Immigration, refugees
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Michael Keating. Part 2. The Budget and our Values
The Budget is always the clearest guide to a government’s priorities and values. In the present instance, the Coalition Government wants to define this budget as being all about “contribution”. Their rhetoric is that we should all make a contribution towards restoring the nation’s finances. Spreading the burden would be fair and therefore consistent with Continue reading »
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Michael Kelly SJ. Why Protestants are more popular than Catholics in China
Questions abound over the recent vicious actions of the Chinese government towards Christians in the prosperous Zhejiang Province just south of Shanghai. The actions of the government during the fortnight after Easter against both Protestants and Catholics are unprecedented in recent decades and, justifiably, have received world attention. As with all actions in a country Continue reading »
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Refugees to Cambodia
The Australian government appears to have struck a deal with Cambodia to house 100 refugees in exchange for a massive increase in foreign aid. But Cambodia is far from a safe place to settle. Continue reading »
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Penne Mathew and Tristan Harley…Regional Cooperation on refugees
In November last year Penne Mathew and Tristan Harley of the Australian National University undertook field work in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to examine the treatment of refugees in those countries and to discuss the possibilities of improved regional cooperation amongst themselves and also with resettlement countries such as Australia. I am strongly of the Continue reading »
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Michael Sainsbury. Australia and Cambodia’s shady asylum seeker deal.
Australia’s history of dealing with asylum seekers continues to spin into a dizzying spiral of contempt. Already under fire for shutting its doors to some of the world’s most vulnerable people, the Canberra government is now in talks with Cambodia, the latest in a rollcall of poor, dysfunctional neighbors to whom it will “outsource” its Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Using the military for political purposes
In my blog of March 26 (below) ‘Using the military for political purposes’, I drew attention to three instances in which the Australian Defence Forces have been used, apparently willingly, to support the party-political aims of the government. That political support has now been stepped up several notches by the comments of the Commander of Continue reading »
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Ben Saul. Australia’s Guantanamo problem.
Ben Saul has written an article for the New York Times about the imprisonment of 52 people in Australia for up to nearly five years without trial. Secret evidence has been presented against them. They have no prospect of release. Read the full article from the New York Times by following the link below. Ben Continue reading »
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Kerry Murphy. To Kill a Mockingbird and 2014.
Mark Twain is quoted as saying that history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. I was reminded of this when seeing the excellent production of To Kill a Mockingbird at the New Theatre in Newtown, Sydney last week. Good literature manages to make us reflect on our own times, and challenges us to Continue reading »
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Louise Newman. Detention of children seeking asylum in Australia.
Australia has a unique approach to the ‘problem‘of asylum seekers arriving by boat in an ‘unauthorised’ fashion – exportation. Under current policy all unauthorised arrivals are processed as rapidly as possible on Christmas Island and then transferred to Nauru or Manus who are supported by Australia to assess refugee claims, house and ultimately resettle those Continue reading »
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David Isaacs. Impacts of detention on children.
I am a paediatrician. I specialise in paediatric infectious diseases but also work as a general paediatrician. For the last 10 years, I and my colleagues have run a Refugee Clinic at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, where we assess child asylum seekers and refugees. The initial aim of this clinic was to screen children Continue reading »
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Mark Isaacs. Deterring boat arrivals!
Over the past decades of asylum seeker policy in Australia we have heard many justifications for a strict deterrence policy. Border protection, save lives at sea, ‘no advantage’ for queue jumpers, smash the people smugglers’ business model, and, of course, ‘we decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come’. At Continue reading »
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Wayne Gibbons. The boats were not sabotaged.
“So we convince ourselves every cruelty we’ve inflicted – beginning with sabotaging boats along the Malaysia coast under Malcolm Fraser – isn’t a reflection on us. It’s tactical.” I was surprised and disturbed by this sweeping statement from David Marr in theguardian.com on 5 March. It unfairly casts a pall over the great success of Continue reading »
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Susie Carleton. The ABC is at it again.
Don’t we all now know from the upright Hon Scott Morrison that decent members of the Australian Armed Services would never – and did not – cause the burning of the hands of asylum seekers under their control. Nor was there any further ill-treatment of a later batch of unfortunates as claimed in ABC 7.30- Continue reading »
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Azita Bokan. The tragedy on Manus – an eye-witness account.
Azita Bokan was on Manus Island as an official Iranian interpreter during the recent violent clashes. What follows is an edited version of her interview by Richard Glover on ABC Radio Sydney on 21 February 2014. I came to Australia some 27 years ago and am a proud Australian. My father was a writer and Continue reading »
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John Menadue. The war on asylum seekers
For political purposes the government has deliberately embarked on a policy and a language to militarise the asylum seeker issue in the same way the Howard Government did in the “war on terror”. It is designed to highlight the government’s resolve, to play to our fears about a threat and to lessen our rights to Continue reading »
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Arja Keski-Nummi. Offshore Processing in Cambodia – Really?
