THE CHARACTER BILL AND MIGRATION RIGHTS

For a decade and a half the executive and the judiciary in Australia have been engaged in a low-key struggle over who should have the final word on questions of immigration control. The Character Bill represents the latest move in this struggle. Its context and content illustrate the different values animating these two arms of government. The Bill aims to protect the community from non-citizens who may be of bad character, particularly people who may be criminals, when they apply for visas. It does this by placing the onus of proof on such people to establish that they are of good character, by limiting their capacity to seek review of character-based decisions to deny them visas (or to cancel visas already issued), and by restricting their access to information about them proved by law-enforcement agencies. In some cases non-citizens who are refused or deprived of visas on character grounds will not have access to natural justice. The Bill throws the conflict between the interests of the Australian community and the interests of some non-citizens into stark relief. Many foreigners apply for visas to visit Australia or to live here. A small proportion are refused because they are deemed to be of bad character and a danger to the Australia