Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has announced today that people who arrived by boat post 13 August and all future arrivals will have the no-advantage principle applied to their cases onshore, even if they are not transferred offshore for regional processing. The minister has said that, given the number of people who had arrived by boat since 13 August, it would not be possible to transfer them all to Nauru or Manus Island in the immediate future. As a result, some of these people will have to be processed in the Australian community. The government has made it clear that these people who are processed in the Australian community will not be issued with a permanent protection visa if found to be a refugee, until such time that they would have been resettled in Australia after being processed in our region.

This affirms the government's policy that people arriving by boat will be subject to the no-advantage principle, whether that means being transferred offshore to have their claims processed, remaining in detention or being placed in the community. The minister has also announced that while transfers to Nauru and Manus Island will continue in the coming weeks and months, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship will begin releasing some people who have arrived by boat on or after 13 August into the community on bridging visas. Consistent with no advantage, people from this group going on to bridging visas will have no work rights and will receive only basic accommodation assistance and limited financial support. People's claims will be processed while in the community under the same principle, however, consideration can be given to transfer these people offshore at a future date.

Minister Bowen has also reiterated the government's commitment to putting in place the recommendations by the expert panel on asylum seekers and implementing a safer and more orderly migration program. No-one should doubt this government's commitment to breaking the people smuggler's business model. (Time expired)