Legal experts say the battle to ensure Australia maintains a just refugee program is not over, despite Prime Minister John Howard's decision to drop the Government's controversial Migration Bill this week.
Michael Kah, who helped free Iranian Christian Amir Mesrinejad from detention, agrees the fight has not gone out of the Federal Government.
"I think that the Government will continue to have a fairly hard line when comes to border protection legislation," he says.
The proposed Migration Bill would have seen all unauthorised boat arrivals facing the uncertainty of mandatory detention on the Pacific island of Nauru.
The Prime Minister has not rule out revisiting some aspects of this proposal at a later date.
"Well it is plain that the parliamentary process will not deliver this particular change," Mr Howard has told a press conference in Canberra. "I will look at whether there are any further measures. But plainly this particular approach was not going to muster Parliament’s support."
For the time being Mr Kah is "relieved' the legislation has failed.
He explains that genuine refugees like Amir would have been much worse off under this proposed Bill.
"The whole policy basis for it, was an attempt to prohibit potential refugees from accessing the Australian judicial system. By having all processing off shore it obviously limits the right of a refugee for legal access. It doesn’t allow them due process in the event of a refusal of their application," he says.
Australian Christian Lobby welcome withdrawal
The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has welcomed Mr Howard's decision to withdraw the Migration Bill labeling it "flawed'.
Chief amongst the ACL's concerns was that the bill could have left genuine refugees languishing in detention on Nauru.
"ACL is not opposed in principle to offshore processing. It has clearly deterred people smugglers and so saved hundreds of lives that would otherwise have been lost to the industry that putting people in leaky boats had become," says Jim Wallace from the ACL.
"But this Amendment puts Australia in the position that it will not necessarily accept even proven genuine refugees. We cannot see this as befitting a Christian country."
Christian politicians play key role
The ACL also thanked a number of Christian politicians, who played crucial roles in opposing the bill.
"Christians should be pleased that Christian values of compassion, justice and mercy have prevailed and be grateful to people such as Senator Barnaby Joyce and Senator Steve Fielding whose refusal to support the Bill through the Senate was based on such values," ACL spokesperson Beth Micklethwaite told Sydneyanglicans.net
With a number of Liberal Senators also likely to have abstained, Senator Steve Fielding of the AOG-linked Family First Party virtually killed off the bill when he announced he would oppose it.
Senator Fielding has expressed concerns that Australia would have been rejecting genuine refugees who landed on our shores as a first port of call.
He says Australia expects many Third World countries to take refugees fleeing war and persecution in their near neighbours.
"If Australia expects other countries to play by the rules we have to do the same ourselves and this legislation wasn’t playing by the rules," Senator Fielding says. "If every country followed Australia’s lead " made up their own rules and booted people off to foreign lands " there would be absolute chaos."
Earlier Bruce Baird, the MP for Cook who attends St Luke's Anglican Church, Miranda, was one of four lower house Coalition MPs to make clear their discomfort with the proposed law.
Mr Baird abstained from the final vote in the lower house.
Hope for refugees
Looking ahead, refugee lawyer Michael Kah is hopeful that Australians are changing their attitude to mandatory detention.
"I think the Australian community regrets the mandatory detention policies - the locking up of families and children. As the stories have come out regarding the long term effects on the detainees, it’s not something the Australian community is tolerating any more," he says.
"There is a high level of information as to what is happening in those detention centres," he adds. "The attitude would be that this is not the Australian way."
