Last year, protestors in Punchbowl held one of the longest continuous protests in Australian history. Stationed outside the office of Tony Burke, the Minister for Home Affairs, Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, the 24-hour continuous protest lasted for over 120 days, calling for visa equality and an end to decades-long draconian immigration policies. Related action was present in cities across Australia; from Sydney to Melbourne, Perth to Adelaide. Refugee Women Action for Visa Equality (Refugee WAVE) led a continuous protest in Melbourne, ardently campaigning for permanent visas. In a statement of solidarity, the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) described the protests as representing “thousands of people who have been failed by the former coalition Government’s ‘fast track’ refugee assessment process — who have lived in Australia for over a decade but have never had a fair chance at a future.”
Refugee WAVE is an award-winning organisation self-described as a “coalition of [22] courageous Iranian and Sri Lankan women fighting for [their] futures.” The Melbourne Encampment was stationed outside the Office of Home Affairs and lasted over 100 days. Rathy Barlote is one of the co-founders of Refugee WAVE. In 2023, the organisation walked 640 km from Melbourne to Canberra, calling for visa equality. “The walk took 27 days, we met Labor, and [other] senators, and they said: there will be change. But we haven’t gotten results from the government, and that’s when we started the encampment again,” Rathy said. Rathy is one of thousands living in Australia on a short-term visa: effectively trapped in a precarious 6-month cycle of visa renewal with no permanent settlement solution.
“We had solidarity from Palestinians and other refugees. Everyone gave 100 per cent support for those 100 days.” Rathy said that the encampment was “for those who were affected by the fast-track process, for those needing visas,” and was mostly refugees from Iran, Tamil Eelam, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In 2014, the Coalition introduced the ‘Fast Track’ system, which was effectively “designed to make it difficult to access protection and deter people seeking asylum”, according to Amnesty International Australia. Over 7,000 people were affected by the system, which denied legal assistance and interpreters to refugees seeking asylum, while also changing the criteria for protection in Australia, failing to provide procedural fairness in evaluating claims and silencing refugee voices.
When Labor won the last election, they abolished the fast-track system by establishing a new tribunal commencing in October 2024. However, it still excludes thousands of people previously failed by the fast-track system who cannot apply for review at the new tribunal system. Like Rathy, many of these people are still trapped in limbo.
“We suffered for more than 10 years. It’s not a fast or fair process,” Rathy said of the fast-track process. “They pick numbers and give visas. The fast track process was created to make people live the refugee life: we can’t work, there’s no Medicare, kids can’t get into university because we have to pay international student fees. Even if the child has been here from kindergarten to high school, they’re still denied. It’s terrible — mentally and physically. We lost so many of our loved ones here, and for more than a decade, we’ve been waiting to reunite our families.” Without a permanent visa, travel is not an option.
“During our encampment, we heard from about 25 MPs. They wrote a letter to the minister to provide a solution for those affected by the fast-track system. There were more than 75 refugee support organisations that wrote a letter to the minister. The Greens Senators supported us during the encampment; they came. Adam Bandt came to the encampment to support us,” Rathy references a letter signed by 25 MPs following the death of Mano Yogalingam, urging the Prime Minister to provide a clear and timely alternate pathway to permanent residency for all failed by the fast-track system. Of the signees, 9 were Independents and 16 were of the Greens.
Yet, immigration policy continues to decline in a cruel race to the bottom. Rathy spoke to the three Migration Amendment Bills introduced in Parliament last year. The bills proposed would allow an expansion to the offshore detention and deportation regime while enabling the separation of families, the banning of entire communities from entering Australia, authorising strip searches, and imprisoning those non-compliant with deportation requests. In April 2024, Refugee WAVE penned a letter to parliament urging the abandonment of the bill, calling it a choice “between persecution and prison”.
When asked what students can do to stand in solidarity with refugees, Rathy said: “There are 10,000 refugees still suffering. Ask [representatives] — what are they going to do for those living in limbo, without answers? We [have been] here for more than a decade. It’s an open prison. Ask them: Why are we living this life? It’s basic rights we’re asking for: not money [or] benefits. We’re working hard, but they’re blaming us. There are lots of crises: homelessness, cost of living. [They’re] not connected to refugees. We are not getting any benefits from the government… If the Liberals win the election, it will be a death sentence for the refugees impacted by the fast-track system.”
The race to the bottom: human rights neglect in major party refugee policy
Despite decades of activism against these punitive and draconian policies, Refugee and Asylum Seeker policy is effectively non-existent in media coverage and major party agendas this election. This is a testament to the normalised state of human rights abuse, enhanced state violence, and punitive carceralism constructed by both Labor and Liberal governments since the 1990s. Dr. Niro Kandasamy, specialist in refugee history and transnational activism at USyd, said that “This has been the case each election. Refugees have been used as a political football for [fearmongering] and getting votes. The carceral border has long been a formative part of Australian politics.” Kandasamy also urges students to draw linkages between Australian foreign relations and discourses surrounding particular migrant communities: “There is a tendency to view refugees as a homogenous group: they’re not.” The Australian State has a decades-long standing partnership with Sri Lanka, despite its genocide against Tamils. In 2021, the two countries renewed a defence agreement which focuses on border management and directly targets “illegal migrants”. Human rights groups, such as the HRLC, have expressed concern over the partnership for over a decade.
Although refugees are notably absent from this year’s election rhetoric, both parties display inhumane and violent immigration policies beneath the surface. The past three years under Albanese reflect the drastic disregard for human rights. Beyond the Migration Amendment Bills, Albanese has also renewed and expanded a partnership with Nauru to resettle refugees, after the High Court found the existing policy to be unconstitutional. While the most recent budget provides $3.5 million to the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement program and $7.7 million to extend the Economic Pathways to Refugee Integration program, it also allocates $1.3 billion to onshore detention, over a $100 million increase from last year. In addition to this, Labor is spending half a billion dollars on offshore detention. Every sign points towards a continued flagrancy of migrant and refugee rights under the ALP.
The history of Dutton’s political career is rife with blatant racism and racial fear-mongering which have most recently landed him a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission over “false claims and propaganda, encouraging violence and deportation, atrocity denial, disparaging muslim candidates, advocacy against protection from international crimes and misleading claims about Nakba survivors seeking refuge in Australia”. In March, Dutton proposed changing the Australian constitution to enable the deportation of migrants convicted of crimes by unrestricted ministerial discretion, a policy touted as relegating some Australians to “second-class citizens with fewer rights” by Amnesty Australia. Dutton has also notably promised to cut permanent migration by 25 per cent, and in 2024 announced that a Coalition government would reduce the already limited humanitarian intake.
There is no shortage of humane suggestions for refugee policy reform, there is only a lack of political will. Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS) suggests:
- Creating permanent pathways for all.
- Abolish cruel detention and removal policies.
- Ensure procedural safeguards throughout the asylum process.
- Provide access to a safety net for people seeking asylum.
- Recognise family unity as an essential part of refugee settlement.
- Improve Australia’s response to humanitarian crises.
Vote in this election with refugees and asylum seekers in mind. Many of those denied permanent visas will be unable to represent themselves in this election. It is imperative that we listen to their voices.
