This document is a response to the ALRC's request for submissions on future law reform priort... more This document is a response to the ALRC's request for submissions on future law reform priorties in Australia. It identifies particular areas of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) that need improvement and development because of stakeholders' concerns about the complexity of existing legal provisions adn procedures, defects in the law that are referable to particular cases and case-studies, and barriers impeding access to justice.
Exclusion and expulsion from Australia has, largely, been achieved via the application of s 501 M... more Exclusion and expulsion from Australia has, largely, been achieved via the application of s 501 Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (the ‘character test’) and, more recently, via application of s 116 (‘general visa cancellation’). Strengthened visa cancellation provisions and associated policies, coupled with stringent enforcement over felonious non-citizens and restricted forms of legal redress, are distinctive features of modern crimmigration law and practice in Australia. Courts cannot conduct an assessment of whether administrative decision-making outcomes are substantively just, overly harsh, or disproportionate to the risks posed by the non-citizen to community safety. Nor can the Courts assess the conformity of cancellation decisions with human rights norms and enforce those rights against the State. In light of this state of affairs we argue that there is a pressing need to revisit how human rights principles are enshrined in law and how the human rights implications of character decisions are properly accounted for and weighed in the decision-making balance. We also ventilate our concerns about the nature and scope of visa cancellation powers and their contemporary administration by the executive branch of government. We advocate for an overhaul of the character test and general visa cancellation powers, and caution against the trend towards personal ministerial administration of statutory powers.
Exclusion and expulsion from Australia has, largely, been achieved via the application of s 501 M... more Exclusion and expulsion from Australia has, largely, been achieved via the application of s 501 Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (the ‘character test’) and, more recently, via application of s 116 (‘general visa cancellation’). Strengthened visa cancellation provisions and associated policies, coupled with stringent enforcement over felonious non-citizens and restricted forms of legal redress, are distinctive features of modern crimmigration law and practice in Australia. Courts cannot conduct an assessment of whether administrative decision-making outcomes are substantively just, overly harsh, or disproportionate to the risks posed by the non-citizen to community safety. Nor can the Courts assess the conformity of cancellation decisions with human rights norms and enforce those rights against the State. In light of this state of affairs we argue that there is a pressing need to revisit how human rights principles are enshrined in law and how the human rights implications of character decis...
Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, 2020
This chapter introduces the book’s structure and each particular contribution within this edited ... more This chapter introduces the book’s structure and each particular contribution within this edited collection, and familiarizes readers with the concept of crimmigration. It outlines, broadly, how criminal and immigration law, policy and practice are merging, or intersecting, and addresses the different subjects of crimmigration. This is informed by a review of the leading literature in the United States and in Europe; literature that maps the contours of crimmigration, explains the forces propelling the law’s convergence in those particular locales, and reveals the consequences of crimmigration. This literature survey supplies an important comparative context for the collection as several contributors contemplate the utility of the idea of ‘crimmigration’, its transplantation into Australia, and the virtues of crimmigration law exposition and theory relative to other theoretical accounts about immigration control and border policing.
The submission addresses twhether it is desirable to legislate for a Human Rights Act in Queensla... more The submission addresses twhether it is desirable to legislate for a Human Rights Act in Queensland. The submission is, largely, empirically based, informed by official reports and reviews into the operation of HR Acts, institutional reports, and academic commentary on the desirability, operation and effectiveness of statutory bills of rights in the ACT, Victoria and United Kingdom. The submission addresses: the objectives of a HR Act, and the scope of the rights to be protected; and key operative provisions. This submission will show that there is considerable capacity for the Queensland system of government to evolve and better accommodate human rights in law-making and public administration, while retaining the foundations of representative government inherited from Westminster
This document is a response to the ALRC's request for submissions on future law reform priort... more This document is a response to the ALRC's request for submissions on future law reform priorties in Australia. It identifies particular areas of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) that need improvement and development because of stakeholders' concerns about the complexity of existing legal provisions adn procedures, defects in the law that are referable to particular cases and case-studies, and barriers impeding access to justice.
