We welcome the release of the report‘Immigration detention in Australia: A new beginning’ by the Joint Standing Committee on Migration.

The report represents an important step in reforming Australia’s mandatory detention regime.

The 18 recommendations in the report include a number of reforms such as; creating greater transparency in assessing health and character; ensuring recent reforms are enshrined in legislation; removing immigration debts for people previously detained; and introducing maximum time limits and judicial review.

However, we are concerned with the lack of judicial oversight and arbitrary detention for 12 months without the ability to appeal to the court to challenge the reasons for detention.

The recommendations of the committee do not go far enough to honour our international treaty obligations.

A lack of an independent mechanism to determine the lawfulness of detention is still at odds with Australia’s international obligations and international law concerning arbitrary detention. Article 9(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR) states that ‘anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release.”

Twelve months without the ability to challenge the reasons for detention before an independent court remains a “grossly excessive period” according to the dissenting report. “Department of Immigration and Citizenship officials will still have the power to decide whether it is necessary and reasonable to detain people for six months without any external scrutiny of their decision whatsoever.”

We believe that detainees should have the immediate right of appeal to an independent court to determine if their detention is justified.