Labor to toughen immigration laws

AAP-April,26-Labor says its tougher immigration laws will penalise asylum seekers who damage Australia's detention centres or commit even minor offences.
A detainee who commits any crime while in an immigration facility risks not receiving a permanent visa even if deemed to be a genuine refugee, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen announced in Sydney on Tuesday.
Mr Bowen announced two proposed changes to the Migration Act following the recent destruction of buildings at offshore and mainland detention centres.
Under the changes, if an asylum seeker commits an offence while in a detention centre he or she will fail the character test under the Act and be issued with only a temporary visa if he or she obtains refugee status.
Asylum seekers wouldn't be able to sponsor family members and could be deported when conditions improve in their home countries.
Normally, refugees are given the much higher status of permanent residence in Australia.
Under the existing law, a conviction would have to carry a sentence of more than 12 months to fail the character test.
"(The proposed changes) will apply to anybody convicted of any action in our immigration detention centres from today onwards," Mr Bowen told reporters in Sydney.
If passed by parliament, the laws would be backdated.
Mr Bowen's comments followed riots by detainees on Christmas Island and more recently at Sydney's Villawood detention centre, where detainees burnt down buildings and caused extensive damage.
Genuine refugees who commit crimes of any severity while in detention may face jail but won't be deported, he said.
"Let me make it clear: we are not talking about breaching our international obligations," Mr Bowen said.
"We will not be returning people who are genuine refugees to a country in which they are in danger."
The other proposed change to the legislation increases the maximum penalty from three to five years for manufacturing, using or possession of a weapon while in a detention centre.
Speaking on Christmas Island on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott called the proposed changes "a weak response to the government's loss of control of our borders".
"Nothing that's been announced today will stop the boats or end the protests," Mr Abbott told reporters.
"Rioters should be rewarded with punishment, not with temporary protection visas."
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said Labor should go further to prevent detainees from breaking the law.
"Temporary visas should be applied to all those who have arrived illegally, not to those convicted of crimes," Mr Morrison said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Those who fail the character test should be told to apply to another country for a visa."
Mr Bowen said temporary visas were already available under the Migration Act but their use would differ from the visas abolished three years ago because they were "across the board".
Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said those failing the character test or found not to be in genuine need of protection should be sent safely home.
"We are not interested in people not needing protection being given protection," Senator Hanson-Young said.
The announcements came as a small group of detainees staged a protest on the roof of a block at the Christmas Island centre.
It was unclear if Mr Abbott or Mr Morrison were anywhere near the protest as it was occurring.
At the same time, three men entered their seventh day of a rooftop protest while detainees continued a hunger strike at Western Australia's Curtin Immigration Detention Centre.
After speaking with the Villawood detainees on the phone, Social Justice Network advocate Jamal Daoud told AAP on Tuesday morning that they were "very weak, very distressed and very disappointed".
Majid Parhizkar, 24, from Iran, and stateless Kurdish men Mehdi and Amir, whose applications for asylum have been twice rejected, climbed onto the roof last Wednesday.
Outside the Villawood facility on Tuesday, advocates continued to support the roof-top protesters and condemned the proposed laws.
A spokesman for the International Federation of Iranian Refugees, Arsalan Nazeri, said Mr Bowen should talk to the men rather than the media.
Melina Adlparvar, a refugee from Iran, said her husband Hassan Alsaegh was suicidal after spending 17 months in detention.
"One minute in this life is important to us. What about two years or 17 months like my husband?" Ms Adlparvar told AAP.
"We are not animals. We are not criminals. What would you do if someone came and locked you in a room?"
Mr Daoud called the proposed legislation "draconian" and said Mr Bowen was trying to save face.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard, speaking in Beijing, rejected suggestions that her government was resurrecting the temporary protection visa (TPV) policy of the Howard government.
Ms Gillard told reporters the new policy was appropriate.
"People who commit offences whilst in immigration detention have those offences very clearly taken into account," she said.