A proposed refugee exchange arrangement between Australia and Malaysia has raised concerns in Australian legal circles and has also been rejected by the country’s parliament.
The Canberra government’s first announcement in early May suggested that 800 people who had recently arrived from Malaysia by boat would be deported back to Malaysia, in return for which Australia would accept 4,000 refugees from Malaysia over a four-year period.
Negotiations between the two governments were still continuing in June. Australia was seeking an explicit undertaking from Malaysia not to return any asylum seekers to their country of origin, so as to honour Australia’s commitments under the UN Convention on Refugees.
In mid-June, both houses of the federal parliament in Canberra passed a motion condemning the proposal. However, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said it was the right of the executive to continue with the plan, which provided a good opportunity to discourage people-smugglers and to prevent asylum-seekers risking their lives on dangerous sea voyages.
