ACTION 4: End mandatory detention of people seeking asylum

Thousands of people who have arrived in Australia to seek asylum (refugee protection) have been held in immigration detention - sometimes for many years.  Australia needs to allow people to live in the community while their claims for protection are assessed.    

RCOA Report:   …Australia’s detention policies are some of the harshest in the world. Detention is mandatory for those without a valid visa. It is also indefinite, and there is no independent review…..Australia’s detention policies have been found many times to be in breach of its obligations under international law.   See more detail here: Australia's detention policies 

Once people are in detention, they may remain there for long periods.  See below excerpts from  a policy paper   Policy-freedom  published by the ASRC in 2022 which critiques Australia’s approach to immigration detention, and compares length of stay with international statistics.    

The time people spend in immigration detention has rapidly expanded over the previous decade. In 2012, a person in immigration detention in Australia was held, on average, for less than 100 days, it is now 726 days. For people seeking asylum the average time spend in immigration detention waiting for a visa outcome is 925 days, as of December 2021. Australia is an international outlier with long-term, indefinite mandatory detention being used as a first resort, rather than the last.