Island Christmas: $125 a day for refuge

Every refugee who has been locked up by the Australian Government owes $125.40 per day in detention costs.

In coming days the Migration Amendment (Abolishing Detention Debt) Bill goes to the Senate and with it a chance to erase the legislative memory of refugee debt.

In all, refugees are in debt to Australia for $54.3 million; $1.8 million has been paid back, while the remainder has been written off or waived by the Department of Immigration.

To legislate this financial amnesty, a political compromise with Family First Senator Steve Fielding may be necessary for a Senate majority if no Liberal senator supports the Labor-Green-Xenophon vote.

Fielding spokesperson, Kane Silom, said: “Genuine refugees that have a claim will be exonerated from paying, but illegal refugees whose country of origin isn’t at war should not be treated under the bill.”

The cost of detaining refugees is more – $220 million was spent in 2006/07.

Last month, 1007 people remained in detention, most of them unauthorised boat arrivals on Christmas Island.

Ex-Democrat senator and refugee campaigner, Andrew Bartlett, said: “The hundreds of millions spent for a few thousand people is for political ends – not economic or cultural.”

The Howard Government regarded refugee debt, along with detention, as a deterrent to ‘queue jumping’ refugees. This year saw the arrival of less than a quarter of the 4000 asylum seekers who came here in 2001.

Currently, Australia takes in 13,500 immigrants every year on humanitarian grounds. These are assessed offshore in a series of interviews by the International Office of Migration (IOM) and UNHCR, with higher marks awarded for language ability and education.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans said: “Strong border security regime is in the national interest and supports the integrity of our immigration system as well as our humanitarian and refugee programs…Detention in immigration detention centres is only to be used as a last resort and for the shortest practicable time.”

Zhi Yan, of A Just Australia, said reforms that define refugee detention as a ‘last resort’ were a legal grey area, and open to manipulation. “This government will only go so far. We’re still in breach of our international human rights obligations,” she said.

The Rudd Government’s flagged Migration Amendment (Detention Reform Bill) would eradicate child detention, but maintain mandatory sentencing for high-risk refugees, unauthorised arrivals and visa non-compliance.

– By Matt Khoury