Federal Election Candidate Survey
In the lead-up to this election, ASRC asked refugees and people seeking asylum what mattered most to them. Their answers shaped our key election priorities — from permanent visas and community support to ending offshore detention.
We then asked candidates what their commitments are to these key policies. Their responses shaped our voter scorecards, helping you see which parties support fair and compassionate policies.
This election, we’re calling on all candidates to commit to four key policy areas:
- Fairness: permanent protection for refugees stuck on temporary visas [download policy paper]
- Freedom: freedom from detention and a real solution for resettlement [download policy paper]
- Safety net: a universal safety net for all refugees and people seeking asylum in Australia [download policy paper]
- Safe passage: a generous refugee program for those fleeing war and violence [download policy paper]
ASRC is an independent and non-partisan organisation. We do not endorse any party or candidate.
For those wanting more detail, we’ve also included each party’s full responses, explaining their scores. Explore the breakdown below to see how they compare.
Do you/your party support ending offshore processing and processing all people seeking asylum in Australia?
Australian Labor Party
No further information provided.
Liberal National Coalition
The Coalition’s longstanding policy position is that settlement in Australia will never be an option for people who attempt to travel here illegally by boat.
On 24 September 2021, the Morrison Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Nauru to establish an enduring regional processing capability.
The Coalition Government ended Labor’s border chaos using the three policy pillars of Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB): turn-backs where it is safe to do so; regional processing; and Temporary Protection Visas.
Individuals subject to regional processing arrangements have multiple opportunities for resettlement through arrangements with the United States and New Zealand, or can seek other opportunities such as private sponsorship with Canada. They may also elect to voluntarily return home or go to another country in which they have a right of entry.
Under the Coalition, OSB successfully halted the people smugglers, stopped the deaths at sea and removed all the children from detention, and a Dutton Coalition Government would restore OSB to the settings maintained by the former CoalitionGovernment.
Australian Greens
Offshore detention is an enormously cruel policy designed to deter and punish people who are seeking a better life in Australia. Nauru and Manus Island have long been places of misery and death, which is a stain on Australia’s national conscience. Prolonged detention - both on and offshore - has a profound effect on a person’s mental health that can lead to self-harm and suicide. Australia should never have started this practice.
The Greens will end offshore detention, bringing all persons still in Papua New Guinea or Nauru to Australia and into the community, with the option of permanent settlement.
Do you/your party support overturning laws enabling Australia to send refugees and people seeking asylum to their country of origin, even in circumstances where they risk persecution, violence, or death?
Australian Labor Party
The Albanese Government is committed to upholding its non-refoulement obligations under the Refugee Convention 1951 and other international human rights treaties to which Australia is a party.
Consistently with international legal obligations, Australia does not return individuals to countries where they face persecution or a real risk of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary deprivation of life or the death penalty.
https://www.pmc.gov.au/resources/ninth-periodic-report-to-cedaw/question-22
Liberal National Coalition
The Coalition’s longstanding policy position is that settlement in Australia will never be an option for people who attempt to travel here illegally by boat.
Illegal maritime arrivals and non-citizens with no legal right to remain in Australia should be returned to their country of origin or resettled in a third country in a way that is consistent with Australia’s non-refoulement obligations.
Individuals subject to regional processing arrangements have multiple opportunities for resettlement through arrangements with the United States and New Zealand, or can seek other opportunities such as private sponsorship with Canada. They may also elect to voluntarily return home or go to another country in which they have a right of entry.
Australian Greens
The Greens will repeal Labor’s travel ban, deportation and phone bans laws to restore essential rights to migrants and people seeking asylum and faith in multicultural Australia.
Do you/your party support urgently evacuating all people transferred to Nauru and PNG to Australia while prioritising their permanent resettlement?
Australian Labor Party
No further information provided.
Liberal National Coalition
The Coalition’s longstanding policy position is that settlement in Australia will never be an option for people who attempt to travel here illegally by boat.
The Coalition supports the highly successful Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB) policy introduced by the former Coalition Government. The three core pillars of OSB are Temporary Protection Visas, Regional Processing, and turnbacks where it is safe to do so.
Individuals subject to regional processing arrangements have multiple opportunities for resettlement through arrangements with the United States and New Zealand, or can seek other opportunities such as private sponsorship with Canada. They may also elect to voluntarily return home or go to another country in which they have a right of entry.
Under the Coalition, OSB successfully halted the people smugglers, stopped the deaths at sea and removed all the children from detention, and a Dutton Coalition Government would restore OSB to the settings maintained by the former Coalition Government.
Australian Greens
Offshore detention is an enormously cruel policy designed to deter and punish people who are seeking a better life in Australia. Nauru and Manus Island have long been places of misery and death, which is a stain on Australia’s national conscience. Prolonged detention - both on and offshore - has a profound effect on a person’s mental health that can lead to self-harm and suicide. Australia should never have started this practice.
The Greens will end offshore detention, bringing all persons still in Papua New Guinea or Nauru to Australia and into the community, with the option of permanent settlement.
