Policies & Papers

Refugee and Migrant Sunday

Archive

AUSTRALIAN  CATHOLIC  MIGRANTAND  REFUGEE  OFFICE

* BISHOPS' COMMITTEE for MIGRANTS and REFUGEES *

2nd  Floor, Favier House, 1 Ballumbir St., Braddon, Act 2612

GPO Box 2720 TEL: (02) 6201 9848

Canberra ACT 2601 FAX: (02) 6247 7466

AUSTRALIA

19 February 2003

The Secretary

Joint Standing Committee on Migration

Parliament House

Canberra ACT 2600

Dear Sir/Madam

Review of Migration Regulation 4.31 B

Thank you for the chance to make comment on the review of Migration Regulation 4.31 B, which supports the concerns made in the submission of 10 March 2001[1], notably:

"We have previously stated opposition to the principle of the $1000 fee for cases rejected by the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT).  We maintain that people, who believe that they have a real claim for Refugee Status, should not be deterred, discouraged, or psychologically impeded from making an appeal to the RRT because of fear of incurring the fee.

We believe that, by its nature, the current $1000 RRT post decision fee for unsuccessful applications is out of character with the purposes and spirit of the Refugee Convention.  However this Convention is interpreted, it was never intended to confine, but rather to illustrate the treatment asylum seekers and refugees ought to receive".

Asylum Seekers should have the right of appeal to the Courts against adverse decisions by a refugee determining body, including a review tribunal, and should share in common with Australian citizens the right to access the law.

ACMRO opposes on principle the imposition of the $1000 fee for cases rejected by the RRT as it places a fine on the process and therefore proposes that there be no RRT decision fee for unsuccessful applications.

Yours sincerely

Felicity Donnelly

Acting Director