people their right to seek asylum — including by turning back people in boats who were fleeing persecution and introducing mandatory offshore detention for asylum seekers who arrive by sea.
But it said this bill enables the government to ensure that people in urgent need of protection “never have the chance to travel to Australia to seek safety”. It effectively mandates the “highly selective and restrictive ‘offshore’ humanitarian visa program” as the only process for refugees.
Department officials conceded, at a very short parliamentary committee hearing on March 10, that the new laws would likely apply to temporary visa holders in the Middle East, particularly in Iran. Estimates of 61,000 temporary visa holders in the Middle East, including 7200 in Iran and 1150 in Lebanon, were given.
The HRLC said this bill would effectively prevent “nearly 10,000 people from entering Australia at the same time that Australia commits troops and military assets to the region”.
Defence industry minister Pat Conroy denied the bill showed an “uncharitable approach”, telling the ABC on March 11 that it is “about protecting the integrity and sustainability of Australia’s immigration system”.
The HRLC warned the bill’s powers are broad and, once enacted, may not necessarily be “limited to people fleeing conflict zones”.
The types of overseas “events or circumstances” that the minister would consider when denying asylum seekers is not specified, the AHRC said. “They could encompass, for example, climate-related events, a new political regime or economic downturn affecting a particular region.”
Kon Karapanagiotidis, CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, pointed out the hypocrisy: “If people already have a visa to travel to Australia and this kind of violence has broken out in their home country, why would we not want to help them?”
He said it “send[s] a disturbing message about who is worthy of protection and who is not”.
Greens foreign affairs spokesperson David Shoebridge said the bill is clearly about stopping Iranians from being able to seek asylum in Australia.
Amid Israel’s two-and-half-year war on Gaza and the new Australian-supported US-Israel war on Iran, this bill allows three people to pick and choose who is worthy of protection.