Australia's asylum-seeker practices are ''not good public policy'', Department of Immigration and Citizenship secretary Andrew Metcalfe said yesterday.
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Mr Metcalfe worked closely with the government on its failed Malaysia Solution, which the High Court overturned last year, ruling it unlawful.
But Mr Metcalfe yesterday told a national security lecture hosted by the University of Canberra that Australia's inability to continue offshore processing of asylum seekers and refugees was putting lives at risk.
''It is with profound regret that I read every time of another tragedy, of people drowned, because frankly there should be better ways to manage our borders than to have people spend 10 or 15 thousand dollars paying a people smuggler,'' he said. ''Certainly we believe that any system of entry to the country where there is a substantial risk of death is not a good public policy approach to take and therefore we believe we should try to find pathways to people who do have a protection need but in a way that preserves the safety of human life.'' The High Court ruled on August 31 that because Malaysia was not a signatory to the United Nations convention on refugees, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen's declaration it was an appropriate place to send asylum seekers ''was made without power and is invalid''.
Mr Metcalfe said yesterday that after the ruling, the department had embarked on an exhaustive search for a country in the region that would meet those needs.
''Our analysis, backed up by legal analysis, is that there are very, very few countries in this region that would be able to pass the test set by the High Court,'' he said.
''New Zealand was one country but there are very few other countries that would be able to pass that test. And we believe that for practical reasons, even Nauru would not be able to put itself in that situation without some very significant changes occurring.'' Asked whether this search had included New Caledonia, Mr Metcalfe grew coy. ''I'll be very careful what I say because there may be people here who will report what I'm saying but I can say that we have looked at every possible opportunity but I won't rule in or rule out particular places.''
New Caledonia - which remains as a French territory - is not a signatory to the refugee convention. Nauru signed the convention last year.
But Mr Metcalfe insisted that Malaysia remained the best option for processing the claims of asylum seekers bound for Australia.
''We actually believe that the Malaysia arrangement represented a very effective way of removing incentives for people to travel in an irregular manner, it did provide people with the pathway to … the [Refugee] Convention and importantly it removes the incentive from people smugglers.''