Head of immigration challenges government fee

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Created on Monday, 22 April 2013 13:44

Written by Editorial staff

People who have been refused immigration visas are unfairly victimised by a government policy that requires them to pay a federal court fee.

This is according to Martin Bowles, secretary of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), who said the charge had "harsh" and "unintended" consequences on some individuals.

Mr Bowles, who took up his leadership role at the department in January this year, is challenging a piece of legislation that forces immigration detainees to pay $100 to make an application to the courts.

While rare for one of the government's departments to speak out against policy publicly, the DIAC secretary claimed the rationale behind the legislation is not working.

In a letter to a Senate inquiry investigating the matter, Mr Bowles stated: "Prior to the commencement of the fee changes on November 1 2010 clients in immigration detention, criminal custody or who were experiencing financial hardship could obtain exemptions from application fees in the commonwealth courts.

"Such exemptions are, however, no longer available."

This means people who have had their immigration visas refused or cancelled for various reasons could face a number of practical difficulties when trying to make payments to court registries.

"These include lack of identity documents, a more or less total absence of credit cards or onshore bank accounts and, in most cases, negligible cash resources," he commented.

According to The Australian, the attorney-general's department has defended the additional charges as "necessary", but Mr Bowles questioned whether the initial intention of charging a fee was working. 

He noted that one of the motives for introducing the policy was to reduce timewasting and improve the legitimacy of applications.

"However, successive governments have believed that many litigants in the migration context seek to prolong their stay in Australia through litigation," Mr Bowles said.

"The payment of the fee would be unlikely to deter that conduct."