Border Protection Bill 2001
Late on the night of 29 August, the Prime Minister introduced an emergency bill entitled the "Border Protection Bill 2001". This Bill would have provided the government with the power to remove any ship in the territorial waters of Australia (s 4), to use reasonable force to do so (s 5), to provide that any person who was on the ship may be forcibly returned to the ship (s 6), that no civil or criminal proceedings may be taken against the Australian government or any of its officers for removing the ship or returning people to it (s 7), that no court proceedings are available to prevent the ship from being removed and from people being returned to it (s 8), and that no asylum applications may be made by people on board the ship (s 9). The bill was intended to enter into force at 9h Australian Eastern Standard Time, 29 August 2001 (s 2); thus making the bill retroactive. It also attempted to ensure actions taken prior to legislation passage to remove ship and return people to it would have been treated as legal.
The Opposition Labor Party announced they would not support the bill; nor would the Greens, Democrats or independent Senator Brian Harradine. The bill quickly passed the lower House of Representatives, but was rejected by the Senate later that same sitting day. The Government attacked the Opposition for refusing to pass the legislation, but indicated it would not reintroduce it at that stage.
The government subsequently acted to excise Christmas Island and a large number of other coastal islands from Australia's migration zone, effectively meaning that any asylum seekers who did not reach the Australian mainland would not be able to apply for refugee status. The Labor party supported the excision of some islands that it viewed as acting as a "magnet for people smugglers", but not others, such as Melville Island, which it viewed as being too close to the mainland to justify excision. The other parties opposed excision of any islands.
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