Asylum seekers convicted of murder and rape could be allowed into Australia under Bill Shorten’s soft new laws
- The new policy has been slammed as ‘staggering’ by the immigration minister
- The ‘medivac’ bill would allow asylum seekers to come to Australia for treatment
- Two doctors would make a recommendation on a patient, legal advice has said
- Independent MP Kerryn Phelps had originally championed the proposed law
A softened border policy allowing asylum seekers into Australia even if they are rapists and murderers could become reality early next year.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten has pushed for asylum decisions to not include considerations of the applicant’s character, it has been revealed.
In medical cases where a foreign national has to be sent to Australia to treatment, doctors could even make the final decision via Skype.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten (pictured) has pushed for asylum decisions to not include considerations of the applicant’s character, it has been revealed
The government and the opposition are due to clash on what has been dubbed the ‘medivac bill’ when it passes through the lower house in February.
Seen in legal advice by The Daily Telegraph, the new push has come under fire from immigration minister David Coleman.
‘Under Labor’s law, a person who has been convicted of serious offences would have to come to Australia and there is nothing the minister could do to stop it,’ he said.
‘For the alternative prime minister to support this is staggering.’
For those asylum seekers on Nauru, two doctors’ recommendation would be enough to force the Australian government to bring them over for medical treatment.
The policy would also apply to those who have been sent to Manus Island.
In that case, the immigration minister would have just 24 hours to approve moving the asylum seeker.
For those asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea (pictured, stock image), two doctors’ recommendation would be enough to force the Australian government to bring them over for medical treatment
In medical cases where a foreign national has to be sent to Australia to treatment, doctors could even make the final decision via Skype (stock image)
The only grounds under which the minister could fight the doctors’ recommendations would be medically-based or if the person was a terror threat.
The changes, which would still be verifiable by a medical panel, were first proposed by independent MP Kerryn Phelps.
Speaking to ABC, Mr Shorten defended his party’s policy change.
He said: ‘Labor does not accept the corollary between discouraging the people-smuggling trade and keeping people in detention for five plus years. That’s shameful.’