The Anthony Albanese government is rushing through a new law to make it easier to deport people.
The new law, which passed on September 4, gives the government powers to deport people who had been in permanent immigration detention, which the High Court in 2023 found to be illegal.
The Asylum Seekers Resource Centre (ASRC) said on September 1 the laws are designed to make it easier to strip people of their legal rights by removing their ability to challenge unfair decisions relating to their asylum claims.
ASRC spokesperson Elijah Buol said: “This legislation is a sweeping attack on the rights of tens of thousands of people, simply because of where they were born. It removes basic legal protections from migrants, refugees, and people seeking asylum, allowing deportations without notice, without the chance to respond, and without fairness.”
It described the Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2025 Measures 1) Bill as “a cruel attack on migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum” and “a serious threat to the rule of law and all of our fundamental legal and human rights”. It paves the way for mass deportations to Nauru.
Labor, with Coalition support, has already passed new laws to extend offshore detention and expand deportations to third countries, like Nauru and Papua New Guinea. They also made sure to give themselves immunity from being sued by deportees.
“This new bill is the next step: clearing the path to rip people out of our communities and to exile them, tearing families apart and destroying lives,” ASRC said.
Home affairs minister Tony Burke travelled to Nauru in the last week of August to sign a deal in which the Pacific Island nation would take at least 400 people that the Labor government has decided cannot stay here.
Nauru is being offered nearly half a billion dollars now and another $70 million every year to take Australia’s deportees. A Senate committee on September 4 was told by Home Affairs officials that the $70 million payments would continue for the 30-year agreement if significant numbers of the group were successfully resettled.
According to the ASRC, people on bridging visas are at immediate risk.
The law stops asylum seekers from challenging a decision, even if the government has made a serious mistake, the ASRC said. It can order people to cooperate with their own deportation; it will be able to validate visa decisions that were made under the old law that the High Court threw out as illegal; and it can prosecute criminal charges on a person brought as a result of incorrect decisions.
“This is a Trump-like move in its blatant disregard for the courts,” ASRC said. “The Albanese government is continuing to remove scrutiny, strip people of rights and shield themselves from accountability.”
ASRC said that removing the right to natural justice from decisions about deportation to third countries “marks a fundamental departure from how Australian law currently operates. It sets a precedent for the removal of basic legal protections.”
It said the government “has already made factual errors in such cases” and that “this bill would remove accountability for correcting them and deny people the right even to be notified, as well as to respond”.
Like the laws that were rushed through late last year, this one, which is “extremely broad”, removes natural justice for decisions made under last year’s new powers. “Despite assurances it would affect only a small number of people, in reality it could apply to tens of thousands of people.”
“The government should feel ashamed of betraying their promise of a humane and compassionate approach to refugees. But what’s evident from the process to pass this bill is that they already do. Secret deals, no consultation, and rushed legislation all point to the fact they know this is wrong, but have chosen to do it anyway,” concluded Buol.
[This article was updated on September 4.]