Joint NGO Letter Seeks Minister for Home Affairs’ Support of Australian Migration Amendment Bill
9th September 2024: 18 civil society organisations and individuals wrote to the newly appointed Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Tony Burke, seeking the Labor government’s support of The Migration Amendment Bill in the House of Representatives.
Click HERE to view the full letter to the Hon Tony Burke and list of signatories
Click HERE to view the associated media release by Be Slavery Free and related links
Excerpts from the letter:
We wish to draw to your attention the Migration Amendment (Overseas Organ Transplant Disclosure and Other Measures) Bill 2024 (the Bill). The Bill was passed in the Senate on 21 August 2024. We write to request that the Government take the lead in introducing and supporting this Bill in the House of Representatives.
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The Bill requires that a person entering Australia answer the question on their incoming passenger card, Have you received an organ transplant outside Australia within the last5 years? If the answer is yes, subsequent questions regarding the place and medical facility must be answered.
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Why is this Bill Important?
- First, it seeks to implement recommendations made in the 2018 Compassion, not Commerce report of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade following a Federal inquiry into human organ trafficking and organ transplant tourism.
- Second, without knowing the extent of Australian involvement in organ trafficking, we know little about this complex problem. In very simple terms, you cannot fix what you cannot see. We know that organ trafficking occurs in neighbouring countries, yet Australia does not collect any data about how many people enter Australia having had an organ transplant overseas. In addition to the potential human rights violations, transplantation from overseas places an extra burden on the Australian healthcare system due to higher rates of complications from such surgery.
- Third, passing this Bill would bring Australia in line with international efforts in the United Kingdom, United States of America and Canada.
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We ask that you reconsider the Government’s position on this Bill and offer the leadership required to enact this legislation. We further call on the Government to implement additional measures to comprehensively address organ trafficking and organ transplant tourism as a matter of urgency, including investment in public awareness, education and training, systematic data collection and research and the strengthening of Australia’s existing legal framework.
