On 17 April 2024 the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights tabled its Report 3 of 2024, which provides an analysis of the human rights compatibility of recently introduced bills and legislative instruments.

Bills (Report 3 of 2024)

Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Declared Areas) Bill 2024

• The committee considers that it has not been demonstrated that the extension of the declared area offence provisions for a further three years is compatible with a range of human rights.

Migration Amendment (Removal and Other Measures) Bill 2024

• The committee considers that a mandatory minimum penalty for non-compliance with a requirement for non-citizens to cooperate with efforts to remove them from Australia in accordance with enforceable removal pathway directions is incompatible with the rights to liberty and to a fair trial. Depending on what a removal pathway direction required a person to do (or not do), the committee considers there is some risk that a direction may breach numerous other rights and, in some individual cases, may engage the absolute prohibition against non-refoulement.
• The committee considers that empowering the minister to declare a country to be a ‘removal concern country’ (and so imposing a blanket ban on visa applications from relevant nationals, subject to some exceptions) may engage and limit the right to protection of the family and the right to equality and non-discrimination, and that it is not clear that there are sufficient safeguards to constitute a proportionate limitation on these rights.
• The committee considers that empowering the minister to reverse a protection finding in relation to a lawful non-citizen who is on a removal pathway, as well as any other visa classes prescribed, would engage and limit the right to health in relation to affected persons. If this power was used in relation to people who have lived in Australia for an extended period, there would be an increased risk that it would impermissibly limit multiple rights. The committee also considers that if a reversal of a protection finding accurately and appropriately determined that the person was no longer at risk of persecution, it may be compatible with Australia’s non-refoulement obligations, however much will depend on the quality of the decision.
• The committee recommends amendments to the bill to alleviate some of the above concerns and otherwise draws its concerns to the attention of the minister and the Parliament.

Instruments (Report 3 of 2024)

Migration (Critical Technology - Kinds of Technology) Specification (LIN 24/010) 2024 and Migration (Designated Migration Law - Visa Condition 8208) Determination (LIN 24/009) 2024

• The committee considers that allowing for visa cancellations for those in Australia, or requirements for certain visa holders to gain the minister's approval to change their course of study where it relates to a ‘critical technology’, engages and may limit several human rights. The committee considers that the human rights compatibility of the measures will depend on how they operate in practice and recommends that statements of compatibility be prepared for these instruments.