Australian Senate passes limited 'protection' visas

The amendments to the Migration Act, which include the return of controversial "temporary protection visas" were passed by Australia's upper house on Friday morning.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's conservative Liberal Party had wanted to bring back the temporary visas to allow it to deal with a backlog of immigration cases, but faced opposition from the country's Labor Party.

Abbott's Liberals secured the Senate vote by 34 votes to 32, after an intense debate that went on into the early hours.

"This is a win for Australia," Prime Minister Tony Abbott said, who stressed that the bill would complement a policy of seeking to deter arrivals from sea.

"These people, if they're found to be refugees, will receive temporary protection visas, which means that no one coming to Australia illegally by boat can expect to get permanent residency," said Abbott. The system was to be debated, and possibly put into law by the Australian lower house, later on Friday.

Labor claimed the system was cruel, leaving asylum seekers - who could be sent home after their three-year visas expired - in limbo.

Temporary visas were introduced under former premier John Howard but were dropped by Kevin Rudd, one of his successors. The temporary visas were criticized by rights groups and the UN for failing to meet Australia's obligations as a signatory to the UN Refugee Conventions.

'Only a sociopath'

However, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison managed to secure a deal in the early hours of Friday, with the help of independents, including the Palmer United Party of mining magnate Clive Palmer, who called the system the best option available.

Abbott's administration was accused of using children as pawns in a political deal. The government had said that, as part of the bill, it would release some 100 children from a refugee detention center on the Australian territory of Christmas Island.

Australian Greens' senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Morrison had used the plight of asylum seeker children to pile pressure onto senators.

"Using children as hostages is never OK and only a sociopath would do it," she told parliament.

rc/ksb (AFP, dpa, AP)