Democratic rights and Labor's anti-refugee laws

The Labor government's proposed amendments to the Migration Act and Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act, aimed at circumventing last month's High Court decision that struck down the proposed deportation of hundreds of refugees to Malaysia, represent an unprecedented repudiation of all international and domestic legal norms governing the treatment of refugees.

Drawing on the reactionary White Australia traditions upon which the Labor Party was founded, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her colleagues are denouncing refugees in terms that were not long ago the preserve of the extreme-right One Nation party. The purpose is to make scapegoats out of refugees and immigrants to deflect attention from the impact of Labor's pro-business policies on jobs and living standards.

The government now wants to give the immigration minister unchecked power to deport refugees, including unaccompanied children, to any country in the world without consideration of the “international obligations or domestic law of that country”--based solely on an assessment of the so-called “national interest.” The amendments authorise the use of military in the forced deportations.

Developments since the High Court decision on the “Malaysia solution” represent an indictment of the entire political establishment.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott has opposed the government's amendments on the basis that asylum seekers ought to be deported to the tiny Pacific state of Nauru rather than Malaysia.

The Greens' nominal opposition to the government's refugee policies is a fraud. They will maintain their alliance with Gillard, continuing to prop up the minority government by blocking no confidence motions and voting for its annual budgets. This involves voting for the various funding provisions related to Labor's “border protection” regime, including the financing of detention centres in Australia. Similarly, the so-called Labor “left” parliamentarians led by Doug Cameron have emphasised that they will vote for Gillard's measures on the floor of parliament.

The government's move to blatantly target a group of people, stripping them of all legal rights, signals the development of new forms of authoritarian rule, threatening the basic rights of the Australian people. Recent developments underscore the absence of any constituency within the ruling elite for the defence of established legal norms and democratic rights. In conditions of economic crisis and unprecedented social inequality, there will no doubt soon be calls issued for the “national interest” to be upheld by outlawing protests, strikes, and left-wing political organisations.

The International Students for Social Equality fights for the development of a unified political movement of the youth and working class--regardless of nationality, race or ethnic origin--against the capitalist system. We uphold the basic right of ordinary people to live and work in any country of their choosing, enjoying full citizenship rights. We urge all students to attend our meeting on this important issue.