The Australian opposition pledged on Saturday to slash the amount of money the government spends on legal assistance for asylum seekers if it wins national elections next week.
The soaring costs for taxpayers of an increasing number of asylum seekers reaching Australian shores by boat is a hot-button issue ahead of the elections on September 7.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison announced on Saturday that he expects savings of $A100 million (or US$89 million) over four years by scrapping a government policy of providing free lawyers and migration agents to advise refugee seekers on lodging asylum claims and appealing rejections of the claims.
“There is no provision under the [United Nations] Refugee Convention which compels a country such as Australia to provide taxpayer-funded advice in these situations,” Morrison said.
Another opposition spokesman, George Brandis, said a conservative government would give priority to providing Australian citizens with free legal advice rather than asylum seekers.
Sarah Hanson-Young, immigration spokeswoman for the minor Greens party, said the aid is needed because many refugee claims denied by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) were overturned on appeal.
“It’s clear that DIAC assessors make mistakes in their first assessments and if the coalition’s cruel cuts get up then we may be sending people back to their deaths,” she said in a statement.