Permanent Protection: Hope Of Change For 19,614 Refugees In The New Year

Sarah Dale,
RACS Centre Director
and Principal Solicitor
@SarahRACS

Before the year ends, I want to update you on a few developments this past month that will have a big impact on our work in the new year. 

You might have seen the articles in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian newspapers, which state that the Albanese Government has a plan to grant Temporary Protection Visa and Safe Have Enterprise Visa holders permanent visas sometime in 2023. This is a very welcome development. 

I want to emphasise that this would only see a solution for the 19,614 people that have been granted a visa. And even though we celebrate every visa granted, especially those granted a permanent stay in Australia, it still leaves, as reported, a remaining estimated 12,000 people in limbo. They are all left questioning – what about me? 

It's critical to understand that many of these 12,000 people don't have a visa because their processing has been delayed, their case hasn't been assessed yet, or they have been impacted by bureaucratic decisions outside of their control. They could have also been refused because decision makers at the time had relied upon what is now well understood to be flawed country information, pertaining to the safety and stability of countries like Sri Lanka and Afghanistan – this has been proven simply and clearly to not be the case. 

The leaked plan for an ‘announcement’ has no details attached, no confirmation as to when and no confirmation as to how. And most concerningly, no plan for those that do not hold a visa.  

As a community legal centre, it is very difficult for RACS to prepare our service and our community for what is to come, except to assure them that we stand with them through it all until a resolution is reached.

We couldn’t be more relieved to hear that the Albanese Government are determined to honour their commitment, and it could not come soon enough.  

But as legal practitioners, all of us at RACS want law, policy, and certainty, before we begin to celebrate.  

Earlier this month, the Attorney General also announced that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal will be abolished. This news is a welcome relief for all of us who’ve had to appear before the Tribunal, anticipating we may be unfairly refused, despite the merits of the case. Again, we have been told that people will not have to start over and that wait times will be reduced, but there is still an immense amount of uncertainty, which we will need to navigate with our community in early 2023 until the new system is finalised. 

This brings me back to the reported 12,000 people. The Government have accepted that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal is riddled with enough injustice to warrant the slate being wiped clean and starting again. But this is the same system that led to so many people being refused, who could have been given protection under a different decision-maker, at a different point in time. Which is why, to restore any justice to this community that has been left in limbo for 10 years, we need a plan for all and not just for a majority.

Whilst you're reading this, the RACS office is closed for the festive break and will re-open on Monday, 9 January 2023.

I hope that you are taking this time to rest, recharge and reset. It's going to be an enormous year ahead, and I trust you will continue to stand with us. We will certainly need the strength of our community to support people through the highs and lows of 2023.