Abbott’s emergency legislation ‘abominable’

Lawyers have slammed the federal government’s rushed attempt to head off court action challenging its power to fund offshore detention facilities.

Digital • 25 June 2015 • NewLaw

The Migration Amendment (Regional Processing Arrangements) Bill 2015, supported by Labor, seeks to close a loophole in existing legislation and authorise payments made to establish and operate offshore detention centres on both a prospective and retrospective basis.

You’re out of free articles for this month

Username or Email

Password Forgot password?

Keep me signed in on this device.

First Name

Last Name

Mobile

Organisation Type

By becoming a member, I agree to receive information and promotional messages from Lawyers Weekly. I can opt out of these communications at any time. For more information, please visit our Privacy Statement.

Need help signing up? Visit the Help Centre.

Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) spokesperson Greg Barns (pictured) said that the retrospective nature of the Bill was especially troubling.

“To use retrospectivity to legitimise funding of a regional processing centre where it has been demonstrated that there is under-reporting of sexual abuse of children is not only unconscionable, it is abominable,” Mr Barns said.

“This is an attempt to plug legislative holes where there may not have been adequate legal provision for the funding of regional processing centres.”

Mr Barns also criticised the government for trying to circumvent litigation on a prospective and retrospective scale.

VIEW ALL

“Retrospectivity should only be applied where there has been a substantial miscarriage of justice,” he said, adding that retrospectivity had not yet been applied for survivors of institutional abuse, or for survivors of gang rape seeking victim’s compensation.

Hettie Saturday, 27 June 2015

And the rest.$450,000 per person per year. You could stay a year at the Savoy for that.

0
Marilyn Shepherd Friday, 26 June 2015

No, it is actually legalising our crimes against humanity after we have been in breach of our own laws for 3 years.Perhaps criminals could now go to court and plead the Abbott/Shorten ''it was illegal when I did it but make it legal now'' clause.This slum is what you are paying $1 billion a year to prop up by the way.https://<a href="medium.com/@shanebazzi/photos-from-nauru...-centre-8fffa71570aa" rel="nofollow">medium.com/@shanebazzi/photos-...</a>

0
Absurdiness Brown Friday, 26 June 2015

Crammed a lot of ideas onto that rickety little boat, Mr Barns.Retrospectivity is used all the time to plug legislative holes. It's just not really popular for criminalising things, which isn't the case here.

0
Jesse Thursday, 25 June 2015

Thanks, good article. Retrospective law-making should only be applied in extremely necessary circumstances. This is not one of them and the Abbott government has no place to use retrospectivity to legitimise their appalling and thoughtless offshore processing of asylum seekers. Just pathetic.

0
Jesse Thursday, 25 June 2015

...this makes no sense.

0
Bob Thursday, 25 June 2015

Lefty Lawyers just annoyed they cant get any free publicity or legal aid fees to defend illegal immigrants.

0