Real Action on Offshore Processing & Visas
10/08/10
A Coalition Government will restore integrity to Australia’s borders with the establishment of an offshore processing centre in Nauru and action on visa approvals at overseas missions.
Mr Scott Morrison, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship returned from Nauru today following high level meetings with Government and Opposition members, and local officials regarding Nauru’s preparedness to re-open the offshore processing facility built and paid for by the Australian Government.
This visit followed a meeting between Mr Abbott and the President of Nauru, His Excellency Marcus Stephen, in Brisbane on Saturday.
The Coalition has outlined a real action timetable to protect Australia’s border and stop the boats.
On day one, we will pick up the phone and call the President of Nauru to set about re-opening the offshore processing facility on Nauru.
It is clear from Mr Morrison’s visit to Nauru yesterday that the State House site facility on the island, that could accommodate up to 500 people, would be able to receive asylum seekers for processing within weeks of a renewed agreement being formalised with Nauru.
The Coalition will also move quickly to reinstate Temporary Protection Visas that were scrapped by the Rudd-Gillard Government. The election of a Coalition Government would send a clear signal to people smugglers that their game up.
A key component of the Coalition’s border protection plan is to restore integrity to
Australia’s immigration programme.
As a priority, a Coalition Government will institute a comprehensive review of current systems for issuing visas at Australian overseas missions.
The review would carefully consider whether one of the major shifts in the staffing of our missions over the past two decades – the shift to an increasingly high proportion of staff being non-Australian, or locally engaged staff – has been in the national interest.
The Coalition is concerned about claims of bribery and fraud, as well as claims of systemic discrimination against classes of persons based on race and religion.
The review should consider whether the trend towards having locally-engaged staff make decisions on immigration and visa matters has gone too far.
Clearly it is cheaper for locally-engaged staff to manage overseas mission tasks such as visa-issuing. But the review would consider whether such economy measures could undermine the integrity of Australia’s immigration system.
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