Manning Clark House 2007 Weekend of Ideas

Agreed Statement of Principles

1. Participants at the 2007 Manning Clark House Weekend of Ideas affirm the need for a just and compassionate refugee policy for Australia. We endorse the Refugee Council of Australia’s 2007 recommendations built on Australia’s international obligations and traditional Australian values of a fair go, decency, and generosity to those in need:

(a) Giving to those found to be refugees permanent visas, and full access to government migrant and refugee settlement services;
(b) Abolishing the policy of mandatory, indefinite, non-reviewable detention;
(c) Reversing the policy of excised territories, and ensuring all asylum seekers arriving in any Australian territory have the right to seek asylum in Australia and be given full access to Australia’s refugee determination process;
(d) Processing asylum seekers on the Australian mainland, where they will have full access to legal representation and other support.

2. “The Pacific Solution”, whereby asylum seekers may be processed in isolation, beyond the reach of the rule of law, legal help and independent review process, is unfair and unsustainable. It subverts Australia’s signed commitments to International Conventions: the Refugee Convention, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It undermines the 2005 reforms accepted by the Australian Government. It threatens a return to the hostile and punitive attitudes and practices of the past.

3. While we welcome the Australian Government’s decision not to detain children, we must continue to pay particular attention to the rights and needs of refugee children who are the responsibility of our government, whether onshore or offshore.

4. We call on the major political parties progressively to bring their policies into line with these recommendations. We ask our fellow Australians to join us in working individually and collectively for these changes to Australia’s refugee regime.

5. We pay tribute to the Australian volunteers who are working selflessly to help refugees settle in Australia, and to the refugees who are enriching us by their presence.