9 May 2019
Greens:
- How will you support the implementation of the Medivac Bill to provide medical assistance to sick and injured Men currently in detention on Manus and Nauru?
The Greens sponsored the Medivac amendment to the Home Affairs Bill that created the process to allow sick refugees and people seeking asylum, on medical advice from two or more treating doctors, to be transferred from Manus Island and Nauru to Australia for medical treatment. We fully support those currently detained in Australia's offshore detention regime being able to receive urgent medical treatment in Australia.
The Greens do not support offshore detention, and outsourcing our responsibilities and duty of care to people seeking asylum in Australia. We believe the most appropriate healthcare for these traumatised and vulnerable people is on mainland Australia, provided by established medical and allied health services. But until every refugee and person seeking asylum held in offshore detention is brought to safety and freedom in Australia, the Australian Greens will do all it can to ensure all people in offshore detention have access to appropriate GP and specialist medical care, including telemedicine.
- New Zealand had offered to settle up to 150 refugees currently in off shore detention. Will your party accept this offer? Why or Why not?
The Greens would immediately close the offshore detention facilities on Manus and Nauru and bring those currently detained there to Australia for resettlement. We won’t stop fighting until the camps are closed and every person currently trapped there is provided refuge in Australia.
When New Zealand offered to settle 150 refugees from Australia’s Manus Island and Nauru prisons in 2017, we called on the Government to immediately accept the offer.
The Greens were also prepared to consider the New Zealand option as part of early negotiations around a Kids Off Nauru bill, provided vulnerable children and their families come to Australia for medical assessment now and a travel ban is not imposed on others who are not resettled in New Zealand. This bill was superseded by the Medivac Amendment that the Greens sponsored, which ultimately passed the Parliament.
- Reports have been made of Australian Border Force Officers approaching single women travelling from Saudi Arabia. These women are then questioned about the whereabouts of their guardians under Saudi law. Do you agree or disagree with Australian Officers implementing Saudi law in our airports?
The Greens were gravely concerned about reports about reports that Australian Border Force Officers questioned Saudi women travelling in Australia about the location of their male guardians. It is completely inappropriate, and inhumane, that women fleeing undoubted persecution in Saudi Arabia are being thwarted by Home Affairs. The Australian Greens echo Australia’s call at the United Nations for Saudi Arabia to immediately dismantle the system of male guardianship in both law and practice.
- At present it is easier to visit a prisoner in gaol than in immigration detention. What is your opinion on the strict rules placed on visitors to on shore detention centres such as Villawood.
The Greens have opposed all moves by the government to remove the rights and support networks of people in onshore detention. We opposed banning immigration detainees from having mobile phones, called for a royal commission into Australia’s immigration detention system following revelations of alleged mistreatment and complaint cover-ups within the facilities, condemned the Government for it draconian restrictions on visitation, and preventing detainees from receiving fresh fruit from visitors, and most recently, we were outraged at mothers being prevented from receiving baby food.
According to a Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report, prolonged detention has a significant, negative impact on the mental health of a person being detained that can lead to self-harm and suicide.
The Greens’ plan includes a 7 day time limit for people held in onshore immigration detention. This is enough time to conduct the necessary checks and assess a claim for asylum, without subjecting people seeking asylum to undue risk. Extensions to 7 day detentions where necessary for valid public order, public health, or national security concerns may be sought from the courts on a case-by-case basis.
The Greens also want a robust independent inspectorate for all of Australia’s detention centres, to ensure we fully meet our obligations under the recently ratified Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. This will include all offshore detention facilities until they are fully closed, and all refugees and people seeking asylum who were detained there who have been brought to Australia or resettled in an appropriate third country.
- By reducing access to the Status Resolution Support Service (SRSS) in the second half of 2018, the Federal Government left many refugees without the support they needed to be able to access basics such as housing and food while they are settling into Australia. What plans do you have to support refugees as they strive to become part of our society?
It is Australian Greens policy to restore Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS) payments, and increase them to the same rate as Newstart to ensure all recent arrivals can fully participate and integrate with Australian communities. Cutting this program has crippled refugees and asylum seekers living in the community with poverty, and shifted costs from the government to already struggling charity, community, and health sectors.
