Immigration, refugees
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Covid Driving Down Onshore Asylum Applications
Closure of international borders has reduced the onshore asylum application rate but we still have almost 87,000 asylum seekers in Australia, the vast bulk of whom are from countries where asylum claims are not likely to be strong…. Continue reading »
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Prospects for refugees and migrants if the population bomb goes bust
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) says that the UN projections up to 2100 for global population growth are about 2 billion too high, because fertility rates almost everywhere are dropping much faster than expected…. Continue reading »
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Issues with the Chinese diaspora’s political participation
Australia’s public diplomacy agenda does not seem to have translated into concrete policies in regard to the Chinese diaspora, argues this excerpt from a submission to a current Senate inquiry…. Continue reading »
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Multicultural Australia in danger in resurgent pandemic. Part 2 What we know but need to know more about and why.
The national medical bureaucracy needs to make one change to its data collection about COVID-19 that will be disruptive in the short term but very productive in the medium and longer term. It may save lives, reduce morbidity, protect social cohesion and help save the economy. But it hasn’t. Why is that?… Continue reading »
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Multicultural Australia in danger in resurgent pandemic. Part 1: The problem
A dark hole sits at the heart of multicultural Australia – the data by-pass on how the COVID19 virus pandemic is affecting our culturally diverse communities. … Continue reading »
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What is to be done about the Chinese in Oz?
During the last Federal elections, our political leaders went on WeChat, to impress the PRC émigrés. They seemed not to care about the feelings of the huayi Aussies who have mostly come here since 1951…. Continue reading »
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The Plight of Yezidi Refugees and why my heart bleeds
When the Federal government named the city of Armidale in northern NSW a regional refugee settlement in 2017, it was envisaged that the newly arrived refugees would need a lot of support to settle and integrate into the community, but we did not imagine how giving this support would change us…. Continue reading »
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Can we rely on the PM’s forecast economic boom?
Scott Morrison says Australia’s economy will have to expand by 3.75% per annum for the next five years to recover from the corona virus recession…. Continue reading »
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ANDREW JAKUBOWICZ. Is Australia a racist nation? Reflections on the last 25 years of denial – Part 1 of Racism Series
The last time Australia was labelled a racist nation by a regional power was in the wake of the election of John Howard and the emergence of Pauline Hanson in 1996 and 1997…. Continue reading »
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Population ageing in Australia and Japan
Australia and Japan are demographic polar opposites…. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI. Global Talent Independent Visa: Permanent residence in a week or two
The new Global Talent Independent (GTI) visa provides a direct permanent residence for ‘highly skilled professionals in high growth sectors’. According to the Department of Home Affairs, processing times range between two days and two months with many being decided within a week or two…. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI: Australia’s struggles with skilled temporary migration
Kristina Keneally argues that when we come out of the current crisis we should aim for a lower level of temporary migration to make sure “Australians get a fair go and a first go at jobs.” Scott Morrison says cutting skilled temporary migration would hurt the economy. Who should we believe?… Continue reading »
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MICHELLE PETERIE.-The human cost of forced relocation of immigration detainees.(The Conversation 2.3.2020)
The practice of moving detainees around Australia’s immigration detention network is doubly unjustifiable on economic and humanitarian grounds…. Continue reading »
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MAX COSTELLO. The travesty of Detention Centre health care
Comcare has still not laid charges against Australian Border Force…. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI. Morrison impotent on visa arrangements for Indonesians
The Australian of 10 February 2019 reports the Morrison government is “considering” Mr Joko’s proposal for Australia to relax visa restrictions for Indonesian visitors in line with the “visa on arrival” arrangements for Australians visiting Indonesia…. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI. The Australian again falls for Government spin on the record number of asylum seekers arriving by air.
