Australian Human Rights Commission Submission to UN Committee Against Torture, 17 October 2014 persecution or significant harm.127 As discussed above, this raises serious human rights concerns. (c) 202. (i) Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Bill 2014 (Cth) On September 24 2014 the Government introduced the Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Bill 2014 (Cth). The Commission holds concerns about several of the changes proposed by the Bill. The Bill has been referred to the PJCHR for report on 27 November 2014. The Commission is currently analysing the Bill and will be in a position to provide further information to the Committee Against Torture at the time of Australia’s appearance in early November. International obligations 203. The Bill empowers the Government to remove asylum seekers even where such a removal would be in breach of Australia’s non-refoulement obligations. It inserts a new subsection 197C that provides that for the purposes of mandatory removal of an unlawful non-citizen from Australia, it is irrelevant whether Australia has non-refoulement obligations in respect of an unlawful non-citizen. The Government has stated that its intention in making this amendment is ‘to make clear that the removal power … is not constrained by assessments of Australia’s non-refoulement obligations’.128 204. The Bill replaces references to the Refugee Convention in the Migration Act with new narrower statutory definitions. The Commission has serious concern about this element of the Bill. (ii) Temporary Protection Visas 205. The legislation reintroduces Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) of up to three years at a time for unauthorised arrivals who are found to engage nonrefoulement obligations.129 206. The Government has stated that the temporary protection visas ‘do not provide a path to permanent protection visas’.130 207. The Bill is intended to address ‘the Government’s objective that any illegal arrivals who seek asylum in Australia will not be granted a Permanent Protection Visa.’131 208. Temporary protection for refugees is not prohibited under the Refugee Convention. However, UNHCR recommends that it is only used in limited circumstances to meet urgent needs in the event of mass cross-border displacement. 209. The Commission has previously raised serious concerns about TPVs when they were last used in Australia (with very similar conditions attached) from 1999 to 2008. In particular, the Commission has expressed the following concerns in the past: 47