Australian Greens policy also reinstates the Humanitarian Settlement Services and Complex Case Support programs and funding, which will provide a broader and more holistic level of client support, with less administrative burden for service providers. This will better serve clients, and broader Australian communities.
Science Party:
The leader of the Science Party, Andrea Leong, is the strongest advocate for refugee rights that I know, and has been campaigning on this issue for over 15 years.
Here are some of her thoughts, presented at a forum during last year's Wentworth By-election.
https://youtu.be/t_zHwEF8Mqw?t=1156
For your specific questions, some brief answers:
- How will you support the implementation of the Medivac Bill to provide medical assistance to sick and injured Men currently in detention on Manus and Nauru?
Close the camps and bring all refugees to Australia
- New Zealand had offered to settle up to 150 refugees currently in off shore detention. Will your party accept this offer? Why or Why not?
Yes, we need practical action to achieve adequate outcomes.
- Reports have been made of Australian Border Force Officers approaching single women travelling from Saudi Arabia. These women are then questioned about the whereabouts of their guardians under Saudi law. Do you agree or disagree with Australian Officers implementing Saudi law in our airports?
The Science Party has secularism as one of it's principles, and strongly disagrees with religious law from other countries being implemented in our country.
- At present it is easier to visit a prisoner in gaol than in immigration detention. What is your opinion on the strict rules placed on visitors to on shore detention centres such as Villawood.
I am unaware of any specific party policy on this particular issue.
- By reducing access to the Status Resolution Support Service (SRSS) in the second half of 2018, the Federal Government left many refugees without the support they needed to be able to access basics such as housing and food while they are settling into Australia. What plans do you have to support refugees as they strive to become part of our society?
We are planning for a larger Australia, with migration in the form of refugee resettlement, and skilled migration. We will ensure adequate housing and infrastructure is in place to support the intakes from all migration streams.
Thanks for getting in touch. Electing Andrea to the NSW senate will ensure that this issue remains a key priority within parliament.
Democratic Labour Party:
Dear Sir,
It is our policy to always maintain human dignity which includes the way we treat asylum seekers. Our aim is to keep proportional immigration as that is a healthy development within societies. It injects life and social development. But over development could then prove to be detrimental to the state.
People who are currently blocked in detention centres should be able to be immediately be transferred to the mainland.
The main point is that human persons are never to be used an inanimate objects. Dignity should always be maintained while at the same time we take in a fair proportion of the refugees who arrive in our region with an index baed on GDP compared to that of neighbouring countries. This you can find on the official federal website, www.dlp.org.au and then look under “policies.”
Very pleased to have received you email. Please note, however that all future correspondence should be made through this email address because it is the official one.
Australian Conservative:
Sent me an email presuming I was a supporter but did not answer our questions.
Climate Action! Immigration Action! Accountable Politicians! Party (previously Online Direct Democracy Party)
Thank you for your e-mail. Our party does not have a position on these issues until we receive an instruction from the majority of Australians. Hence 'Direct Democracy'. We carry out the will of the people, no more, no less.
The Animal Justice Party (AJP)
will act upon its core principles of Kindness, Equality, Rationality and Non-Violence, by responding to the suffering of those persons who are forced to leave their countries of origin as a result of displacement by war, genocide, breakdown of public order or a well-founded fear of persecution based on unlawful discrimination. As a good global citizen, Australia has a proud history of being amongst the first countries to ratify the UN Convention on Refugees, including other related conventions, and to accept refugees in dire circumstances from around the world. Our position is that Australia has a moral and a legal obligation to comply with the international treaties we have ratified. Australia has a right to apply domestic laws that establish border integrity, but this must be done in such a way that persons fleeing persecution for legitimate reasons will be protected under Australian law. Refugees must not be prevented from accessing their rights as asylum seekers. In particular, the AJP condemns the removal and processing of those seeking asylum to countries other than those approved by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). We also believe that citizens, journalists and NGOs must be able to observe the conditions provided for asylum seekers and displaced persons by this government and its agencies.
Australian Democrats
Thank you for email. Your questions are of great interest to me.
- How will you support the implementation of the Medivac Bill to provide medical assistance to sick and injured Men currently in detention on Manus and Nauru?
