Law Council President, Pauline Wright, said the jump from $690 to $3,330 will pose a severe threat to access to justice for migrants.
“The Law Council considers it unconscionable for the government to be imposing such an exorbitant rise in the cost of migration applications to the Court,” Ms Wright said.
“This fee rise is objectionable particularly when many refugee applicants and temporary visa holders receive no government support and, in some cases,have no access to work rights during the appeal process.”
“Increasing fees is not the way to deal with the backlog of cases before the Court."
“Instead these increases will likely result in a significant upsurge in unrepresented applicants as people will be even less able to afford access to legal assistance after paying the application fee,” Ms Wright said.