More than 12,000 refugees are receiving letters from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, warning them they now have only a matter of weeks to lodge their claim.
That has been cut from the initial deadline of one year.
If that deadline is not met, asylum seekers could lose their right to claim asylum, welfare payments and access to Medicare.
‘Alarming' decision: refugee groups
“We’re extremely alarmed,” said Tim O’Connor, from the Refugee Council of Australia.
“It’s having an enormously negative impact on people who have been kept in limbo, sometimes for many many years,” he told SBS News.
“These people have come to Australia seeking safety, they’ve come here seeking protection. They don’t often have good English and certainly not much money to be able to access lawyers.
“Bringing this forward, like the government is now announcing it is doing, is causing an enormous amount of duress and stress on a very vulnerable population.”
Nearly 25,000 asylum seekers who arrived by boat between August 2012 and December 2013 had previously been placed on a so-called ‘fast track’ for refugee determination under the Legacy Caseload Bill.
That Bill stripped crucial rights away from asylum seekers whilst broadening ministerial powers, which prevented challenges to be made against any previous decision.
According to the CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Kon Karapanagiotidis, 90 per cent of asylum applications were validated before the ‘fast track' was introduced.
“It is yet another attack on people seeking asylum who want nothing more than a fair chance to present their claims for asylum so they can begin to rebuild their lives in peace in our community,” he said.
“The ASRC is already working with more than 1000 people who are affected by this decision, while there are more than 10,000 people in Victoria. It is concerning that many of them will not yet have had access to any legal support or advice.
“Many of these people have been waiting for years to be invited by the government to lodge their asylum claims. When they are finally given the opportunity to do so, they are facing unfeasibly tight deadlines with life-changing implications if they do not get it right.”
Spike in requests for specialist services predicted
The principal solicitor with the ASRC’s Human Rights Law program, Melinda Jackson, estimates that there will be a 300 per cent increase in demand for specialist legal services.
“This policy change by the Government risks forcing people to lodge their applications without getting critical legal assistance,” she said in a statement.
“The process is incredibly complex and most people require legal help to complete their application for protection. We know from experience that the Department is more likely to approve visa applications that are prepared with the assistance of a lawyer.
“Community legal services are already operating at capacity.”
“It’s putting enormous stress on the many thousands of Australians who are working and supporting people that came here seeking safety and protection,” added Mr O’Connor.
“These people came to us seeking refuge, and were put in a very difficult position already. Now to change the process when we’re halfway through it, it’s causing incredible amounts of stress on a very vulnerable population.”
Government’s response
In a statement to SBS News, a spokesman for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton addressed the changes, but did not respond to the accusations by refugee groups.
“Labor's border protection failures which resulted in 50,000 illegal maritime arrivals (IMA) in Australia left a legacy of 30,000 IMAs whose claims for protection had not been progressed,” the spokesman said.
“All IMAs in this legacy caseload have been invited to apply for Temporary Protection Visas or Safe Haven Enterprise Visas. It is their opportunity to present their claims for protection and resolve their immigration status in Australia.
"Letters are being sent to IMAs who have not made an application for either a TPV (temporary protection visa) or SHEV (safe haven enterprise visas). Failure to apply may affect some of the support services they receive.”
A call to reconsider
Mr O’Connor believes that response does not adequately address the fresh problems to be encountered by asylum seekers.
“This is the government shifting the responsibility back on very vulnerable people,” he said.
“They need our help. And changing the goalposts when they’ve already been kept in limbo for so long is very very alarming.”
“We need more lawyers right now who can support people through the process, but more than this we need the Australian government to restore funding for essential legal services,” added Ms Jackson.
