Federal opposition flagging support for immigration laws less than a day after delaying vote

The Coalition and the Greens have pushed Labor’s “urgent” migration bill into a weeks-long inquiry. (ABC News: David Sciasci)

The federal opposition is indicating it will support extraordinary immigration laws the government rushed into parliament, less than a day after delaying a vote on the proposal.

An unlikely alliance emerged in the Senate on Wednesday with the Coalition, Greens and crossbench banding together to refer the bill to a Senate committee, which will not report back to parliament until May 7.

The legislation was first introduced to parliament on Tuesday morning, and the government hoped to have it dealt with before politicians left the capital for a six-week break.

The prime minister has claimed there was sufficient time to consider the bill, describing his government as handling policy in an “orderly way”.

“We were strongly inclined to support this bill, we wanted to see it through, we voted for it in the House of Representatives, and we hoped that the Senate hearing that we had into it would clear up the basic questions that we have,” Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson said on Thursday.

“But when the Department of Home Affairs and when the government wasn’t able to explain to us why this bill was urgent, why it needed to be rushed through in 36 hours, then in good conscience, we could not ram it through the parliament.

“It has to follow the normal processes of the parliament so it can have proper parliamentary scrutiny.”

While acknowledging there is a problem which needs to be addressed, the Coalition is waiting for the final committee report before fully backing the legislation.

The legislation is designed, according to the government, to make it easier to deport people from Australia.

It would make it a criminal offence for someone to refuse to cooperate with officials trying to deport them, punishable by a jail term of one to five years.

The proposal would also give the immigration minister sweeping powers to target countries refusing to accept its citizens deported from Australia, going so far as to allow the minister to refuse visas from any citizens of that country as a response.

Under sustained questioning on Wednesday, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil conceded there was a link between the legislation and a looming High Court challenge – but insisted it was not the only reason the bill needed to be rushed through the Senate.

She did not detail what those other considerations were.

“They should explain as best as they can, given that there’s an upcoming High Court case — and there are some sensitivities about that — but as best as they can, what the connection is between those two things,” Senator Paterson said.

“They have offered us both private briefings as well as answering these questions in public.

“And in neither of those forms have they clearly explained the links between those two things — if there is a link, they should say so.”

The case, brought by an Iranian man known by the pseudonym ASF17, is due to be heard by the High Court next month — although it is unclear how quickly it could be resolved.

While the Coalition’s concession on Thursday opens it up to criticism that it has used parliamentary procedure to inflict political pain on the government, the opportunity to use such tactics was been offered up by Labor trying to ram the legislation through both houses.

Albanese insists his government is ‘orderly’ despite rushed legislation

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took aim at the Coalition’s decision to delay the vote, arguing a day and a half was sufficient to consider the proposal.

“Everyone had time to scrutinise it, there was a full briefing given to the Coalition,” Mr Albanese said.

The opposition described that as a brief 20-minute discussion early on Tuesday morning.

“The Coalition voted for the policy in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, and they voted about the politics of the issue with the Greens party on Wednesday — after not just a full briefing but receiving what they requested, which was an estimates hearing on Tuesday evening,” Mr Albanese said.

“This is filling, closing a loophole which is in the legislation, one that was there under the former government.”

Home affairs officials told the Senate on Tuesday night they had discovered the issue late last month.

The prime minister said those who would be affected by the powers were not refugees, and had no right to remain in Australia.

“My government is orderly, my government rolls out policies in an orderly way.”

Government urged against ‘quick fixes’

The head of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has urged Australia not to fall for the temptation of “quick fixes” when responding to political pressure around migration policy.

IOM’s director general Amy Pope addressed the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday, using her speech to encourage a “reframe” of how the country discusses migration.

“When we are focusing only on fear or on protectionism we are neglecting the bigger picture on the modern, complex reasons why people move,” Ms Pope said in her speech.

“At this moment in time, and right here in Australia, we are seeing play out a significant crossroads on the narrative of human movement. We stand at a pivotal moment with a potential to redefine the global approach to migration.

“I believe we have fallen into a terrible trap, where we are actually killing a constructive and sensible debate about migration because of the negative discourse, instead of understanding and leveraging the political and economic benefits of migration.”

Ms Pope said migration was part of the solution to skills gaps Australia is facing, and warned they’ll continue to get worse if Australia doesn’t invest more in creating better migration pathways.

“Time and time again, there is a period of tension, there is a period of resistance, but ultimately there is a period of integration and success and prosperity that delivers better outcomes for more people,” she said.