FECCA Refugee Policy January 2010

Background Since 1945 Australia has accepted around 800,000 refugees who have greatly enriched our nation. FECCA believes that as a prosperous and stable first world country with abundant resources, Australia can and should continue to play a leading role in resettling refugees. Through our refugee program Australia honours its obligations under the United Nations Refugee Convention and our settlement services programs for refugee and humanitarian entrants are considered to be world class. However, our treatment of asylum seekers despite recent significant reforms, still needs improvement. Australia currently accepts 13,750 refugee and humanitarian entrants per year who are mostly drawn from South-East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. While generous by international per-capita standards, the number of refugee and humanitarian entrants as a proportion of our overall permanent migration program is relatively small. The number of refugee and humanitarian entrants has been steadily decreasing as a proportion of our overall immigration program over the last decade. The refugee and humanitarian program has certainly not increased at the exponential rate that our skilled migration and temporary migration programs has increased by, even allowing for recent modest reductions in the skilled migration program. Australia currently admits around 108,000 skilled migrants per yearup from 44,730 in 2000-01and temporary migration is at around 4 million per year. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees reports that there are presently at least 15 million refugees recognised by and many millions more displaced people. While Australia can never be an answer to solving all the problems of the huge number of refugees seeking protection even those in our regionwe can continue to strengthen our important role as a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention and as a significant receiving country for refugees.

FECCA AUSTRALIAN REFUGEE POLICY PRINCIPLES 1. FECCA supports the maintenance and enhancement of Australias refugee and humanitarian program on humanitarian, economic and social grounds. 2. FECCA supports a non-discriminatory humanitarian and refugee program that is also responsive to refugee situations in our region of the world. 3. FECCA understands the imperative for an orderly and properly managed immigration program with appropriate border controls in the national interest. However, this imperative must always be balanced against the protection of basic human rights including the rights of irregular arrivals and asylum seekers to be treated fairly. 4. The refugee and humanitarian program should accept 20,000 entrants per year up from the current level of 13,750. Such an increase should occur in a staggered manner over four years at an increase of around 2,000 per year. This target should be met regardless of fluctuations in our overall immigration program and further the refugee and humanitarian program (like the family reunion program) should be quarantined in the event of any reductions in overall immigration levels. 5. FECCA strongly supports the onshore processing of asylum seekers and calls on the Commonwealth Government to abandon the excision zone policy which denies asylum seekers arriving in Australian territory, but off the mainland, their full human rights. FECCA opposes the offshore processing of asylum seekers on places like Christmas Island as these facilities are remote and reduce peoples access to their human rights both through the excision legislation and in practice due to their isolation. 6. FECCA calls on the Government to honour in full its pledge to detain asylum seekers only as a last resort for fast identity, security and health checks and also ensure that no children are ever detained. FECCA is extremely concerned that some children are still reported to be in detention like facilities despite formal policy shifts away from detaining children.

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7. FECCA calls for the Government to honour in full its pledge for the faster processing of asylum seeker claims. FECCA also supports the expeditious and safe return of asylum seekers found not to be refugees. 8. FECCA calls for a bipartisan approach to refugee policy and denounces scaremongering and stereotyping about refugees through the use of factually incorrect terms such as illegal immigrants. 9. FECCA calls on the Government to ensure that the community is educated about the positive role and major contributions that former refugees play in Australian society. 10. FECCA supports the Governments improvements to welfare rights for asylum seekers and also its abandonment of the failed temporary protection visa policy. 11. FECCA opposes calls for the reintroduction of temporary protection visas as proposed by the Federal Opposition. Temporary protection visas are totally inhumane, cause unnecessary suffering and do not act as a deterrent to irregular arrivals. 12. FECCA acknowledges that Australia is an international leader in terms of the provision of settlement services for refugees and humanitarian entrants. FECCA supports these resettlement programs and would also like to see more policy emphasis on employment participation and youth within this program. 13. While recognising that some refugees require more intensive assistance, many other refugees add significant value to the Australian economy. For instance some refugees are proving invaluable in filling workforce positions that would otherwise go unfilled in agricultural and related industries in rural and regional Australia. 14. The Governments cultural orientation programs also need strengthening so that more accurate and realistic information is provided to prospective refugee and humanitarian entrants, in areas like public housing availability. 15. Australias geographic location and role in the Pacific region warrants further consideration and leadership on the issue of people displaced by climate change who are sometimes referred to as climate refugees. FECCA would welcome further consideration from the Australian Government on its role in the international community in addressing the displacement effects of climate change and in whether a further category of climate displacement is warranted in our humanitarian program. FECCA Refugee Policy Principles 2010 3