Tony Abbott announces new policy on refugees

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott was alarmed that many refuge seekers were consciously wiping out their identity papers in order to confuse the Australian authorities assessing their refugee status.

They arrived in Australia without having their passports and were being targeted in the Australian opposition’s new refugee policy as Tony Abbott has announced a tougher policy on the refugee approval procedures. Opposition has accused the ruling Labor Party of lacking proper control of the borders.    

The refuge seekers who were suspected to allegedly destroying their identity documents could have their claims refused in Australia on these grounds under the new policy.

Australia was ranked at 46th on the global ladder of nations in 2010 for hosting asylum seekers.

The opposition leader said that the new policy also included the creation of a new refugee status commission to regularly review assessments to make sure that the decision making was consistent.   

He said, “There would be a strong presumption that illegal boat people who have destroyed their documents not be given refugee status.”

He also added that, “The minister would exercise the right to appeal against affirmative decisions, an existing right which has never been exercised under this Government.”

He was concerned about why other countries have heavier rates of rejection and said he wanted to know the reasons behind these rejections.

The enhancements that included the re-establishment of offshore processing at Nauru would be on the top of the party’s existing immigration policy.  

The opposition’s spokesperson for immigrants Mr. Scott Morrison have said in April 2010, to have an appropriate documentation must be a key requirement for the refugees and the policy would be storing public confidence in border protection measures.

He said, “Otherwise you simply have a system where the perception can be created that this government is just basically ticking and flicking people through the process in order to try and remove a headache of their own making, which is the record level of arrivals coming into Australia.”