Shadow Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has repeated his call for police to be automatically notified when asylum seekers are released from detention to live in the community.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Despite crime figures showing that asylum seekers are considerably less likely to be accused, or convicted, of crimes, Mr Morrison said police needed more information about where asylum seekers were living.
Authorities are also aware – through Centrelink – where asylum seekers live while they await the processing of their claims.
When Mr Morrison originally flagged the policy on February 27 – he re-released it on Sunday – it was met with howls of outrage from his politicial opponents in Labor and the Greens. Mr Morrison had also called for asylum seekers to follow "behaviour protocols" in the wake of the arrest of a 21-year-old Sri Lankan asylum seeker, charged with indecently assaulting a student at Macquarie University.
The man charged was an asylum seeker on a bridging visa, but did not live at the Macquarie University accommodation.
At the time, Liberal backbencher Russell Broadbent said: “This kind of vilification of asylum seekers is unacceptable in this nation," while then-education minister, Peter Garrett, and Labor senator, Doug Cameron, also accused Mr Morrison of "dog whistling".
On Sunday, however, only the Greens lashed out against the proposal, with immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young calling it an "unabashed and unashamed dog-whistle".
“It has been shown repeatedly that refugees are no more likely to commit crimes than the general population, but that hasn't stopped the Opposition from whipping up fear at every opportunity," she said.
“It is reckless to incite tensions in the community in this way. There are already controls and protections put in place, known as Australian law, which apply to everyone in Australia equally."
