Tony Abbott shuts the door on the tide of asylum seekers
Gemma Jones
The Daily Telegraph
November 23, 2012 12:00AM
MORE than 6000 refugees a year would be denied the chance to settle in Australia under a Tony Abbott-led Coalition government.
The Opposition Leader will today announce he will scrap Labor's extension of the humanitarian refugee intake to 20,000 a year - bringing it back to current levels of 13,750 a year - if the Coalition wins government at the next election.
A new low for the Australian Labor Party:$173.000 per ILLEGAL Muslim asylum seeker as Chemotherapy Patients asked to pay MORE for treatment or die.
The measure would save $1.3 billion over four years and is the first in a series of proposed savings to be announced by Mr Abbott from today.
And it is an about-face for Mr Abbott, who in June told crossbench MPs he would support an increase in the humanitarian intake to 20,000 if they backed the Coalition's amendment which effectively ruled out the Malaysia swap deal.
The government has already started increasing the humanitarian refugee intake after immigration minister Chris Bowen in August accepted a Houston panel recommendation, and had planned for the intake to rise to 27,000 within five years.
Mr Abbott will say today that Australia must "live within its means", with the refugee intake cut to be just the first savings measure announced "over coming months".
"The Coalition will always support a generous humanitarian program," he said. "But it should not be expanded while the government cannot afford to pay for it."
At the time of his offer to support the refugee intake rise, Mr Abbott said: "It makes sense to offer people who are prepared to try to come to Australia the right way, rather than the wrong way, more opportunity to do so."
Mr Abbott was seeking support for the opposition's amendment to send asylum seekers only to countries which had signed the UN refugee convention. The Coalition later withdrew the offer.
Yesterday Mr Abbott accused the government of outsourcing "the humanitarian program ... to the people smugglers" after more than 30,000 asylum seekers arrived on boats since Labor was elected and were absorbed into the existing program.
The Coalition will pledge to give 11,000 places a year to refugees who apply offshore within the existing 13,750 quota, up from just under 7000 places in 2011-12.
Places for refugees applying in camps around the world have been dwindling as boat arrivals have grown.
A special humanitarian program for refugees in Australia to bring family to join them has almost disappeared after it was absorbed by boat arrivals.
Earlier this year it was revealed there were just 655 places issued under the program, compared to 8000 nine years ago.
The payments are rich on refugee gravy boat
Gemma Jones
The Daily Telegraph
November 23, 2012 12:00AM
LARGE families released from immigration detention into the community on bridging visas will be entitled to more than $700 in equivalent welfare payments and rent assistance each fortnight.
A single parent with four or more children could receive as much as $706, the Department of Immigration confirmed yesterday.
A new low for the Australian Labor Party:$173.000 per ILLEGAL Muslim asylum seeker as Chemotherapy Patients asked to pay MORE for treatment or die.
The first boat to arrive since the government announced it was retreating from its policy to send asylum seekers to Nauru and Manus Island was intercepted on Wednesday.
Customs spotted a vessel with 37 asylum seekers and two crew southeast of Christmas Island. They will be among almost 7000 asylum seekers to have arrived since the offshore policy came into effect on August 13.
The latest arrivals can now be considered for release into the community, where they will be paid the equivalent of a welfare benefit, after the government backdown.
The government's policy reversal came after the flood of arrivals overwhelmed capacity offshore and in Australian detention centres.
All asylum seekers released into the community can be considered for 89 per cent of the Newstart allowance and 89 per cent of the applicable rent assistance offered by Centrelink.
In addition, free basic health care will be provided through the government's Asylum Seeker Assistance scheme and the Community Assistance Support program.
A department spokeswoman said the assistance could go as high as $700 in the cases of large families, but said usually only small family groupings arrived on boats, meaning they would be entitled to a lower rate of benefit and rent assistance.
The lowest rate for singles is about $440 a fortnight and they would also be eligible for a small amount of rent assistance of $72 if they are single and sharing a home, and $108 if they are single and living on their own.
The Red Cross has been the lead agency providing services to those in the community on bridging visas after Immigration Minister Chris Bowen announced last November at least 100 people a month would be released from detention. The number of asylum seekers on bridging visas had swelled to more than 5200 at the end of last week.
The department appointed an extra five service providers in August to work alongside the Red Cross, the department spokeswoman said.
New providers working with those on bridging visas include the Multicultural Development Association, Settlement Services International, Access Community Services, Adult Migration Education and the Migrant Resource Centre of SA.
Meanwhile, the government flew another charter jet to Colombo yesterday to return 40 Sri Lankans, taking the number of those returned to 466 since August 13.
"People who pay smugglers are risking their lives and throwing their money away," Mr Bowen said yesterday.
"There is no visa on arrival, no speedy outcome, and no special treatment."
