Labor senators push back against rushed migration laws

Asylum seekers who refuse to cooperate with authorities when facing deportation could face up to five years jail under laws introduced to parliament.

The government did this in the last parliamentary sitting week ahead of another High Court decision on indefinite detention due this month.

The six-member committee is chaired by Liberal senator Dean Smith, while its deputy is Labor senator Raff Ciccone, and contains two other Labor upper house members.

"The committee notes with concern the speed with which this bill is anticipated to pass the Parliament," it said in a Scrutiny Digest, adding that "truncated parliamentary processes, by their nature, limit parliamentary scrutiny and debate."

The bill passed the lower house last week before being sent to the committee for further scrutiny.

Under the changes, Immigration Minister Andrew Giles will have powers to direct asylum seekers and other immigrants to "do specified things" that would facilitate their deportation.

The committee noted provisions in the legislation that allow the minister to designate a country as a "removal concern country."

It found the minister would receive "broad and unfettered discretion" to ban citizens from other countries from applying for visas to Australia.

If the changes pass parliament, they mandate a minimum one year jail sentence for foreigners who try to remain in Australia.

The opposition has said the government had not made its case for why the laws had to be rushed through parliament in two days.

They teamed up with the Greens and Senate crossbench to block the legislation, sending it to a committee which will report back by May 7.

Australian Associated Press