Last night, Lateline reported on a five-year-old refugee who faced the prospect of being separated from his father forever. His father had failed an ASIO security assessment, which under current policies…
Falun Gong protestors outside the Chinese consulate in Sydney in 2008.
AAP/Dean Lewins
UPDATE: The Chinese nationals have now elected to stay in Australia, where they will seek asylum.
A group of ten Chinese people fleeing persecution in their home country has presented Australian authorities…
The government’s obligations to immigration detainees are very similar to those of prisoners.
AAP/Dean Lewins
A training manual instructing immigration detention centre guards to use force to incapacitate detainees was leaked this week. It included techniques to kick, punch and target pressure points on detainees…
Opposition leader Tony Abbott has resurrected former coalition government policy to "turn back" boats seeking asylum in Australia.
(AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)
Opposition leader Tony Abbott has said that under a coalition government every boat coming to Australia carrying asylum seekers will be sent back to Indonesia.
The Indonesian police, the United Nations…
How can we stop people putting themselves in peril?
AAP/Josh Jerga
Last weekend, an overcrowded fishing boat sank off the coast of Indonesia with more than 200 asylum seekers on board.
In Australia, the political blame game started soon after with both sides trying to…
Increasing our refugee intake will remove the incentive to get on boats.
AAP/Josh Jerga
Another refugee boat has sunk. Several hundred people have drowned. Why do they keep trying to come? What should our response be?
If you are an optimist with no sense of history, you would be forgiven…
Asylum seekers held in detention centres like Villawood have been protesting that the current system doesn't work.
AAP/Dean Lewins
With the collapse of offshore processing, and the likely increase in boat arrivals into a politically charged environment, a cross-road may have been reached regarding asylum policy in Australia.
Now…
Shooty Vikadan died in Villawood Detention Centre before the Commonwealth Ombudsman could review his case.
AAP/Torsten Blackwood
The asylum seeker who committed suicide in Villawood detention centre this week should have been interviewed by the Commonwealth Ombudsman to establish whether he should have been released into the community…
Julia Gillard and her Immigration Minister Chris Bowen haven't had the best of weeks.
AAP/Alan Porritt
The Malaysia Solution isn’t quite dead, but its vital signs are certainly not good. With a steely look in her eye, and barely concealed anger, Julia Gillard blamed Opposition Leader Tony Abbott for “trashing…
Without reform of the Migration Act, the governments plan for processing refugees offshore would be in tatters.
AFP/Saeed Khan
Later today the Australian Government plans to put the Migration Legislation Amendment (Offshore Processing and Other Measures) Bill 2011 to a vote in the House of Representatives. Without it, the government…
The Australian Ambassador is doing everything he can for the Australian boy detained in Bali, but Indonesian children aren't so lucky.
AFP/Sonny Tumbelaka
This week the nation has been in an uproar over the arrest of a 14 year old Australian boy in Indonesia, accused of buying drugs.
TV news reports discussed the terrible conditions of the prison, where…
Julia Gillard and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen after the High Court ruled the Malaysian Solution invalid.
AAP
The Federal Government’s position on handling asylum seekers is in disarray.
The High Court has ruled its Malaysia Solution invalid and the Coalition has indicated it will not support moves to amend the…
Prime Minister Julia Gillard wants Tony Abbott to put up or shut up on offshore processing.
AAP
Prime Minister Julia Gillard today announced the Government would seek to legislate in order to revive the “Malaysian Solution” ruled illegal by the High Court earlier this month.
The plan would see Australia…
Would an increase in the number of asylum seekers being processed on the Australian mainland lead to London and Paris style rioting on the streets?
According to press reports this week, that is what the…
Julia Gillard inherited a failing government, and made it worse.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The American comedian WC Fields once joked that the best advice in business was “never give a sucker an even break”. Now the High Court has rejected the government’s deal with Malaysia to swap asylum seekers…
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen faces severe problems after the High Court ruling
AAP
The decision by the full bench of the High Court ruling the Gillard Government’s Malaysia Solution for dealing with asylum seekers who arrive by boat invalid creates a massive problem for the minority…
Australia dispersed refugees who were rescued by the Tampa, and its policies haven't improved.
AAP/Wallenius Wilhelmsen
The dramatic rescue of more than 400 asylum seekers by the Norwegian vessel, the Tampa, ten years ago set in train a series of events that has since caused immense suffering to so many. It is surely now…
Not a deterrent? This boat arrived on Christmas Island after the "Malaysia solution" deal was finalised.
AAP/Josh Jerga
The government’s controversial “Malaysia solution”, in which Australia “swaps” refugees with Malaysia is being challenged in the High Court this week.
Asylum seekers are being backed by the Australian…
Campaigners in Sydney protesting against the Malaysian Solution
AAP
The High Court’s extension of an injunction preventing the deportation of asylum seekers under the so-called Malaysian Solution threatens to present the Gillard Government with a major political problem…
Mentally ill detainees should be placed in the community for treatment and support.
AAP
The Commonwealth Ombudsman yesterday launched an investigation into rising rates of self-harm among detainees of Australia’s immigration detention centres, after it emerged that 50 instances of cutting…
Malaysia's history with human rights spells disaster for its refugee deal with Australia AAP Image/Karlis Salna
On Monday, Australia and Malaysia signed a deal that will mean 800 refugees that have arrived in Australia will be swapped with 4,000 verified refugees from Malaysia.
This deal from both Australian and…
A Tamil Tiger fighter killed by Sri Lankan forces on May 14 2009
AAP
What makes Australians morally outraged? What gets really gets our blood boiling? It would seem that Four Corners has inadvertently put this question to the test this week.
On Monday the 4th of July 2011…
Go Back To Where You Came From participants prepare to go on patrol in Baghdad with the US military.
AFP PHOTO/ HO/ 2011 CORDELL JIGSAW/SBS
SBS’ recent three-part series Go Back to Where You Came From is, simply, a manipulative piece of media spin calculated to redress the balance of a media spun too far towards racist insularity.
The intentions…
Participants in "Go back to where you came from" had their attitudes towards refugees challenged.
SBS: Go back to where you came from
Tonight, during World Refugee Week, SBS One premieres Go Back to Where You Came From. Over three nights the series plunges six Australian participants into the intense fear and desperation of the refugee…
Malaysian refugee activist Irene Fernandez protests outside the Australian embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
AAP
The Gillard government’s proposed “Malaysian solution” for dealing with asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat has come under considerable scrutiny.
Under the agreement Australia will send 800…
Dehumanising asylum seekers isn't helping them or us.
AAP
For a brief moment in 2008 asylum seeker advocates were optimistic. This moment of optimism has now gone. As the government announces plans to send newly arriving asylum seekers to Malaysia and also enters…
If Julia Gillard’s “Malaysian solution” tells us anything, it’s that Tony Abbott’s stop-the-boats mantra has redefined the debate on refugees.
The Prime Minister has previously committed to not doing…
Julias Gillard has raised the issue of human rights with the Chinese.
AAP
Can Prime Minister Julia Gillard lecture China on its human rights record given the many failings observers see in Australia’s own treatment of vulnerable groups?
Australia generally has a good human…
