Australian citizens and residents who originally came to this country seeking asylum, as they are clearly entitled to do under international law, have been in the news recently, through no fault of their own and not in a good way. Sections of the media and some politicians have attacked them for doing what all citizens Continue reading »
Immigration, refugees
Grassroots support can help many refugees find their feet. Working with very stretched organisations to support refugees. Safety is a primary concern. Right now, the goal is securing a safe flat for M to live in. M is a 17 year old female refugee who was harmed as a child on Nauru. Her father was Continue reading »
Millions of Myanmar refugees could be next if Junta falls Almost as soon as Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane for the one-way journey to Moscow, European governments began folding up the welcome mats for Syrian refugees. On December 8, the Russian foreign ministry announced that Assad had been given asylum in the country. A day Continue reading »
Mohammed Salamat delivered this anguished poem about his detention on Nauru outside Federal Parliament last Tuesday November 19, 2024. The reality of ‘offshore processing’ by the Australian government is still very much a fact, in legislation and the news. Barn of Broken Doors Australia, is this the land you promised, Where hope once bloomed, now Continue reading »
Having befriended and worked closely with many Asylum Seekers for the pasts 14 years I have no hesitation in highlighting a key problem with the recent Migration Bill changes. It is the uncritical assumption that the refugee status determination process is professional and fair and sensitive to changing realities. That assumption is simply not true. Continue reading »
Refugee and refugee support groups Australia-wide are deeply concerned about the extremely damaging implications of Australia’s new migration laws which are founded on principles of punishment rather than human rights protection. The new migration laws passed last week provide government with significant powers which are out of step with Australia’s human rights obligations, principles of Continue reading »
Peter Dutton and the Murdoch press are celebrating Trump’s anti-immigration fuelled victory. While he may not use Trump’s extreme language such as ‘migrants are poisoning the blood’, or that they are ‘eating the dogs’, his anti-immigration rhetorical skills are his best pathway to the Lodge. So what aspects of immigration will Dutton focus on now Continue reading »
On October 11, I attended a vigil for Palestinians in Federation Square, Melbourne. The event did not attract politicians’ censure as it was sufficiently distanced in time from Jewish vigils on 7 October. In the week before 7 October, Labor and Coalition politicians criticised organisers of events to memorialise the slaughter of more than 42,000 Continue reading »
In a speech at the Australian Education International (AEI) conference, Education Minister Jason Clare is reported to have told the audience that student caps will help with “the government’s ambitions to get immigration levels back to pre-pandemic levels, including international student numbers”. The latest Treasury forecast of net migration in 2024-25 at 260,000, to the Continue reading »
Large-scale immigration programs have contributed substantially to Australia since 1947, bringing much needed skills and demand into the economy. They have also helped make Australia a more culturally sophisticated country. In the 1970s, the oppressive policies of assimilation and integration were replaced by the policy idea of multiculturalism. Today, Australian politicians boast that Australia is Continue reading »