Immigration, refugees
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John Menadue. Tony Abbott at the National Press Club
In his speech today, Tony Abbott recycled many of his one-liners that we heard at the last election. Let’s examine several of them. First, he said that his government was a low-taxing government and that it would reduce the budget deficit by reducing spending, rather than increasing taxes. But the most recent mid-year economic forecast Continue reading »
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High Court decision on Tamil asylum seekers
The majority decided that the detention from 1 to 27 July 2014 was lawful at all times and thus there was no claim to damages for the detention. Continue reading »
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Wendy Sharpe – Asylum seeker portraits and stories
The Asylum Seekers Centre is presenting an art exhibition – ‘Seeking Humanity’ – by renowned Australian artist, Wendy Sharpe. It opens in Ultimo, Sydney, on 17 February, for four weeks, before moving to Canberra on 20 March, and then Penrith. It is not about politics, but puts a human face to those who have fled situations of great Continue reading »
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John Tulloh. The flight of Christians from the Middle East.
If there is one region which Christians increasingly want to abandon, it is the biblical heartland of their faith: the Middle East. They are fleeing in greater numbers than ever before. They are fearful of the growing turmoil in places like Syria and Iraq, the spread of radical Islam and, of course, now the presence Continue reading »
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Kerry Murphy. Intra-religious conflict.
Most violent deaths of Muslims in the world are due to others claiming to be Muslims. The conflicts in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria are all predominantly conflicts within the Islamic community. This is strongly felt within the communities but not usually reported in the mainstream media. This week in Peshawar in north western Pakistan, Continue reading »
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Tilly Gunning. Children in detention.
The ‘We’re Better Than This’ campaign was launched on the 26th of November 2014, it’s aim is to end the Australian Government’s indeterminate detention of over 700 refugee children. Lots of influential Australians have come together to support the cause by participating in a choir song, the proceeds will go to charity. To listen to Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Temporary Protection Visas and the Senate cross-bench.
I wish that the Rudd, Gillard and Abbott Governments had done things very differently on refugee policies. But faced with the impasse at the present time, I welcome the compromise arrangement which the government has negotiated with the senate cross benches – two senators from the Palmer Group, Nick Xenophon, Ricky Muir, Bob Day and Continue reading »
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Jock Collins. Australia’s shift from settler to temporary migration nation.
Immigration is a political hot potato. On the day the OECD published its latest annual survey of global migration, Swiss voters rejected a referendum to reduce annual migration numbers. A few days earlier, yet another UN committee criticised Australia’s asylum seeker policies. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans to reduce annual immigration from Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Tony Abbott did not stop the boats.
The data just does not support the never-ending claims by Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison that they stopped the boats. The under-resourced and uncritical media accepts the Coalition’s line. I will come to the recent data, but first the evidence is clear that action by the Coalition along with the Greens in the Senate to Continue reading »
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Refugees – some middle ground is opening up.
See below a speech made in the Senate on 4 December by Senator Xenophon. The Senator was one of six cross-bench senators who negotiated with the government for a compromise on the contentious Migration Bill. Senator XENOPHON (South Australia) (12:17): Australia’s migration policies have always had a long and vexed history. They have been, and Continue reading »
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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 system reflecting, amongst other things, concern by the government that the current system is too Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Our ‘best friend’ in Asia is in trouble.
Japan now faces its fourth recession since 2008. The Japanese economy has contracted in 13 of the last 27 quarters. In effect, there has been no growth for six years. The Japanese economy has been moribund for two decade. So far Abenomics is not delivering as Prime Minister Abe had hoped. His attempt at money-creation Continue reading »
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Elaine Pearson. Australia should reconsider refugee transfers to Cambodia
The Australian government should press Cambodian authorities to implement key reforms to improve treatment of refugees in Cambodia before transferring any refugees from Nauru. In new Human Rights Watch interviews, asylum seekers and refugees living in Cambodia described hardships as a result of the Cambodian government’s failure to process regular nationality documents and due to Continue reading »
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John Menadue. We pass by on the other side.
We are one of the richest and most privileged people in the world but our recent performance on Ebola, foreign aid and refugees tells the world a quite different story. On Ebola, our response has been grudging and slow. We tendered one excuse after another. We moved quickly however to commit our military to combat Continue reading »
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John Tulloh. Israel High Court upsets Government on asylum seekers
Israelis have been observing the month of repentance (Elul). As far as their government is concerned, it is members of the High Court who should be repenting. They have infuriated the Netanyahu government with an order to shut down a detention centre for asylum-seekers within 90 days and to reduce maximum detention without trial from Continue reading »
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Claire Higgins. International legal obligations once shaped our refugee policy
The refugee policy of the Fraser government is often invoked in debates about Australia’s current approach to asylum seekers. While the small number of boat arrivals between 1976 and 1981 cannot be compared to the many thousands who arrived between 2009 and 2013, the political difficulties in that era were far greater than simply the Continue reading »
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George Lekakis recalls meeting Gough Whitlam.