Exclusion and expulsion from Australia has, largely, been achieved via the application of s 501 M... more Exclusion and expulsion from Australia has, largely, been achieved via the application of s 501 Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (the ‘character test’) and, more recently, via application of s 116 (‘general visa cancellation’). Strengthened visa cancellation provisions and associated policies, coupled with stringent enforcement over felonious non-citizens and restricted forms of legal redress, are distinctive features of modern crimmigration law and practice in Australia. Courts cannot conduct an assessment of whether administrative decision-making outcomes are substantively just, overly harsh, or disproportionate to the risks posed by the non-citizen to community safety. Nor can the Courts assess the conformity of cancellation decisions with human rights norms and enforce those rights against the State. In light of this state of affairs we argue that there is a pressing need to revisit how human rights principles are enshrined in law and how the human rights implications of character decisions are properly accounted for and weighed in the decision-making balance. We also ventilate our concerns about the nature and scope of visa cancellation powers and their contemporary administration by the executive branch of government. We advocate for an overhaul of the character test and general visa cancellation powers, and caution against the trend towards personal ministerial administration of statutory powers.
Exclusion and expulsion from Australia has, largely, been achieved via the application of s 501 M... more Exclusion and expulsion from Australia has, largely, been achieved via the application of s 501 Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (the ‘character test’) and, more recently, via application of s 116 (‘general visa cancellation’). Strengthened visa cancellation provisions and associated policies, coupled with stringent enforcement over felonious non-citizens and restricted forms of legal redress, are distinctive features of modern crimmigration law and practice in Australia. Courts cannot conduct an assessment of whether administrative decision-making outcomes are substantively just, overly harsh, or disproportionate to the risks posed by the non-citizen to community safety. Nor can the Courts assess the conformity of cancellation decisions with human rights norms and enforce those rights against the State. In light of this state of affairs we argue that there is a pressing need to revisit how human rights principles are enshrined in law and how the human rights implications of character decis...
Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, 2020
This chapter introduces the book’s structure and each particular contribution within this edited ... more This chapter introduces the book’s structure and each particular contribution within this edited collection, and familiarizes readers with the concept of crimmigration. It outlines, broadly, how criminal and immigration law, policy and practice are merging, or intersecting, and addresses the different subjects of crimmigration. This is informed by a review of the leading literature in the United States and in Europe; literature that maps the contours of crimmigration, explains the forces propelling the law’s convergence in those particular locales, and reveals the consequences of crimmigration. This literature survey supplies an important comparative context for the collection as several contributors contemplate the utility of the idea of ‘crimmigration’, its transplantation into Australia, and the virtues of crimmigration law exposition and theory relative to other theoretical accounts about immigration control and border policing.
The submission addresses twhether it is desirable to legislate for a Human Rights Act in Queensla... more The submission addresses twhether it is desirable to legislate for a Human Rights Act in Queensland. The submission is, largely, empirically based, informed by official reports and reviews into the operation of HR Acts, institutional reports, and academic commentary on the desirability, operation and effectiveness of statutory bills of rights in the ACT, Victoria and United Kingdom. The submission addresses: the objectives of a HR Act, and the scope of the rights to be protected; and key operative provisions. This submission will show that there is considerable capacity for the Queensland system of government to evolve and better accommodate human rights in law-making and public administration, while retaining the foundations of representative government inherited from Westminster
The Commonwealth's 'needs-based' approach to welfare reform: first, by analyzing the ... more The Commonwealth's 'needs-based' approach to welfare reform: first, by analyzing the progressive application and justification for income management, and the new legal framework for administering social welfare with reference to Australia's international law obligations; and, secondly, by critically examining Australia's legal obligations relating to the proscription of racial discrimination and whether income management is now consistent with those obligations is discussed. Serious doubts exist as to whether the 2010 amendments are consistent with non-discrimination principles.
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