Legal Studies Preliminary Essay: Asylum Seekers
Question: Assess the effectiveness of legal responses to asylum seekers in Australia in terms of achieving fair outcomes for both Australian citizens and the asylum seekers.
There have been numerous legal responses to asylum seekers in Australia, all of which have been ineffective in achieving fair outcomes for both Australian citizens and refugees seeking asylum in Australia. The basis for all legislation regarding refugees in Australia is the Migration Act 1958, which outlines powers such as being able to cap the number of refugees accepted into Australia each year, and defines a refugee as somebody “being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion”, which is written according to the United Nation’s definition.12 Since then a number of amendments and additions have been made to this act, including the Migration Amendment Act 1992, Pacific Solution, Migration Amendment (Abolishing Detention Debt) Act 2009 and the Regional Resettlement Arrangement (RRA) Australia and Papua New Guinea. All of these legal responses to the issue of asylum seekers in Australia have proven ineffective as they fail to achieve fair outcomes for either those seeking asylum in Australia or the present citizens of Australia.
Migration Amendment Act 1992
In 1992 the Keating Government introduced the Migration Amendment Act 1992 which enforced the mandatory detention of anybody who attempted to enter Australia without a valid visa. This was introduced as a means to deal with the rising numbers of unauthorized Indochinese boat arrivals in Australian waters. The Migration Amendment Act 1992 originally had a 273 day detention limit, which was shortly after removed with the Migration Reform Act 1992. This allowed for asylum seekers whose applications for refugee status in Australia were rejected to be detained indefinitely. 3
These amendments have failed to achieve fair outcomes for the asylum seekers as the
There have been numerous legal responses to asylum seekers in Australia, all of which have been ineffective in achieving fair outcomes for both Australian citizens and refugees seeking asylum in Australia. The basis for all legislation regarding refugees in Australia is the Migration Act 1958, which outlines powers such as being able to cap the number of refugees accepted into Australia each year, and defines a refugee as somebody “being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion”, which is written according to the United Nation’s definition.12 Since then a number of amendments and additions have been made to this act, including the Migration Amendment Act 1992, Pacific Solution, Migration Amendment (Abolishing Detention Debt) Act 2009 and the Regional Resettlement Arrangement (RRA) Australia and Papua New Guinea. All of these legal responses to the issue of asylum seekers in Australia have proven ineffective as they fail to achieve fair outcomes for either those seeking asylum in Australia or the present citizens of Australia.
Migration Amendment Act 1992
In 1992 the Keating Government introduced the Migration Amendment Act 1992 which enforced the mandatory detention of anybody who attempted to enter Australia without a valid visa. This was introduced as a means to deal with the rising numbers of unauthorized Indochinese boat arrivals in Australian waters. The Migration Amendment Act 1992 originally had a 273 day detention limit, which was shortly after removed with the Migration Reform Act 1992. This allowed for asylum seekers whose applications for refugee status in Australia were rejected to be detained indefinitely. 3
These amendments have failed to achieve fair outcomes for the asylum seekers as the