THE POLICIES

Keeping up with different political policies regarding asylum seekers isn't always easy. The information is often hard to find, can be confusing and can lack a distinct message. Our aim at Refugees101 is to make this information readily available and easy to understand.

The Liberal government will reintroduce temporary protection visas, which were issued to people classified as refugees and allowed them to live and work in Australia for up to 3 years. They are then required to reapply for successive visas for the right to stay, with permission depending on conditions in their homeland.

"Boost" offshore processing.

Turn back the boats, "where it is safe to do so".

Humanitarian intake of 13,750 a year including 11,000 reserved for offshore applicants.

Operation Sovereign Borders, announced on July 25, 2013, led by a military commander with a three star ranking, who reports directly to the Immigration Minister. It is aimed at "streamlining" decision-making on border security into a single command structure.

Operation Sovereign Borders will be directed by a joint agency taskforce, involving all agencies who are involved in border security.

In first 100 days of a Coalition government, Operation Sovereign Borders will establish a headquarters and create a joint agency taskforce; finalise and issue protocols for operation to turn back boats; increase capacity at offshore processing centres; lease and deploy additional boats to relieve patrol vessels.

The Coalition has indicated it may keep some elements of Labor's new PNG policy, but has not specified which aspects.

Border Protection Command, set up in 2005, is a joint effort by Customs and Navy led by Customs. Headed up by a Navy Rear-Admiral (with a two star ranking) seconded to Customs, it uses both Navy assets and personnel and Customs assets and personnel (including 18 vessels and 17 aircraft) and reports to the Home Affairs Minister.

16 other government agencies, including the Immigration Department and Australian Federal Police are considered partner agencies

Unsuccessful asylum seekers are either sent home or resettled in a third country.

Customs has recently conceded it is "stretched" by the rate of boat arrivals.

Regional processing reopened on Nauru and Manus Island in 2012

Regional Arrangement, signed July 19, 2013, will see asylum seekers sent to Papua New Guinea for assessment and if found to be a refugee, also settled there.

Labor now saying "asylum seekers who come here by boat without a visa will never be settled in Australia".

Regional processing to be "significantly expanded" - no cap on numbers of people who can be sent to PNG.

Government has flagged deal could be expanded to countries such as Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the Philippines.

Option of increasing humanitarian intake from 20,000 to 27,000 per year, if boat arrivals drop.

Government also flagged possible changes to UN refugee convention and toughening of the way asylum seekers are assessed in Australia.

The Australlian Indpendents are for all refugees being processed in or near their own countries
The Australian Independents are for increasing the refugee intake to 50,000 per year
The Australian Independents are for asylum seekers boosting populations of small towns in rural and regional areas of Australia
The Australian Indpendents are for asylum seekers securing employment in rural and regional areas of Australia (currently there are over 100,000 jobs that urgently need filling in outback Australia)
The Australian Independents are for all asylum seekers who arrive by boat to be transported back to their own countries by plane, for processing
The Australian Independents are for a wide-spread awareness raising campaign to inform asylum seekers of the locations of the processing centres in their own countries.

The Greens’ different approach to refugees will save lives by offering a safe, legal and humane alternative to dangerous boats - instead of just more cruelty.

The Greens will increase Australia's humanitarian intake to 30,000, which will make a difference and provide hope to people waiting.
By resettling to Australia an emergency intake of 10,000 more genuine refugees from our region, we can show refugees that there is a ‘regular’ path to a safe life.
3,800 of the new places should go to urgently resettling assessed refugees directly from our immediate region including Indonesia as recommended by the Houston Panel. The Government hasn’t acted on that recommendation and only accepted 600 refugees from Indonesia this year despite the large backlog of waiting refugees.
An extra $70 million per year in emergency funding for safe assessment centres in Indonesia would provide shelter and welfare services to refugees while they wait for assessment and resettlement
They would boost the capacity of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Indonesia and Malaysia to speed up refugee assessments and resettlements.
They would shut down all offshore detention in Nauru and PNG, with Australia to assess the claims of people who arrive by boat.
No children should be in offshore detention or in detention in Australia.

Their traditional ideals of national security, protection from organised crime, and a robust and orderly immigration regime are increasingly under seige.
The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, with elements of the defence forces, provide the forntline in restoring and maintaining the integrity of our borders.
The Nationals will restore trust in the integrity of our border protection system by providing necessary additional equipment and personnel.
They commit to the re-introduction of Temporary Protection Visas and to the vocntinuation of the Australian-funded and operated detention centre on Nauru to process arrivals and deter illegal immigration in the future.
They will ensure that Navy and Customs personnel have the right modern equipment to turn boats around where it is safe to do so and stop illegal entry into Australia. We must defeat unscrupulous people smugglers.
A major review of the structure of border protection services will ensure that resources at the bureaucratic level are streamlined to maximise frontline resources and effort.
They will increase cargo screening at ports and airport, allowing greater scrutiny over more of our air and sea cargo. There will be more screening and inspections to detect the illicit goods which threaten our communities and especially our regional industries, such as agriculture.

The Pirate Party believes that the handling of asylum seekers is one of the great policy failures of recent years.

The backlog of boat arrivals has overwhelmed capacity for processing, drownings at sea continue to escalate, and growing evidence is emerging of inept and inhumane handling of the problem in Australia and overseas. The party believe that a crisis on such a scale requires a regional solution.

They believe efforts should begin at once to set up a single regional asylum seeker 'queue'.
Asylum seekers arriving anywhere in the region would be subject to a single processing system overseen by an independent body with all participating nations accepting a share of approved refugees.
The existence of a common regional queue would remove specific incentives to travel to Australia, reducing drowning and deterring backdoor economic migration.
A transparent allocation process should reduce disputes between nations, and pooling of information should improve document and identity checking.
The creation of a new system of oversight allows for a best practice approach built from the ground up, with a humane appeals process and a means for swift and safe return of arrivals deemed not to be asylum seekers.
Such a scheme would require funding, leadership, and specific incentives provided by Australia to encourage sign-up. However, Australia currently spends over $1 billion per year on detention facilities, and redirection of these funds will free up significant resources.
Nations such as Indonesia would have strong incentives to sign up, both to receive aid, and to obtain help with settling their own large backlog of asylum seekers.
As participating countries would be required to sign the UN Refugee Convention, funding and aid from Australia could become a mechanism for improving region-wide standards in asylum seeker handling.
The party believes that asylum seeking is lawful, and detention should not last longer than the minimum time-frame necessary to assess claims and conduct health and security checks.
Approved asylum seekers can be brought into the community, provided with support and training, and settled in areas where jobs remain persistently vacant (the National Farmers Federation estimates around 96,000 jobs are unfilled in regional areas).