MORE than $260 million will be shaved off the federal Budget with the abolition of Labor’s family reunion program for asylum seekers who arrive by boat, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
But the Abbott government will also restore the special humanitarian refugee intake which had collapsed under the Labor government and for the first time guarantee 4000 dedicated places a year for the most vulnerable refugees seeking to flee persecution.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed the government will set a minimum quota of 20,000 special humanitarian places for this year and over the forward estimates of the Budget to be handed down next week.
But implicit in this will be the locking out of asylum seekers who arrive by boat, who will still only have access to temporary protection visas.
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Scott Morrison, Federal Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Source: News Corp Australia
MORE than $260 million will be shaved off the federal Budget with the abolition of Labor’s family reunion program for asylum seekers who arrive by boat, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
But the Abbott government will also restore the special humanitarian refugee intake which had collapsed under the Labor government and for the first time guarantee 4000 dedicated places a year for the most vulnerable refugees seeking to flee persecution.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed the government will set a minimum quota of 20,000 special humanitarian places for this year and over the forward estimates of the Budget to be handed down next week.
But implicit in this will be the locking out of asylum seekers who arrive by boat, who will still only have access to temporary protection visas.
Under the Howard government, the average number of people granted visas under this special program for refugees regarded as most at risk, taken from the broader annual refugee and humanitarian intake of 13,750, was about 4500.
However, under the Gillard and Rudd governments, the number of people granted visas under the special humanitarian category had fallen to as low as 500 because of the large volume of boat arrivals soaking up most of the 13,750.
Mr Morrison told The Daily Telegraph that for the first time a dedicated and guaranteed number of visas of 4000 a year, taken from the 13,750, would now be set aside for people who qualified under the special humanitarian program.
Many of these people have family ties to people already in Australia and in the past have typically included people fleeing Iraq or Coptic Christians suffering persecution and violence in Egypt.
It was made possible because of the success in stopping boat arrivals.
Mr Morrison said he envisaged many places may go to people fleeing the Syrian civil war, now living in refugee border camps in countries such as Lebanon or Jordan.
He said this new measure would be budget neutral and would not add any extra burden on the taxpayer as they would not increase the general humanitarian intake of 13,750.
But he also confirmed that a major saving in the Budget would be gained from the scrapping of Labor’s policy of granting 4000 places for boat arrivals under a separate family stream category. This would save $260 million over the forward estimates.
“Stopping the boats has enabled the Coalition government to deliver 20,000 extra places within the Special Humanitarian Program (SHP) of Australia’s refugee intake that will assist those most in need of protection,” Mr Morrison said. “These 20,000 additional Special Humanitarian Program places are the humanitarian dividend of the government’s successful border protection policies.”