I don’t support offshore processing or detention of asylum seekers regardless of how they arrive in Australia. I support the Medivac/Medevac Bill and will seek to ensure offshore detention is phased out completely.
- New Zealand had offered to settle up to 150 refugees currently in off shore detention. Will your party accept this offer? Why or Why not?
Absolutely support the offer. Humanitarian and economic imperatives align with the phasing out of offshore detention and the sooner asylum seekers can be resettled the better.
- Reports have been made of Australian Border Force Officers approaching single women travelling from Saudi Arabia. These women are then questioned about the whereabouts of their guardians under Saudi law. Do you agree or disagree with Australian Officers implementing Saudi law in our airports?
Australian officers and agencies should be concerned about and enforcing Australian law.
- At present it is easier to visit a prisoner in gaol than in immigration detention. What is your opinion on the strict rules placed on visitors to on shore detention centres such as Villawood.
I don’t understand or agree with the isolation of asylum seekers, particularly when many of these people have not committed a crime. It is not a crime to seek asylum so people should be afforded respect and within a framework an amount of liberty.
- By reducing access to the Status Resolution Support Service (SRSS) in the second half of 2018, the Federal Government left many refugees without the support they needed to be able to access basics such as housing and food while they are settling into Australia. What plans do you have to support refugees as they strive to become part of our society?
I would like to see a greater emphasis on regional settlement plans for refugees. Regional communities are cheaper live and infrastructure pressures are lower and opportunities for social integration are easier to manage. There is a greater opportunity for cultural, social and economic enrichment of the community and the refugees in this instance.
There is no point in agreeing to resettle refugees or run any kind of immigration strategy if it is not paired with a funded integration and settlement strategy.
Citizens’ Electoral Council:
Thank you for your contact. This link gives the broad perspective of the CEC's policy on immigration. https://cecaust.com.au/policies/immigration
The CEC believes in the sanctity of life, and the creative potential of all human beings. We oppose the way successive governments have treated refugees, and agree in principle with your points. We also believe that the only way to prevent more refugees, is to end the Anglo-American agenda for "regime change", in which, Australia is an active participant.
The CEC's policies are critical to ward off an "economic Armageddon" and prevent an overall agenda for fascist austerity.
HEMP party:
Many voters don’t know about HEMP. Some Aussie voters ask about our other policies or want to know about our opinion on issues other than Cannabis. Officially there are none, HEMP is a formal protest to end prohibition.
Australian Workers Party
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties does fine work and I’m glad to give you our point of view.
- How will you support the implementation of the Medivac Bill to provide medical assistance to sick and injured Men currently in detention on Manus and Nauru?
If any Australian Workers Party candidates are elected they will support the implementation by publicly raising it through Parliamentary processes and through the media, community groups and through our social media activities.
- New Zealand had offered to settle up to 150 refugees currently in off shore detention. Will your party accept this offer? Why or Why not?
Yes, we would accept this offer because it is a humane option and one which offers dignity to the men.
- Reports have been made of Australian Border Force Officers approaching single women travelling from Saudi Arabia. These women are then questioned about the whereabouts of their guardians under Saudi law. Do you agree or disagree with Australian Officers implementing Saudi law in our airports?
We completely disagree with this. Australian authorities have no business enforcing the law of any other nation.
- At present it is easier to visit a prisoner in gaol than in immigration detention. What is your opinion on the strict rules placed on visitors to on shore detention centres such as Villawood.
The strict rules are in place simply to deter advocates and to disempower the detainees and advocates. It is another example of the inhumane attitude afforded by the Australian Government.
- By reducing access to the Status Resolution Support Service (SRSS) in the second half of 2018, the Federal Government left many refugees without the support they needed to be able to access basics such as housing and food while they are settling into Australia. What plans do you have to support refugees as they strive to become part of our society?
We would offer support to a) raise this issue in the eyes of the public b) raise the issues on the floor of the Senate c) assist in anyway the efforts of refugees and refugee advocacy groups in trying to change this situation.
As a party, we do not support the poor treatment and demonisation of refugees. The attitude of successive Australian governments has been shameful.
We have developed a policy that depoliticises the issue of immigration and asylum seekers. Please check on the link to view our policy:
http://www.australianworkersparty.org/immigration.html
