‘Sneaky move’: Labor accused of trying to quietly curtail appeals from people seeking asylum

Greens immigration spokesperson David Shoebridge said the bill set ‘punitive timeframes’ on people seeking asylum and described it as ‘ugly politics’. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Labor has been accused of attempting to sneak through changes limiting the ability to seek merits review from immigration detention, overturning the effect of a recent high court decision.

Refugee advocates and the Greens have warned changes in a bill helping to establish the administrative review tribunal (ART) could see applications from people seeking asylum thrown out for minor technicalities including late payment of fees.