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Opinion | Australia’s migration policy is inhumane; UK should see it as a warning, not a blueprint
- Britain’s new Illegal Migration Bill is similar to system Australia has had for years
- But Canberra’s policy of sending asylum seekers to third countries has often been found to contravene human rights, with many children among the victims
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Britain’s Illegal Migration Bill, introduced in parliament this week, will look very familiar to Australians.
If passed, the bill would see asylum seekers who arrive in the United Kingdom without a visa deemed “illegal” and prohibited from applying for protection under the refugee system.
Any claim for protection will be deemed “inadmissible”, and anyone arriving “illegally” will be removed to their home country or a so-called “safe” third country.
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The bill also grants enhanced detention powers to the government while removal arrangements are under way. In other words, it lifts directly from the Australian handbook when it comes to punitive refugee policy, including the potentially devastating human impact and the disregard for human rights.
The similarities extend to political spin as well as policy. The UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has firmly backed the bill, vowing this week to “fight” for the legislation. He made his address behind a lectern emblazoned with the slogan “stop the boats” – the same three-word slogan that helped Tony Abbott, Australia’s former prime minister, win the 2013 election, and launched a particularly dark chapter in the nation’s refugee policy.
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