ALHR Fronts Senate Inquiry
On 16 April 2015, ALHR appeared before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee to express its objection to the Migration Amendment (Maintaining the Good Order of Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2015.
The Chair of the ALHR Refugee Subcommittee, Ms Claire Hammerton, together with The Hon. Stephen Charles QC and representatives from the Law Reform Commission and the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, formed a panel of legal experts to advocate against passage of the Bill.
The proposed legislation “dangerously expands the power of private detention security officers to use force against detainees, including against children and their families” stated Ms Hammerton. “It provides security officers with a mandate to use force that is greater than the force allowed to be used under analogous State and Territory prison legislation.”
“If enacted, the provisions of this Bill are highly likely to encroach on a number of fundamental human rights including the right to life, the right to peaceful assembly and the prohibition against torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Furthermore, the Bill does not provide for any independent oversight of the use of force and effectively denies individuals the right to seek legal redress, which is contrary to the rule of law and key human rights principles.”
A full copy of the ALHR submission can be found here: ALHR Maintaining Good Order Submission. For a full copy of the Bill, and a transcript of the hearings as it becomes made available, see: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Maintaining_Good_Order