By Meaghan Shaw
June 18, 2005
The Age

The changes to the Migration Act were broadly welcomed yesterday as a significant step towards creating a more humane immigration policy. But some said the changes merely tinker at the edges.

David Manne, co-ordinator of the Refugee Immigration Legal Centre, told the audience at a refugee policy at at Melbourne University that the announcement was an important step in humanising Australia's asylum seeker laws. Petro Georgiou, the rebel Liberal MP who drove the change, was to speak, but was detained in Canberra.

Human Rights Commissioner Sev Ozdowski said it was a "win to Australian civil society and to common sense" that would go a long way towards satisfying Australia's human rights obligations.

The Refugee Council of Australia president David Bitel congratulated the Liberal MPs, on ". . . the end of what has been one of the major blots on Australia's human rights record". He expected most temporary protection visa holders would gain permanency.

Amnesty International Australia said, on face value, it was a "milestone for achieving a more humane refugee policy". But Amnesty had concerns about whether detained children and families would still be subject to restrictions such as surveillance and monitoring.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said the changes were "next to useless".