On 14 May 2020, the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia has introduced the Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2020 [“the Bill”] in the House of Representatives to amend the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and other related purposes.
The Bill proposes to insert new provisions regarding search of detainees for prohibited things in the immigration detention facility and related exercise of powers by the authorised officer, including power of search, seizure and forfeiture. The Bill also proposes provisions regarding screening and strip search of detainees and search of the facilities.
The Bill proposes to include controlled drugs (as defined in the Criminal Code Act 1995 ) and prescription drugs, as case may be, mobile phones, Subscriber Identity Module (SIM cards), and internet-capable devices as prohibited things for this purpose.
Read the full text of the Bill here.
