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Article

21 Oct 2019

Author:
Kelly Burke, 7NEWS

Qantas faces mounting pressure to cease assisting government in deporting asylum seekers

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16 October 2019

Qantas will face shareholder pressure over its role in deporting asylum seekers at its annual general meeting in Adelaide....

The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) has filed a resolution calling on CEO Alan Joyce and the Qantas board to review the airline's participation in the involuntary transportation of refugees and asylum seekers.

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"(Qantas') provision of services to the Department of Home Affairs necessarily involves salient human rights risks, and the company has not yet developed or disclosed a commensurate process to manage these risks."

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But the airline says when it comes to Australia's asylum seeker policy, the government and the courts are best placed to decide on individuals' legal immigration status.

A spokesman for Qantas...: "These are very complex and emotive matters but it's not for airlines to adjudicate on who should and shouldn't get to stay in Australia after the government and courts have made their decisions."

But ACCR's Director of Human Rights, Dhakshayini Sooriyakumaran, said the resolution to shareholders was not asking Qantas to adjudicate on immigration matters.

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"(We're) simply asking Qantas to carry out a human rights risk review and make public the results. Shareholders should be concerned that Qantas has consistently refused to do this."

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