Tampering with Refugee Protection: The Case of Australia

Australia's refugee record has been brought into question. This article focuses on the most recent legislative amendments to the Temporary Protection Visa regime, spurred on by the diplomatic incident over the MV Tampa. This article finds, however, that the Tampa incident was just another example of the dwindling quality of asylum in Australia spanning more than a decade. It examines several important aspects of the refugee protection regime, including reduced periods of stay for refugees, systematic review of their status, no right to travel documents or to travel outside Australia and consequent denial of re‐entry rights, and no entitlement to family reunification, for refugees arriving in an unauthorised manner. Other legislative amendments are also reviewed, including removal of grounds for judicial review, and the excision of territory from the ambit of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). The article concludes that some of Australia's legislative amendments are clearly in breach of international refugee law, while others are perilously close.