The Abbott Government will attempt to win the support of Senate crossbenchers to reintroduce Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs). Labor and the Greens do not support the change in policy.
In Papua New Guinea, a 24 year-old asylum seeker was transferred from Manus Island to Port Moresby with in a serious infection. Meanwhile, an asylum seeker lost his legal battle to prevent deportation back to Afghanistan. He will fly back to his home region of Jaghori on Tuesday.
Coalition government backbencher Andrew Broad came out in support of work rights for asylum seekers, while Western Downs mayor Ray Brown thanked a group of Tamil asylum seekers (who arrived before 2012) for taking jobs that locals were unwilling to fill, including cleaning up garbage dumps and rubbish from roadsides.
A Fairfax investigation claimed that the government’s failed attempt to return 157 asylum seekers to India cost the taxpayer over $12 million dollars, including the running cost of HMAS Perth, chartered flights from Cocos Islands, and costs associated with the legal challenge. Human Rights Watch described the cost as ‘outrageous and unnecessary’.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn launched a class action against the government on behalf of detainees injured while detained on Christmas Island over the past three years. A pop up ‘embassy’ highlighting the lack of diplomatic representation for refugees and asylum seekers appeared outside the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.