John Menadue
Publisher and Editor
Callum Foote
Associate Editor
Subscribe to our newsletter
Author Archives: Peter Hughes
Migrants: how can we make THEM more like US?
In a crisis, the Coalition government thinks that migrants need to jump through higher hoops.
Posted in Immigration, refugees, Politics
9 Comments
PETER HUGHES. The Sri Lankan family – just a case of bloody mindedness
We await further operation of Federal Court processes before the future of the Sri Lankan family being held on Christmas Island is finally known. In the meantime, it’s worth reflecting on why the government has chosen to take such a … Continue reading
Posted in Immigration, refugees
7 Comments
PETER HUGHES The Coalition Government’s immigration shambles Part 2: What an incoming Labor government could do
The Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison government will go down as the worst Coalition Government in history in its handling of immigration. This is how an incoming Labor government might go about dealing with the shambles it will confront.
Posted in Immigration, refugees
4 Comments
PETER HUGHES. The Coalition Government’s immigration shambles Part 1
The Coalition Government is once more in its element screaming at Australians that only they can save us from hordes of maritime asylum seekers. But look at the record!
Posted in Immigration, refugees
8 Comments
PETER HUGHES. Citizenship for “them” and citizenship for “us”
There is great irony in the fact that the citizenship weapon which the government so recklessly aimed at migrants ended up blowing up in the face of its own parliamentarians.
Posted in Politics
5 Comments
PETER HUGHES. Citizenship changes: poisonous and pointless
The government’s proposed changes to the requirements for Australian citizenship are both poisonous and pointless. They are bad public policy and should be rejected by Parliament.
Posted in Immigration, refugees
6 Comments
PETER HUGHES. Citizenship Test Mark II – How much juice can you squeeze out of an orange?
It seems that Coalition governments have developed a habit of squeezing the citizenship “orange” for political advantage when there are some community concerns about migrants. Last week’s announcement by the Turnbull Coalition government, at a time of poor government performance … Continue reading
Posted in Immigration, refugees, Politics
Leave a comment
PETER HUGHES. Losing the plot on immigration policy
If governments choose to make immigration policy based on populism, expect an increase in human suffering……
Posted in Immigration, refugees, Politics
Leave a comment
TRAVERS McLEOD, PETER HUGHES, SRIPRAPHA PETCHARAMESREE, STEVEN WONG, TRI NUKE PUDJIASTUTI. Developing a regional refugee framework.
September has seen a surge of international summits. First came the G20 in Hangzhou, then ASEAN and the East Asia Summit in Vientiane, plus the Pacific Islands Forum in Pohnpei. And, on consecutive days this week, the United Nations in … Continue reading
Posted in Immigration, refugees, Politics, World Affairs
Leave a comment
PETER HUGHES. Who is running the show?
A new narrative. Why Australian immigration policy needs a positive approach With Pauline Hanson taking a hard-line on immigration in the Senate, it’s time for the government to change its tune or risk relinquishing the debate. It’s time the Australian government … Continue reading
Posted in Immigration, refugees, Politics
Leave a comment
PETER HUGHES. Manus and Nauru – time for the government to be creative
This is a repost of an earlier article by Peter Hughes on 28 April 2016. The Papua New Guinea (PNG) Supreme Court decision and the announcement by the PNG Prime Minister that Manus will be closed only bring forward … Continue reading
Posted in Immigration, refugees, Politics, World Affairs
Leave a comment
TRAVERS McLEOD, PETER HUGHES, SRIPRAPHA PETCHARAMESREE, STEVEN WONG, TRI NUKE PUDJIASTUTI: Rohingya refugees and building a regional framework to manage refugee flows.
Part 1. The Andaman Sea refugee crisis a year on: what happened and how did the region respond? The Andaman Sea crisis a year ago catalysed important policy developments on forced migration in Southeast Asia. Part one recaps what happened, … Continue reading
Posted in Immigration, refugees, World Affairs
Leave a comment
Travers McLeod, Peter Hughes, Sriprapha Petcharamesree, Steven Wong, Tri Nuke Pudjiastuti. The Bali Process can do a lot more to respond to forced migration in our region.
The Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime will hold a full ministerial meeting in Bali this Wednesday. The meeting will bring together ministers from 45 member countries for the first time in three years. … Continue reading
Posted in Immigration, refugees, World Affairs
Leave a comment
Peter Hughes, Arja Keski-Nummi, John Menadue. Part 3: Settlement Policy and Services.
