Asylum seeker advocates say surprise resettlement deal between Australia and Nauru will have harmful impacts

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Australia and Nauru have inked a $400 million deal to resettle hundreds of non-citizens during an unannounced visit to the Micronesian nation. Deputy CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Jana Favero says this will have harmful implications for the human rights of refugees.

Transcript

00:00well we're in complete shock with this as you've heard

00:06Tony Burke went to Nauru yesterday this landed late

00:10last night on a Friday evening so first and foremost we're really

00:14in shock we are of course concerned with the financial implications

00:18that are being spent for more money but we're also really concerned about the

00:22human rights and the harmful implications I've heard words such as people being

00:26resettled people being transferred but this is about deportations so taxpayers

00:31money is going to harm people to strip away their human rights to strip away

00:36their legal protections and lead to deportation so like everyone else when

00:40they hear this first of all we're shocked in the way that was done but we're also

00:45shocked and deeply concerned about the impact that this will have on the lives

00:49of people in our community as we just heard previous deals with Nauru have been

00:55heavily scrutinized there have been concerns about the level of services

00:58there have you received any assurance that some of those issues have been

01:03addressed we've received no assurances at all and I think it's quite ironic that

01:08when the Labor Party were in opposition they were calling for greater

01:11transparency about Nauru they were calling for greater accountability they

01:14were calling for an end to the transparency but now they're in

01:17government they're actually implementing and continuing the very things they

01:21criticized we through our detention rights advocacy program we're in

01:25contact with refugees who have been sent to Nauru we know that for you know 12

01:31years ago we sent people to Nauru and there was a reason why they left you have

01:36the UN Human Rights Committee who has been saying Australia is responsible for

01:40those we send to Nauru they're saying that that there are harms it's a well

01:44documented policy of failure of sending people to Nauru but there's

01:49absolutely no oversight of this I mean we're learning about it through the

01:52media we've only seen the statement that was made on the Department of Home

01:55Affairs website and then the breaking news so we are deeply concerned because

01:59at the end of the day we hear directly from people who are transferred to Nauru

02:04we know the impacts we know that there's lack of appropriate medical

02:07facilities we have no idea what will happen to them the president of Nauru in

02:12some addresses when talking of people possibly being deported to Nauru also

02:17flag that they could then possibly be deported to their home countries so so

02:21what that practically means is that people who Australia has recognized as

02:24refugees as part of the refugee convention we say we won't return them

02:28to harm but by sending them deporting them to Nauru Nauru could then send them

02:32to harm so Australia's actions are leading to harm to persecution and

02:38possible death so we are significantly concerned and there is no information that

02:43we have what we have is what you have and there's a lack of oversight or

02:47transparency this deal as it stands relates to about 280 non-citizens many of

02:54whom have a history of violent offending why do you say that this amounts to mass

03:00deportations and why do you warn that you sort of went into it there you warn that

03:05this deal is dangerous oh look there's so much in this answer I'll try to be as

03:09concise as possible first of all this deal needs to be really looked at in the

03:14context of the bill that's before parliament on Tuesday the Albanese

03:18government introduced a bill to parliament they're trying to rush it through

03:22early next week which would strip the ability for people who the government

03:26wants to deport from taking any inaction to court to stop that now the

03:31government has also said oh this is only a small group of people but if we have a

03:35look at the visa classes and the conditions that they have named that

03:39could be part of that bill and the figures from department of home affairs

03:42says that that could be up to 80,000 people so we're not just talking about a

03:46small group of people also any other visa classes could be added to it

03:51so it sets an awful precedent now even if it was just one individual who were

03:56trying to deport in this case we're talking about many more and the

03:59potential for it to have even wider implications we should be deeply concerned

04:03because we are looking at deporting people simply because they are not

04:08citizens in Australia I think we probably all know someone who is not a

04:11citizen and we are defending the right for people to be treated equally and to

04:16have their full consideration before the law before the courts so that strips

04:21away that it strips away their safeguards and it sends a very clear message to

04:26people in our community that they will be treated differently so it's dangerous for

04:30the precedent it sets it's dangerous to those individuals it's dangerous because

04:34it could have wide-ranging implications but it's also dangerous because it could

04:39expand even further so it's dangerous and it's devastating and it's without

04:44precedent and it will lead to deportations and that is something we

04:47should all be worried about what is being done to other people who are in our

04:50community

04:50you

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