Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum.

Leave granted.

I table the explanatory memorandum and seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

GUARDIAN FOR UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN BILL 2013

This bill establishes an independent office of the Guardian for Unaccompanied Non-Citizen Children to provide expert care and advocacy for asylum seeker children who arrive in Australia on their own.

No child belongs in detention. We know that keeping children locked up hinders their development and causes them significant mental harm, as the Australian Medical Association and other experts have repeatedly said. We have heard doctors giving evidence to a parliamentary committee that keeping children in immigration detention is tantamount to child abuse.

For refugee children who are here without parental or family support, having fled torture and persecution by taking a harrowing boat trip and now finding themselves alone in a strange new country, there is all the more risk of long-term trauma.

At the time of introducing this bill, there are 75 unaccompanied children in places of detention in Christmas Island, 338 in detention on the Australian mainland and over 257 in community detention.

This bill is spurred by the Australian Greens' long-held policy position that children do not belong in detention, and by our great alarm at the high numbers of unaccompanied children currently exposed to harm in Australia's immigration detention network.

The role of the Guardian established by this Bill is critical in removing the guardianship of unaccompanied children from the government of the day. For decades now, the Minister for Immigration has held the conflicting roles of guardian and detainer of unaccompanied asylum seeker children.

This is because under current law, the Minister has a responsibility to look after unaccompanied children's best interests as their appointed Guardian under the Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act 1946 as well as a responsibility for deciding whether or not to detain them under the Migration Act 1958.

As immigration law expert Professor Mary Crock has powerfully said, the simple and devastating problem for young asylum seekers is that the Minister is both their legal guardian, and their prosecutor, judge and gaoler.

It is not just advocates and experts in Australia who have, for many years, been forcefully calling for action to address this conflict of interest. The eyes of the world are watching Australia, in relation to this issue as well as the current government's regressive adoption of cruel deterrence polices towards asylum seekers across the board.

In June 2012 Australia appeared before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to respond to questions on Australia's commitment to improving the fundamental rights and welfare of its children.

The Committee drew specific attention to the issue of the conflict of interest in guardianship and strongly recommended that the Australian Government expeditiously establish an independent guardianship for unaccompanied immigrant children.

A Joint Select Committee into Australia's Immigration Detention Network, which reported to Parliament in early 2012, also recommended that relevant legislation be amended to replace the Minister for Immigration as the legal guardian of unaccompanied minors in the immigration detention system.

In passing this bill into law and establishing the office of the Guardian for Unaccompanied Children, the federal legislature will at last be correcting this much criticised and deeply unsatisfactory failure of Australian law and policy.

This is a crucial reform due to the high stakes of children's full lives, inherent rights and personal wellbeing.

The Australian Human Rights Commission has previously commented that unaccompanied children who are seeking asylum are particularly vulnerable. These children have faced the challenge of making the difficult and dangerous journey to Australia alone, and upon their arrival in Australia they must negotiate the refugee status determination process and the experience of detention without family support.

There are also compelling reasons under international law for this bill to be passed as a matter of urgency.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Australia is signatory, requires our government to ensure that unaccompanied children who are seeking asylum should receive the extra help they need to guarantee enjoyment of all rights set out under the CRC and international law.

Australia must provide special protection and assistance to ensure that the best interests of unaccompanied children seeking asylum are a primary consideration at all times.

This Bill sets up a Guardian who will be in a position to advocate that children should not be detained by reason of his or her immigration status, or if detained, for the shortest possible period of time. The Guardian will also be mandated to oversee and ensure the provision of legal and other assistance such as care, accommodation, education, language and health support amongst other functions. The Guardian will be responsible for ensuring that the best interests of the child are always the paramount consideration. This is not something that the Minister, who is simultaneously responsible for the detention of the child, can likewise achieve.

This is a reform that cannot wait any longer. As global asylum flows continue to increase, irregular migration continues unabated and boats continue to arrive to Australian territories, our country needs an entirely uncompromised institution to care for the most vulnerable cohort of asylum seekers, unaccompanied children.

I commend this Bill to the Senate.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.