This is a repost from 27/5/2015. 3.1 Overview The migration process starts in earnest after a visa is given to a migrant. Its success or otherwise is determined after the person arrives in Australia and becomes part of the workforce … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Immigration, refugees, Politics
Leave a comment
Peter Hughes, Arja Keski-Nummi and John Menadue. Part 2. Refugee Policy
A repost from 26/05/15 Part 2: Refugee Policy 2.1 Overview The current and future global environment for irregular migration is extremely challenging. Many more people are on the move globally to gain protection from persecution, security from conflict or greater … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Immigration, refugees, Politics
Leave a comment
Peter Hughes, Arja Keski-Nummi and John Menadue. Part 1: Immigration Policy and Administration.
This article and the two following articles were part of a policy series that was posted in May/June last year and subsequently published in book form ‘Fairness, Opportunity and Security’. This is a repost from 25/5/2015. Overview This paper sets … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Immigration, refugees, Politics
Leave a comment
Peter Hughes. Designing a more generous Australian response to the Syrian crisis
The Australian government announcement of 12,000 additional permanent places for Syrian refugees is a reasonable scale of response, if implemented the right way. Taken together with the existing program of 13,750 refugees, the new program constitutes a manageable 13% of … Continue reading
Posted in Immigration, refugees, Politics, World Affairs
1 Comment
Peter Hughes. Subsidising foreign investment with visas.
Current Affairs Visas which give wealthy business people and investors a pathway to permanent residence and Australian citizenship through various forms of investment have been around for many years. The new twist, under the Government’s recently announced ‘complying investments‘ for … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Immigration, refugees, World Affairs
Leave a comment
Peter Hughes. The War on Australian Citizenship
Current Affairs It’s hard to be sure when the “War on Terror” became the war on Australian citizenship. I think it started in March 2014 when the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor was persuaded to recommend in his report[1] that … Continue reading
Peter Hughes. Citizenship Revocation: a very limited tool in the fight against Jihadists
This is a repost of an article by Peter Hughes which appeared on 20 February 2015. This repost is relevant in light of recent discussion on revocation of citizenship. Liberal Federal MP, Andrew Nikolic, has put back on the … Continue reading
Peter Hughes, Arja Keski-Nummi, John Menadue. Part 3: Settlement Policy and Services.
Fairness, Opportunity and Security. Policy series edited by Michael Keating and JohnMenadue. 3.1 Overview The migration process starts in earnest after a visa is given to a migrant. Its success or otherwise is determined after the person arrives in Australia … Continue reading
Peter Hughes, Arja Keski-Nummi and John Menadue. Part 2. Refugee Policy.
Policy Series Part 2: Refugee Policy 2.1 Overview The current and future global environment for irregular migration is extremely challenging. Many more people are on the move globally to gain protection from persecution, security from conflict or greater economic … Continue reading
Peter Hughes, Arja Keski-Nummi and John Menadue. Part 1. Immigration Policy and Administration.
Fairness, Opportunity and Security Policy series edited by Michael Keating and John Menadue. Overview This paper sets out a broad design for Australia’s immigration, refugee and settlement policies for the coming decades. The issues are covered in three parts: Immigration … Continue reading
Peter Hughes. Reintroduction of Temporary Protection Visas -Time to Negotiate
In the last few days of the 2014 Parliament, the controversial Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Bill 2014 remains to be considered. The Bill contains a wide range of proposed changes to the asylum … Continue reading
Posted in Human Rights, Immigration, refugees
Leave a comment
Repost: Nation building or border policing? Guest blogger: Peter Hughes
This was posted on November 15, 2013. Increasingly refugee policy is portrayed in terms of border protection and stopping the boats. We are losing sight of the enormous nation-building benefits that we have received from immigrants and refugees. John Menadue … Continue reading
Posted in Immigration, refugees
1 Comment
Are current maritime asylum seeker policies working? Guest blogger: Peter Hughes
So what if current maritime asylum seeker policies are working? I mean that question in the narrow sense of reducing irregular maritime arrivals to a trickle. The arrival figure of some 339 persons for October 2013 announced by the government … Continue reading
Posted in Immigration, refugees
Leave a comment