In a front page exclusive on 28 January, Geoff Chambers and Joe Kelly of The Australian uncritically regurgitate the Government’s talking points on asylum seekers arriving by plane. Either they are just innocents with no idea how to do the job of a journalist or they see their role as purely to defend the Government…. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI: Why 5% unemployment today is not the same as 5% unemployment 10-20 years ago
The unemployment rate, and even the underemployment rate, have become an inadequate measure of the true health of our labour market…. Continue reading »
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VACY VLAZNA. On Becoming Australian: A Migrant Story, Part 2
Co-host of ABC Minefield, Scott Stevens astutely, impeccably summed up the generosity inherent in The Uluru Statement of the Heart…. Continue reading »
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FRANCES RUSH: Reflections on the year for people seeking asylum
Last year was a very challenging year for people seeking asylum and the many Australians who support them…. Continue reading »
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ARTHUR SING.- Thailand also cruelly treats asylum seekers. It has it’s own Black Hole of Calcutta.
Manus and Nauru remain a focus in Australia for everyone concerned about the cruel treatment of refugees and asylum seekers and rightly so…. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI: Re-emergence of Dodgy VET Colleges
Since January 2018, the Australian Skills Quality Agency (ASQA) has cancelled the registration of around 450 private VET colleges. This is after years of such cancellations being relatively rare. A spokesperson for ASQA has said this reflects an improved “ability to better target regulatory activities on providers demonstrating the highest risks to VET in Australia”…. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI: Dysfunction in Home Affairs officially confirmed
The dysfunction in the Home Affairs Department that has been long reported on (see here, here, and here) has now been officially confirmed in a survey conducted by the Australian Public Service Commission…. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI. A Cruel Government Setting Regional Migrants Up for Exploitation and Failure
On 16 November 2019, the Government’s much touted new regional migration visas took effect. One of these is a five year provisional visa that requires the migrant to be nominated by a state/territory government. To secure permanent residence, the provisional migrant must live and work in the relevant region and earn at least $53,900 per… Continue reading »
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MADELINE GLEESON. Behrouz Boochani: Still in limbo (The Interpreter 28-11-19)
The Kurdish-Iranian journalist left Manus Island after six years, but the bureaucratic hurdles still lie before him…. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI: Asylum Applications from China and Malaysia
Government has argued the surge in asylum applications from Chinese and Malaysian citizens is just part of normal growth in the caseload (see here). Nothing could be further from the truth. The surge is entirely the result of poor policy such as the staffing cap, Home Affairs rushing implementation of e:visas for Chinese nationals to… Continue reading »
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The invisibility of Asian–Australians is a national scandal. The silence on this scandal is a disgrace
As I read through the opinion articles in The Canberra Times and The Australian on Saturday 9 November, I grew increasingly exasperated at the total absence of any Asian voice. I then did an online search of opinion articles in the Fairfax media (The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald), plus The Daily Telegraph. As far… Continue reading »
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FRANCESCA BEDDIE. The Golden Country, Australia’s Changing Identity.
I follow migration matters closely, so Tim Watt’s survey of the White Australia Policy and subsequent immigration policy was familiar territory. For those who don’t, there is much to recommend in the story he tells and his demonstration of the economic benefits of skilled migration. But his analysis has flaws…. Continue reading »
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MAX COSTELLO. Who’s right about Medevac airlifts to Australia – the doctors or Peter Dutton?
The government’s traditional scare campaign having failed to work – because Medevac transfers have not re-started the ‘people smuggler’ boats – a very frustrated Home Affairs Minister Dutton is running a new ‘repeal Medevac’ line: he says the Medevac law is a con because no transferees are in hospital. But it’s his own Australian Border… Continue reading »
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CAVAN HOGUE: Why is Mr Dutton afraid of Australian children?
The Australian women and children facing danger in Syria are not being brought home because it can’t be done or because they would be a threat to Australia but because of cheap domestic politics. As H.L. Mencken observed: “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be… Continue reading »
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BRUCE DUNCAN. Mr Morrison, please do not abandon innocent Aussie children in Syria.
How will the Morrison government respond to the desperate plight of some 65 women and children detained in a camp in Syria? Relatives are pleading with our government to bring their family members safely home, but it appears immobilised by fear of a political reaction. How good is that?… Continue reading »
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