Dear John I just wanted to share a memory or two with you before this day is over. My father came to Australia in 1954 and he always told me that he never felt Australian until Gough was elected in 1972. In 1993, at the tail-end of my first visit to Greece, my uncle Continue reading »
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The Italian solution.
Last night the ABC program, Foreign Correspondent, carried a remarkable and moving account of the work of the Italian Navy in rescuing ‘people fleeing conflict or economic despair in the Middle East and Africa’. The Italian Admiral in charge of the operations in the Mediterranean said ‘We have the duty in these cases when we Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Asylum seekers – institutionalised cruelty, the banality of evil and immorality.
You might be interested in this repost. John Menadue The recent statement by the Australian Catholic Bishops on asylum seekers says ‘The current policy has about it a cruelty that does no honour to our nation … Enough of this institutionalised cruelty … We call on the nation as a whole to say no to Continue reading »
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Mike Steketee. Abbott faces the reality of multicultural Australia
While many conservatives continue to hold to the Howard line against multiculturalism, Tony Abbott is adjusting to the reality that Australia is a multicultural country, writes Mike Steketee. “The Australian Government will be utterly unflinching towards anything that threatens our future as a free, fair and multicultural society; a beacon of hope and exemplar of Continue reading »
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Portraits of Humanity
An exhibition by Wendy Sharpe is planned for February/March next year. See details below and contacts for Wendy Sharpe and Lee Meredith of the Asylum Seekers Centre. JohnMenadue. Renowned artist, Wendy Sharpe, is developing a portrait exhibition to highlight our common humanity with asylum seekers. A previous Archibald winner and 2014 finalist, Wendy is Continue reading »
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Robert Manne. “When the facts change I change my mind. What do you do, Sir.” JM Keynes
You might be interested in this repost. John Menadue. I have been a supporter of refugee rights since the mid-1970s, when with others I formed the Indo-China Refugee Association. During the period of the Howard government I wrote tens of thousands of words in defence of the asylum seekers fleeing from Iraq, Afghanistan and Continue reading »
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Andrew Kaldor. Are We Paying Too Much To Stop The Boats?
One of the claims that some commentators like to make about Australia’s asylum seeker policy is that it saves money. It’s got to be cheaper to stop the boats than to have people coming to our shores that way to seek refuge. Right? Wrong. It is not easy to find the actual total costs of Continue reading »
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John Menadue–We stopped the boats; we will now stop the jihadists
You may be interested in this repost. John Menadue By linking boat arrivals and jihadists in the one sentence, a couple of weeks ago, Tony Abbott sounded very much like a dog-whistler that we can expect to hear more from in the future. He knows there is widespread, although a mistaken perception, that most Continue reading »
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Xanthe Emery: Family violence and immigration – is the message getting across?
Family violence in Australia is at epidemic levels, with some horrific high profile cases dominating the news in 2014. Migrant women in Australia are extremely vulnerable to violence from their partners. Threats to cancel a woman’s visa are used to frighten, intimidate, and coerce her to stay in a violent relationship. More could be done Continue reading »
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Hugh Mackay. Does every moral lapse make the next one easier?
The political decline of the Abbott government has been remarkable. No other federal government in recent history has fallen from favour so soon after an election, nor languished in the polls so intractably (consistently trailling Labor 47-53 for more than six months). The question is: why? There are at least two answers. The obvious one Continue reading »
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David Isaacs and Ian Kerridge. Asylum seeker’s ‘brain death’ shows failure of care and of democracy.
The news that Hamid Kehazaei, a 24-year-old Iranian asylum seeker detained on Manus Island, has been diagnosed as brain dead following his transfer to the Mater Hospital in Brisbane is a tragedy. That it is a tragedy for this young man and his family is unquestionable The news – but the extent of this tragedy Continue reading »
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Ben Lewis. The false advertising of mandatory detention and “Stopping the Boats”
Spend any amount of time listening to Australian policy makers or reading Australian media and you’re certain to hear a familiar phrase: “Stop the Boats”. It has become such a political imperative within the Australian asylum seeker debate that “Stop the Boats” is rarely even challenged. But putting aside the question of whether Australia should Continue reading »
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Clare Condon SGS. Sanctioned Violence: What does it do to our society and relationships?
Some violent acts, depending on where and how they were perpetrated, are regarded as criminal. Others, however, are sanctioned by society, even applauded and cheered. Some are blatant; others are covert and subtle. Some are justified by cultural norms, by the blind eye or the deaf ear; they happen behind closed doors. Others are justified Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Refugees and asylum seekers..a re-think on Temporary Protection Visas.
I have long argued that Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) should be rejected on the grounds that they don’t deter asylum seekers, people are left in limbo and because TPV holders could not sponsor family which resulted in risky boat journeys by women and children. It is time to think again about TPVs. At the present Continue reading »