The rules of natural justice do not apply

The proposed changes to the immigration laws that the Labor Party is hoping will salvage their Malaysia Solution have been released.

I've had a brief skim through the legislative changes and this is what leaps out at me first up:

• The Minister is the sole arbiter of where "Offshore Entry People" can be sent. The only caveat is that the minister has to declare that he believes that the designation of an offshore processing location is in the "public interest".
• The Labor Party has learnt its lessons from the Haneef Affair by removing any access to the court system for "Offshore Entry People". That's what the phrase "the rules of natural justice do no apply" means to me (and no I am not a lawyer). There is no right of appeal, and no judicial oversight.
• Officers have the following powers:
  • Place the "Offshore Entry Person" on a vehicle or vessel
  • Restrain the "Offshore Entry Person" on a vehicle or vessel
  • remove the offshore entry person from: 
    •  (i) the place at which the person is detained; or 
    • (ii) a vehicle or vessel; 
  • use such force as is necessary and reasonable

So to summarise, Australias support for the refugee treaties it has signed up to would be gutted, the Labor Party has decided that John Howard was too easy on asylum seekers, and once again the government has moved to sideline any oversight from the judiciary.

If somone could point out how the above doesn't describe a clusterf*ck then please do so in the comments.

Update - 1:10pm:

Prime Minister Gillard has just announced a couple of changes to the proposed amendments.

• Instead of the public interest the minister has to look to the national interest. This is even better for the government because the national interest is areas which people can't see (see ASIO).
• The country that the minister designates as an offshore processing centre has to hold to the "two core tenets" of the Refugee Treaties:
• Don't send people back to where they came from
• Must process applications.

That's it.

The "rules of natural justice do not apply" clause remains.

All in all, its sweet f*ck all, a couple of "well duh" criteria and we're still telling the courts to f*ck off with their oversight and due process.

Oh and this is a genuine thankyou to Latika Bourke of the ABC. She's been excellently keeping everyone up to date with whats been happening.