A Good Day for Refugees

All Brunswick Labor members will welcome today's news from Canberra regarding changes to the detention system for illegal immigrants. Today's announcememnts are a vindication of the hard work by Labor for Refugees and rank and file members of the ALP in Brunswick, and elsewhere, over the past seven years arguing for change in both ALP policy and the nation's policy.

Minister Evans speech, New Directions in Detention, outlines a new appraoch.

The challenge for Labor, having tackled the worst excesses of the Howard immigration legacy, is to introduce a new set of values to immigration detention – values that seek to emphasise a risk-based approach to detention and prompt resolution of cases rather than punishment....
Today I want to announce that Cabinet has endorsed a policy containing seven values that will guide and drive new detention policy and practice into the future.
These values will result in a risk-based approach to the management of immigration clients.

The Government’s seven key immigration values are:

1. Mandatory detention is an essential component of strong border control.
2. To support the integrity of Australia’s immigration program, three groups will be subject to mandatory detention:
(a) all unauthorised arrivals, for management of health, identity and security risks to the community
(b) unlawful non-citizens who present unacceptable risks to the community and
(c) unlawful non-citizens who have repeatedly refused to comply with their visa conditions.
3. Children, including juvenile foreign fishers and, where possible, their families, will not be detained in an immigration detention centre (IDC).
4. Detention that is indefinite or otherwise arbitrary is not acceptable and the length and conditions of detention, including the appropriateness of both the accommodation and the services provided, would be subject to regular review.
5. Detention in immigration detention centres is only to be used as a last resort and for the shortest practicable time.
6. People in detention will be treated fairly and reasonably within the law.
7. Conditions of detention will ensure the inherent dignity of the human person.

Labor’s reforms will fundamentally change the premise underlying detention policy.

Congratulations Federal Labor.