A bipartisan parliamentary committee said the government should consider reintroducing the 90-day rule into the Migration Act to ensure refugee status determinations were concluded within three months.
"Reintroducing this provision into the Migration Act would provide certainty to applicants (and the organisations that support them) that determinations on their refugee status are finalised in a timely manner," said the 454-page report, published on Wednesday.
Many asylum seekers are living in limbo awaiting decisions on their visas. (Abdul Hekmat/AAP PHOTOS)
A record 117,500 people are onshore awaiting a decision about becoming permanent refugees or facing deportation, according to figures released by the Department of Home Affairs in September.
The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, where migration cases including those for protection are decided, said on Thursday it had received more than 12,500 migration filings in total over the past three financial years.
The report, two years in the making after dozens of hearings, was tasked with assessing Australia's migration system, which has become bloated and inefficient in recent years compounded by borders shutting during the pandemic.
Among its 73 recommendations, the Labor-chaired committee examined wide-ranging themes from skilled migration to international students and reducing visa wait times.
Committe chair Maria Vamvakinou wants a standalone Department of Immigration re-established. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)
Labor MP and committee chair Maria Vamvakinou said the re-establishment of a standalone Department of Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs should be a priority for the government, rather than being amalgamated with Home Affairs.
The Greens criticised the limited scope of the migration review, saying it was framed in economic terms rather than humanitarian considerations.
"The conscious exclusion of people seeking asylum from the migration experience in Australia was an inherent design flaw in this inquiry," Senator David Shoebridge said.
Independent MP Allegra Spender also raised the issue of about 10,000 asylum seekers stuck on bridging visas with restrictive rights who were part of the fast-track scheme.
Allegra Spender says the system forces people into destitution and poverty for years. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)
The former Abbott coalition government established an assessment scheme through the Immigration Assessment Authority to resolve the visa applications of more than 30,000 asylum seekers who arrived by boat between 2012 and 2014.
But the policy has been criticised for failing to live up to its name, with some 10,000 people left in legal limbo with restricted work and study rights.
"They have been living in Australia for more than a decade, forced into destitution and poverty for years as they attempt to rebuild their lives," Ms Spender said.
"For all intents and purposes, they are Australian. All they want is to live, work, study and contribute to our society."
More than 37 per cent of decisions by the authority, which will officially cease to exist later in October after being abolished by the Albanese government, have been overturned by the courts.
