The Federal Government’s plan to overhaul the way it handles people who seek to enter the country to fight terrorism has faced significant opposition.
But for the first time, it is facing a major challenge from lawyers.
The Australian Human Rights Commission says the Government’s new guidelines, which apply to people in the United States and Australia, “do not sufficiently protect the rights of people who enter the United Kingdom to fight for or with the Government of Australia”.
The Government’s legal advisers say they are “confident that the Australian Government has made sufficient progress to meet its obligations under international human rights law”.
“It is also clear that the Government is making progress in addressing some of the issues raised in the letter, which include the issue of the Government making the right decision about whether a person should be admitted to the United State for humanitarian reasons,” the experts wrote.
“However, there is a real risk that the approach is still too restrictive, that the new policy will lead to unnecessary delays and that the policy will create further obstacles to the entry of people seeking to fight overseas.”
They say the Government should “consider carefully the impact on asylum seekers who enter by air, sea or land”.
The new guidelines are set to be implemented in September.
But they could face a serious challenge from Australians who want to fight alongside their family members in Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan.
Lawyers say the new guidelines do not adequately protect the right of people to seek asylum in the UK, and that they could prevent them from doing so.
“They don’t address the fundamental rights of those who wish to enter to fight,” said Peter McManus, a solicitor at Law Offices of McManues.
If they think that is the right view of international human law, then they should reconsider and make that view the basis of their policy.” “
The Government is taking a very narrow view of human rights.
If they think that is the right view of international human law, then they should reconsider and make that view the basis of their policy.”
Mr McManuses told Newshub that the rules apply to all people who have travelled to Syria to fight against the government, but only to those who are members of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and have been granted refugee status in the country.
“That is the definition of a humanitarian refugee,” he said.
This is a specific, narrow, narrow rule that has been put in place by the Government to ensure that there is no threat to human rights and the right to asylum in that part of the world.” “
This is not a blanket ban.
This is a specific, narrow, narrow rule that has been put in place by the Government to ensure that there is no threat to human rights and the right to asylum in that part of the world.”
‘We are prepared to take on this challenge’ In response to the Government legal advice, the lawyers said they were “confid[ing] that the government is acting within the bounds of its legal authority, and we are prepared for this challenge”.
They said the guidelines do “not address the core human rights issues” and that “this is not an issue that has yet been debated by the House of Lords”.
But lawyers said that if the Government were to implement the new policies, it could “create further delays to the application of the human rights provisions of the Refugee Convention”.
“The Human Rights Tribunal has repeatedly held that, in cases where the Government seeks to impose a blanket restriction on freedom of movement, the tribunal must ensure that the restrictions do not unnecessarily burden the freedom of persons to travel and work in the Member State of origin,” the lawyers wrote.
The Government is “not prepared to make the blanket exclusion of people applying for refugee status based on their nationality and the fact that they have been registered in the US or Australia as refugees”, the lawyers added.
The new Human Rights Commissioner is expected to be confirmed by the UK Parliament later this month. “
Therefore, we are not prepared to commit to a blanket exclusion in all cases, and have taken this opportunity to raise with the relevant authorities that we are ready to take this challenge.”
The new Human Rights Commissioner is expected to be confirmed by the UK Parliament later this month.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said that the proposed changes to the Human Rights Act were “in the public interest”.
“This Bill is about protecting the rights and interests of all Australians, and protecting the freedoms of all,” he told the House.
“I’m very confident that the Minister has a strong vision for how this legislation can be amended and it will be.”
Mr Morrison told MPs the Government would continue to pursue reforms to the act and make it more transparent.
“What the Human Right Act says is that the Commissioner must be a person of good character and integrity, who is impartial and who will act impartially,” he added.
The Bill has received significant support from the Liberal Party, with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten calling for it to be scrapped.
The legislation has been