Do you/your party support providing people failed by the flawed Fast Track processing system a pathway to permanency as a priority?
Australian Labor Party
In October 2024 the Albanese Labor Government abolished the Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA), ending the last remnant of the Fast Track assessment process. Any individual with an ongoing application for asylum who was before the IAA has been transferred to the Administration Review Tribunal, and individuals will have their matters reviewed in the same way as any other protection visa applicant.
The Albanese Labor Government has focused on providing people who engage Australia’s protection obligations a chance to continue their lives in Australia with certainty and security, and has provided these individuals with a permanent pathway through the Resolution of Status visa.
To date, more than 20,000 Resolution of Status visas have been issued to former Temporary Protection visa/Safe Haven Enterprise visa holders since the pathway opened in February 2023.
The Government is working through the remaining members of the Fast Track cohort with the Department of Home Affairs. Not everyone is in an identical situation – some individuals may have new protection claims relating to their country of origin, while others may have compelling or compassionate circumstances that provide a basis for them to remain in Australia.
See evidence provided by the Department of Home Affairs at the February Senate Estimates for confirmation:
Liberal National Coalition
The Coalition supports the use of Temporary Protection Visas as a core pillar of the highly successful Operation Sovereign Borders Framework, which serves to ensure that people smugglers do not have a marketable product.
Australian Greens
The Greens will abolish the Temporary Protection Visas and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas, with everyone subjected to the Fast Track process provided a pathway to permanency.
Do you/your party support guaranteed mainstream social support (including housing, Centrelink, right to work/study, access to education support and Medicare) for all people seeking asylum for the duration of the application process, regardless of how they arrived?
Australian Labor Party
The Status Resolution Support Service (SRSS) provides support to asylum seekers facing barriers impacting their ability to support themselves or resolve their immigration status. This can include financial assistance, accommodation support, health care support, education support and case management support based on individual needs. Further, most asylum seekers on a Bridging visa E have a right to work and access to Medicare.
Liberal National Coalition
The Coalition believes needs-based support should be provided to individuals who engage Australia's protection obligations. The level of support, work and study rights will depend on the visa type and the specific circumstances of the individual.
The Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS) is designed to provide short-term, tailored support to those who have demonstrated barriers to resolving their immigration status. People waiting to hear about their immigration status may be eligible for support through the Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS) payment.
If the Department of Home Affairs assesses a person to be a refugee, they may be eligible for income support payments, as well as other support such as Crisis Payment, Special Benefit and Rent Assistance.
The Coalition expects non-citizens who are found not to be owed protection and who do not have a legal right to stay in Australia to depart immediately.
Australian Greens
People who come to the community seeking to build a better life should be welcomed and provided the basic rights we all need to thrive. The Greens will introduce a 7-day general limit for people held in immigration detention, and ensure that people seeking asylum living in Australian communities would receive fair levels of support from the government, including income support, housing, access to healthcare, trauma and torture counselling, English language courses and employment assistance. We will also properly fund the Humanitarian Settlement Services Program and increase the SRSS payments to the same rate as JobSeeker.
Do you/your party support increasing the size of the Refugee Humanitarian Program (RHP)?
Australian Labor Party
The Albanese Government has increased the number of people resettled in Australia’s Humanitarian Program to 20,000 per year from 2023-24 and maintained this number in 2024-25.
With more people displaced worldwide than ever before, the Albanese Government is stepping up to play its part in the global resettlement effort in a responsible way.
https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AndrewGiles/Pages/increase-to-humanitarian-program-11082023.aspx
Liberal National Coalition
A Dutton Coalition Government will reduce the Refugee and Humanitarian intake to its long-term average of 13,750 per year to ensure Australia remains one of the most generous humanitarian resettlement countries in the world and can respond flexibly to humanitarian crises overseas.
This flexibility allowed the former Coalition Government to support additional allocations to country groups and persecuted minorities in response to global events, including thousands of vulnerable people displaced by the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine.
A Dutton Coalition Government will continue to responsibly manage Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian program in a way that is sustainable and responsive to global events.
Australian Greens
The Greens will increase Australia’s humanitarian intake from 20,000 to 50,000 per year.
Do you/your party support abolishing the ban on refugees registered with UNHCR in Indonesia from resettling in Australia?
Australian Labor Party
No further information provided.
Liberal National Coalition
The Australian Government has a long history of working with international partners, including the UNHCR and countries within our region to resettle those most in need.
The Coalition supports the existing policy settings regarding the resettlement of Asylum seekers registered with UNHCR in Indonesia.
This policy was designed to reduce the movement of asylum seekers to Indonesia, and encourage them to seek resettlement in countries of first asylum. It sends a clear signal that there is no point in people travelling to Indonesia to seek resettlement in Australia.
The Government's policies under Operation Sovereign Borders have saved lives at sea and helped ensure places under our humanitarian program go to people most in need.
It is important to ensure these places are not taken by people trying to exploit the program by shopping around for resettlement opportunities in transit countries.
Australian Greens
The Greens will clear the current backlog of refugees registered under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Indonesia.
