Proposed Laws To Ban All Asylum Seekers From (Ever) Entering Australia Have Been Described As "Deliberately Cruel"

The Turnbull government is set to clamp down—even harder—on asylum seekers with a set of new laws, which would ban asylum seekers from Australian shores, even if proven to be legitimate refugees.

According to the Huffington Post, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made the announcement on Sunday, saying: "The government will introduce legislation in the next parliamentary sitting week to amend the migration act to prevent irregular maritime arrivals taken to a processing country for making a valid application for an Australian visa."

The ban would be imposed on any adult who has been detained on centres in Nauru or Manus Island since 19 July 2013. However, it will not apply to children.

Newscorp reports the new laws would impact 3,000 asylum seekers from receiving medical treatment in Australia, and would also apply to more than 1,550 proven refugees.

Human Rights Law Centre's director of legal advocacy, Daniel Webb, warned the proposal will likely terrify people and rip families apart.

"Those who've spent three years on a painful road to nowhere on Nauru and Manus should be brought back to safety in Australia," he said.

According to the Guardian, Turnbull has described the plans as sending the "strongest possible signal" to anyone providing hope to asylum seekers that, eventually, the government will relax policies to permit resettlement in Australia.

Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton reinforced this view by saying: "There are still people, advocates in Australia and elsewhere, messaging to people on Nauru and Manus, at some stage you'll come to Australia. And those people are living in false hope and it cannot continue."

Unsurprisingly, the laws have been touted as being a "tough message" to people smuggling syndicates. "These people smugglers are the worst criminals imaginable... We have to be very determined to say no to their criminal plans," declared Turnbull.

Speaking at a press conference, Turnbull has boasted that Australia had "one of the most generous humanitarian programs in the world" which could only continue because the country was "in command of its borders".

Earlier in the month, Amnesty International released a report called Island Of Despair which brought to light serious concerns about current border protection policies.

Photo: ABC News 24