October 2018

Summary and recommendation The purpose of the Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2017 (the Bill) is to amend the Migration Act to: 1. allow the Minister to determine that an item is a ‘prohibited thing’ in relation to immigration detention facilities, 2 allow existing screening, search and seizure powers to be used in relation to prohibited things, 3 provide a power to search all areas of immigration detention facilities without a warrant, and 4 enable the use of detector dogs to search facilities and to screen detainees and other persons entering the facilities. This post goes into the details of the Bill, the responses of the main parties and the Government's respond to these comments.