12/10/2013

IMMIGRATION Minister Scott Morrison has thrown down the gauntlet to Labor and the Greens by using his powers to cap the number of permanent protection visas for asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat.

 اسکات موریسون: دارندگان ویزای موقت نمیتوانند تا 7 ماه آینده درخواست پناهندگی بدهند!
The 1650 cap matches the number of visas already approved this financial year.

The decision means no new visas will be issued to onshore asylum seekers before July 2014.

As well, none of the 20,000 asylum seekers, who are on bridging visas and living in the community without work rights, will be able to apply for permanent protection.

"The government today has shut Labor's protection visa shop ... the door has been sealed shut," Mr Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

The cap would remain in place until Labor and the Greens reversed their opposition to the reintroduction of temporary protection visas (TPVs), he said.

The two parties ganged up on the government this week to disallow TPVs which Mr Morrison introduced by regulation after the September election.

The minister's latest move is by way of a non-disallowable instrument which means it can't be struck down by the Senate.

The cap will not apply to the government's offshore refugee and humanitarian program, such as the 500 visas allocated for people fleeing the bloody civil war in Syria.

The decision was condemned by the Australian Greens and refugee advocacy groups.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young described Mr Morrison as the "minister for cruelty".

He was "thumping his chest to show how brutal he's prepared to be. Taking out his thuggery on refugees".

The Refugee Council of Australia said the move represented a new low.

"Australians should be ashamed that a government has inflicted more punishment and cruelty on people fleeing persecution and torture, to teach a lesson to the ALP and the Greens," president Phil Glendenning said.

Mr Morrison signalled the government would be announcing other new measures.

But pulling out of the UN refugee convention had never been "under active consideration".
http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/news/national/morrison-puts-permanent-visas-on-hold/story-fnjbnvyf-1226774762167
Video link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-04/scott-morrison-caps-offshore-protection-visa-numbers/5134200

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UP to 20 Sri Lankan asylum-seekers were last night preparing to leave the Oceanic Viking as early as tomorrow, in the first signs of an end to the standoff that began almost four weeks ago.

While Australian authorities remained hopeful of persuading all 78 of the Tamils to leave the Customs ship tomorrow, when the Oceanic Viking's permission to remain in Indonesian waters ends, there were reports last night that up to 20 of them would submit to health and identity checks today before being taken ashore to the Tanjung Pinang detention centre.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry official Sujatmiko said tonight that, by today, "hopefully some of them are ready to be verified".

The break in the impasse came as Kevin Rudd insisted no protests or threats by protesters would divert him from his policy on border security, even as Australian authorities confirmed they had offered to give the 78 Sri Lankans preferential treatment if they left the Oceanic Viking.

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OFFER: 'Get off boat and you'll go to Australia'
LETTER: Message to the Oceanic Viking 78 End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
Speaking in New Delhi, Mr Rudd said he had not been briefed on the offer to the asylum-seekers but expected "normal resettlement processes consistent with the UNHCR" would apply.

A written offer guaranteeing resettlement was presented to the 78 boatpeople earlier this week.

Published under Department of Immigration letterhead and signed by Australian diplomat Jim O'Callaghan, it promised those already declared refugees would be resettled within four to six weeks.

Those whose claims were subsequently successful would be resettled within 12 weeks.

The letter does not promise a particular country but sources close to the negotiations said the bulk - if not all - would end up in Australia.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans acknowledged Australia would take a "sizeable amount of the load".

He denied that the offer - which would see declared refugees processed well within the 90 days that those on Christmas Island must wait - amounted to special treatment.

But he did acknowledge that other refugees detained in Indonesia often had to wait much longer for resettlement.