Immigration, refugees
-
Australia excoriated over refusal to allow UN torture committee to visit places of detention
Australia is a party to the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Pursuant to the terms of the Convention, the UN has established a Sub-Committee for the Prevention of Torture (SPT). The Committee’s mandate is to prevent torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. It pursues that mandate through visits to member states. Member states are obliged Continue reading »
-
UK chaos: Hong Kong emigrants duped by false prospectus
In 1711, Alexander Pope, the English poet, wrote that “fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. Continue reading »
-
Overseas students visa criteria – a new approach needed
One of the most important issues the Migration System Review must address is the overseas student visa system and associated pathways to permanent residence. Continue reading »
-
Denying trafficking not the way to protect the Asylum system
Hannah Dickinson from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) has penned an article in this Journal that is full of distraction and denial of the massive labour trafficking scam that started in 2014-15. That approach does nothing to help genuine asylum seekers nor help the over 70,500 unsuccessful asylum seekers currently living in Australia with Continue reading »
-
The Australian immigration system is broken. Who knew? Who cared?
Mainstream media organisations apparently had neither the expertise nor the desire to recognise that the system was broken. Continue reading »
-
Abuse of Australia’s asylum system grinds on
While we await a government decision on the 31,000 legacy boat arrivals in Australia, asylum applications from people arriving by air continued an inexorable rise to 1,448 in October 2022. Continue reading »
-
A migration system for Australia’s future
A three-member panel to review Australia’s migration system – former PM&C Secretary Martin Parkinson, academic Joanna Howe and businessman John Azarias – has been set the task of producing “a holistic strategy that articulates the purpose, structure and objectives of Australia’s migration system to ensure it meets the national interest in the coming decades”. Continue reading »
-
Is the Pacific Engagement Visa Australia’s first climate change humanitarian visa?
The new Pacific Engagement Visa (PEV) has more similarities to a humanitarian visa than a labour supplementation visa – at 3,000 permanent resident places per annum, it could be Australia’s first climate change humanitarian visa. Continue reading »
-
The link between immigration and recessions
If Australia experiences a major economic slowdown in 2023-24 and a weaker labour market, what would happen to migration and recently arrived migrants? Continue reading »
-
On immigration integrity, the Labor government must not fail
The Australian Border Force was not created from a platform of honesty and transparency, quite the opposite. Double talk and trickery underlie the political slurs used to dehumanise and criminalise boat people resulting in needless deaths, agony and brokenness. Labor must return to truth. Continue reading »
-
How will our stretched housing market cope with surging immigration?
Respected ABC commentator Alan Kohler has recently raised this issue in an article provocatively titled Labor’s immigration and housing policies are an explosive combination. Continue reading »
-
Bringing Australian children here from Syrian refugee camps is just the start
Our government is doing the right thing. But bringing Australian children in Syria to Australia without an individualised long-term plan of support for each child will achieve little. The complexity of the task to help these children must not be underestimated. It will be a long process and a long-term investment, but it will be Continue reading »
-
COVID-19 border policies strengthen Japan’s Insular mindset
From April to August 2020, Japan implemented a re-entry ban for all foreign nationals, including permanent residents, with some exceptions. This came as a shock to many who considered Japan ‘home’ since they found themselves either trapped outside the country or unable to leave to see sick family members or attend funerals. Continue reading »
-
Repatriation of Muslim families from Syrian camp
What? Let those terrorists’ spawn and their sly “Australian” mothers sneak out of that Syrian camp, and into our country? Never! Continue reading »
-
Massive shortage of early childhood teachers demands skilled migration reform
Increased availability of high quality and affordable early childhood education is central to the Albanese Government’s strategy to increase labour force participation rates, particularly participation of women. Continue reading »
-
Liberal candidate supports US-style abortion ban ahead of state poll
The parties of the right in Australia are changing faster than their voters might recognise. It is increasingly the case that a vote for the “conservatives” is a vote for the radical or religious right. Continue reading »
-
Death penalty: Singapore’s ongoing killing spree
Singapore continues to risk its reputation as leader in arbitration in the region through its use of the death penalty, primarily, for minor drug offences. This goes against the overwhelming global trend towards abolition of the death penalty and tarnishes Singapore’s reputation as a jurisdiction committed to upholding fair trial guarantees. Continue reading »
-
Pro-population increase advocates blind to sustainability crisis
Any new inquiry into Australia’s migration program needs to assess the full costs and benefits of population growth, especially the costs to our environment and the risks of collapse. Continue reading »
-
Asylum Seeker Policy – Where to now?
