The Wire

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and immigration spokesman Scott Morrison today announced the Coalition’s asylum seeker policy, which would mean refugees would be on temporary protection visas and work for the dole indefinitely while asylum seekers would be stripped of their rights to appeal to the courts.

The policy is retrospective, so the more than 30,000 asylum seekers who have already arrived in Australia by boat would never be allowed permanent residency or be able to appeal the decision. However, the approach has been condemned as a competition between the major parties to have the toughest policy.