Refugee advocates describe cuts, which will affect up to 100 people, as ‘calculated cruelty to vulnerable people’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The federal government is taking away income support and housing from up to 100 refugees and asylum seekers from Manus Island and Nauru who are currently in Australia for medical treatment.

The group, which includes families, elderly people and pregnant women, are among the more than 400 known as the “Let Them Stay” group, and the more than 260 that were party to a high court challenge in 2016.

They now face being forced into destitution, support services have said.

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According to a number of refugee support sources, up to 100 people have been given appointments with the Department of Home Affairs, beginning on Thursday morning, in order to sign on to a “final departure bridging visa E” (BVE).

The BVEs have a six-month validity and can include the right to work, but will see the financial assistance and accommodation support for the people – who are in community detention – withdrawn.

Refugee sources said the group was largely made up of family groups and elderly people. Many have serious physical and mental ill health. Support services fear they will be unable to work, and that others who are elderly or have dependents will be unable to find work.

The group includes more than 60 people from families with children under 18. They will be given six weeks to find new accommodation and work before they are cut off from income support – of about $200 a fortnight – while others will have three weeks to find new accommodation and will be cut off from income support immediately.

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“There’s no justification for cutting off a safety net for people with highly complex needs – young children, people over the age of 60,” said Jana Favero, director of advocacy and campaigns at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

“This is a concerning trend from the Turnbull government that is removing all support and safety nets from people seeking asylum.

“It’s more calculated cruelty to vulnerable people, who are already placed in an uncertain situation, being forced into destitution.”

The Human Rights Law Centre, which is acting on behalf of the group, said families – some of whom had babies born in Australia and children in their third year of schooling – were frightened.

“These families have endured years of suffering and abuse in offshore detention and then more years of daily uncertainty in the community,” said the centre’s director of legal advocacy, Daniel Webb.

“They just want to get on with rebuilding their lives. But instead our government is ripping the roof from over their heads and forcing them into destitution.”

A group of around 90 single people were transferred to BVEs in September last year, prompting rebuke and pleas from an alliance of refugee organisation including the Asylum Seekers Centre, House of Welcome, Jesuit Refugee Service and the St Vincent de Paul Society New South Wales.

In February the individuals were called in for further appointments and their visas were rolled over for another six months.



Community organisations said they expect to have to step in to support those who are cut off from financial assistance and who are unable to find work in time, or at all.

“Decisions like this one by our federal government are calculated to create trauma, hardship and homelessness,” said the chief executive of the Asylum Seekers Centre NSW, Frances Rush.

“The Asylum Seekers Centre will be again joining with our partner agencies to ensure that as much practical support is provided as humanly possible. We believe that Australians want to see people treated with decency and fairness.”

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This round of cuts to asylum seeker support is separate to the thousands of people among the “legacy caseload” from whom the Department of Home Affairs will withdraw status resolution support services (SSRS) from June this year.

The SSRS payment is equivalent to about 89% of Newstart while they wait for the government to decide on their protection claim, and provides counselling, caseworker support and assistance with finding housing.

Some people had been in Australia for more than five years, waiting for a resolution. Some arrived in Australia as children, had gone through school and were studying on university scholarships that would also be withdrawn under the federal government’s plan.

Under current Australian law, Thursday’s group can’t apply for protection in Australia because they arrived by boat and were sent to offshore detention centres.

The Department of Home Affairs has been contacted with questions.