Australia?s Coalition will toughen immigration if it wins federal election

The Coalition’s pre-election platform will include tightening of Australia’s already stringent immigration laws to ensure the country is safe from foreign criminals.

An announcement of projected changes following an election victory included a plan to widen deportation criteria to include any visa-holding foreigner convicted of a criminal act punishable by at least one year in jail. No right of appeal would be granted and the deportation would be automatic.

The law as it exists allows for possible deportation if a sentence of over one year in jail has been handed down, but the deportation order is at the discretion of the immigration minister. A prison sentence is regarded as the opprobrium of the courts, not of the government’s executive arm.

The Coalition also want deportees to be banned from entering Australia for a period of not less than 20 years and all judicial appeals and rights to be scrapped. Media opinion considers that being tough on increasing crime is a priority, no matter which party wins the election, but considers this stance to be unnecessary and draconian.

At the same time, Australia is being criticised by the UN Convention on Refugees for its stance on ‘boat people’ refugees, saying that the country is at a crossroads as regards the need for asylum. The UNHCR notes the mean-spirited and increasingly negative debate on the subject of asylum speakers.