Election 2022: Party Policies
The 2022 federal election will take place on 21 May 2022. The graphic and text below describe the asylum and refugee policies of the Coalition, Labor and The Greens.
Refugee intake
The Coalition will not change the current refugee intake (humanitarian program) of 13,750 places per year. The Coalition has reduced this figure from 18,750 in 2020. The Coalition will, however, provide an additional 16,500 places for refugees from Afghanistan in the period 2022-2023.
Both Labor and The Greens intend to increase the refugee intake substantially (to 27,000 and 50,000 respectively), and increase community sponsorship places (to 5,000 and 10,000 respectively), which would be in addition to the humanitarian program places.
The Greens are proposing to provide an addition al 20,000 permanent places for people fleeing Afghanistan, and an additional 20,000 for those fleeing Ukraine.
Boat arrivals and offshore processing
The Coalition intends to continue operating the Nauru offshore processing facilities. They have accepted New Zealand’s offer to resettle 150 refugees from the offshore processing system over the next three years. They will continue to implement boat turnbacks where it is safe to do so and continue deterrence policies in the region.
The Labor party will also continue operating the Nauru offshore processing facilities but with greater independent oversight and protection for whistle-blowers. Labor will not bring refugees to Australia for processing but will seek resettlement in third countries and will continue boat turnbacks where it is safe to do so.
The Greens are the only party proposing to end offshore detention and bring all those currently there to Australia. They would not continue boat turnbacks.
Detention
There would be no change to current detention practices by the Coalition, which have included both the mandatory and indefinite detention of asylum seekers and refugees.
Labor would introduce a 90-day detention limit while applications are being processed, applying to both adults and children but with an independent children’s advocate and with a commitment to find alternative places of detention for children and their families.
The Greens would detain people for initial health and security screenings only, for a maximum period of seven days. They would then be accommodated in the community while their applications were processed. The Greens would also provide $60 million for the establishment of a Royal Commission into detention facilities.
Visas
There would be no change to the use of temporary protection visas by the Coalition. They would also continue the fast track assessment process.
Both Labor and The Greens would move away from temporary protection visas towards more permanent visas. They would both also end fast track processing. Labor has stated they would replace the Immigration Assessment Authority responsible for fast track assessments with a reinstated Refugee Review Tribunal.
For more details, please see the resource provided by the Refugee Council of Australia.
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Last updated 2 May 2022