The idea of Cambodia as a so-called offshore processing centre is not new. For a nanosecond I recalled the former government contemplated Cambodia as a likely candidate for an offshore processing centre. Thankfully saner heads prevailed, although to their discredit they did also contemplate East Timor. The scramble to avoid doing the decent thing and Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Manus and Nauru and Australia’s responsibility in regional processing.
An asylum seeker who comes to our shores must be protected. We cannot offload that responsibility onto another country. We continue to carry a responsibility for that asylum seeker whatever happens in Manus, Nauru or even Malaysia. I have not always held the view that those who come to Australia could be transferred and processed Continue reading »
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Michael Kelly SJ. Australians as the ‘white trash of Asia’ reaches new depth.
It is now over thirty years since the then Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew described Australians as the “white trash of Asia”. The barb stung and is still recalled with shame and hurt by Australian politicians as then Prime Minister Julia Gillard did in 2012. But the term has reached a new level Continue reading »
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Andrew Babkoff. The human side of refugees.
(*names have been changed to maintain privacy) There is a significant amount of misinformation and misunderstanding surrounding asylum seekers (in particular ‘boat people’) and refugees in Australia. In response, a number of people outside of the mainstream media have highlighted the need for refugees’ stories to be presented through mainstream outlets. My personal experience as Continue reading »
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John Menadue-Refugees – the demographic dividend.
As responsible members of the human family, we have a strong moral case to provide protection for the victims of persecution and violence. There is also a strong case in our own self-interest – that refugees almost by definition are risk-takers and entrepreneurial. It can be argued that they are amongst the most highly motivated Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Cutting back government spending – does it include middle-class and corporate welfare?
Tony Abbott told his listeners recently at Davos that small government was the best form of government. The Minister for Health, Peter Dutton, has said that waste must be reduced in our health sector. The Minister for Social Services, Kevin Andrews, has told us that our welfare system is unsustainable and has appointed Patrick McClure Continue reading »
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Chris Geraghty. The ABC and Scott Morrison
The ABC has been much criticised, by our Prime Minister no less, and by the silly bullies on some commercial radio stations, for not being patriotic enough, for not barracking for the home team. Disloyal journalists published a story that some wounded, unwelcome refugees who had been intercepted on the high seas by our navy Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Sharks and asylum seekers
Over the weekend we have seen thousands of people crowding onto our beaches on both sides of the country to protest against the culling of sharks in Western Australia. I happen to think that the protesters are right, that people who swim in dangerous seas know the risks but are prepared to take them. Compared Continue reading »
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Pope Francis – Message on Migrants and Refugees. January 2014
‘Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity. They are children, women and men who leave or who are forced to leave their homes for various reasons, who share a legitimate desire for knowing and having, but above all for being more. Contemporary movements of migration represent the largest movement of Individuals, Continue reading »
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Arja Keski-Nummi. They are us … and the language of war!
Why are we using the language and methods of war against civilians fleeing war and persecution? Asylum seekers are not our enemies. Our real enemies are our complacency and a willingness to turn a blind eye to the spin we are getting. This reflects the Abbott government’s ability to drill deep into our collective psyche Continue reading »
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Mission accomplished? Be careful which war you wish for. Travers McLeod
“We are going to hold the line, we are going to protect the borders”, Scott Morrison, Federal Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, told the 44th Federal Parliament in its first sitting week. “This battle is being fought using the full arsenal of measures”, he wrote elsewhere. Last week, the Prime Minister defended the secrecy of Continue reading »
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Repost. Refugee advocates and offshore processing. John Menadue
This is a repost from 23 September, 2013. The insistence on onshore processing for all asylum seekers is damaging the case for humane and sensible refugee policies. The blanket opposition to any offshore processing is understandable but it is just not working. Just look at the election result on September 7. The important issue is Continue reading »
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Asylum seekers – Tony Abbott and I share a Jesuit education. John O’Mara
Like many Australians, I look on the way the Abbott government is handling the matter of asylum seekers with ever increasing dismay. Tony Abbott’s mantra “stop the boats”, is unprincipled, contrary to signed UN agreements and impractical. It is hard to erase the pre-election memory of the Western Sydney interviewee..”I’m going to vote for Abbott, Continue reading »
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Journalists are not welcome in Nauru. Elaine Pearson
Dramatically increasing the cost of visas to enter Nauru places severe restrictions from the ability of journalists and others to let us know the truth about asylum seekers being held there. John Menadue Here’s an innovative way to discourage foreign media scrutiny of a touchy human rights issue: jack-up the cost of a journalist visa Continue reading »
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Repost: Don’t tamper with the Refugee Convention. John Menadue
It would be dangerous to open up the pandora’s box of the Refugee Convention. It has served us well. Who would seriously suggest that persons facing persecution should not be protected. Given the world wide agitation against refugees and ‘outsiders’, a review of the Convention would be a great opportunity for extremists to run their Continue reading »
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