One of the most complex and controversial issues the Albanese Government will deal with during the current budget process will be asylum seeker policy. Continue reading »
-
Shocked by London, bored by Singapore, expats return to Hong Kong
This is bad news for all the Hong Kong/China critics. Continue reading »
-
UN report on Xinjiang is depressing in more ways than one
‘May” is such a wonderful word in the English language. It can support perhaps the deadliest of accusations but can simply be justified by “Hey! I said ‘may’, didn’t I?” Continue reading »
-
Immigration Inquiry – A new beginning?
At last, a government that recognises where immigration and the contribution of immigration sits in our national life. For some ten years we have endured the demonisation of migration, the systematic downgrading of immigration policies and procedures that has left us worse off. Continue reading »
-
Is Hong Kong experiencing a ‘Teacher Exodus’? Time to correct the record
Is Hong Kong’s world class education system really seeing an exodus of teaching staff? Are reductions in staffing levels linked to political crackdowns and the COVID 19 Pandemic? Not so fast. Let’s correct the record. Continue reading »
-
Asylum seekers languish through the job summit
In the week of the Albanese government’s job summit, the immigration department again sent out a raft of letters to bridging visa holders in Queensland advising them it was time to reapply to rollover their permission to stay in Australia. While politicians and sector representatives debated whether we needed skilled and unskilled migrants to tackle Continue reading »
-
Impact of increasing the permanent skilled migration intake
Businesses are crying out for more workers. But boosting permanent migration won’t fix their problem. Here’s why. Continue reading »
-
International accountability: Myanmar, the ICJ and the genocide question
The indomitable spirit of Raphael Lemkin, bibliophile, assiduous documenter of humanity’s dark deeds and inexecrable conduct, is bound to be an unsettled one. Continue reading »
-
The inexcusable “Immigration Refugee Determination” assessment system requires a deep clean
The stories of ‘invisible’ refugees who had entered Australia by plane on valid visas seeking protection from their persecutors and encountered even more unspeakably harsh oppression in this country cast a blot on our culture. Continue reading »
-
Peter Hughes: Albanese is right to give New Zealanders a fairer go
The new directions that Prime Minister Albanese has foreshadowed to make life easier for New Zealanders in Australia in relation to citizenship, deportation and voting are the right way to go. Continue reading »
-
Once were mates or a relationship reset?
Prime Ministerial visits from New Zealand usually pass unnoticed but not this one. Continue reading »
-
Asylum seekers in Indonesia-alive, but not living
In one of its nastier theological fabrications seemingly driven by schadenfreude, the Catholic Church invented purgatory – heaven’s waiting room where sins were cleansed oftentimes by fire. The medieval idea has been largely smothered by modern church teachings more in line with Christ’s compassion, but the worldly equivalent thrives next door through Australian indifference. Continue reading »
Top 5 most read
- UK chaos: Hong Kong emigrants duped by false prospectus
In 1711, Alexander Pope, the English poet, wrote that “fools… - Last week, a NSW court jailed me for 15 months for a…
If you are reading this, then I have been sentenced… - We should ask for a refund on the F-35 fighter…
Despite the constant talk about how Australia’s strategic focus must… - French ambassador: US ‘rules-based order’ means…
France’s ex US Ambassador Gérard Araud criticised Washington for frequently… - We are useful idiots for the US war industry and its…
America believes that it should run the world unchallenged in…
