Immigration, refugees
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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 »
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John Menadue. Scott Morrison at the Human Rights Commission.
Minister Morrison, assisted by the Secretary of his department, continued his aggressive ways at the hearing on August 22. He said that his policies discouraged asylum seekers risking their lives at sea. He described himself as the champion of the voiceless, ‘the ones that are at the bottom of the ocean’. He clearly wants to Continue reading »
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Elizabeth Elliott. Compassion goes missing on Christmas Island
When it comes to children in need, most Australians feel compassion. Most will applaud today’s announcement that ‘Boat Kids’ will be released into the community. However this decision does not go far enough. It includes only kids aged less than 10 years (excluding many vulnerable teens); only those detained on the Australian mainland (excluding kids Continue reading »
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Frank Brennan SJ. We think we have a problem!
Eureka Street has run an article by Frank Brennan which highlights the far greater problems that the US has in managing its land border with Mexico. Frank Brennan also reflects on sending refugees to Cambodia, our locking up of children in Immigration detention facilities and the holding of 157 people including over 30 children in Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Is there light at the end of the dark tunnel?
In my blog of April 17 I outlined ways in which we might find a way out of the refugee quagmire. It is reposted below. There is speculation that the government may announce an increase in the refugee intake to help the Christians and other minorities suffering dreadful persecution in Iraq and Syria. I hope Continue reading »
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Bob Douglas and Claire Higgins. Beyond Operation Sovereign Borders.
Recently in The Saturday Paper Max Opray reported on the harrowing story of two 16 year-old Vietnamese asylum seekers, who have been removed from their Adelaide school without warning, and placed in closed detention in Darwin. The boys are among around 30,000 asylum seekers who are currently in Australia awaiting resolution of their protection claims. Many Continue reading »
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John Menadue. . Come by air – no problem!
Many newspapers this morning are full of stories about fraud and bureaucratic negligence over air arrivals. The integrity of the visa system is being called into question. One June 20, last year, I posted an article ‘Come by air – no problem!’ It is reposted below. This blog highlighted the widespread preoccupation with boat arrivals. Continue reading »
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Kerry Murphy. The persecutions.
In March 2001, the Taliban dynamited the ancient Buddha statues of Bamian because the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, claimed they were ‘idolatrous’ and idolatry is banned in Islam. In July 2014, ISIL destroyed the ancient tomb of the prophet Jonah in Mosul for the same reason.[1] This site was considered a sacred site for Jews, Continue reading »
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Lisa Petheram. Listening to young people’s voices on Refugee and Asylum Seeker Policy
“They are playing with our lives…every year I get older …I want to start a family but I can’t”. What are young people in Australia thinking about refugee and asylum seeker policy? Two youth roundtables recently held by Australia21 have given some insight into the ways that young Australians think about these issues, and their Continue reading »
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Mike Steketee. Mandatory detention punishes but it does not deter.
“It has not been easy for organised world opinion in the United Nations or elsewhere to act directly in respect of some of the dreadful events which have driven so many people from their own homes and their own fatherland but at least we can in the most practical fashion show our sympathy for those Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Suffer the little children to come unto me…
Well, not so if they are Palestinian children or asylum seeker children in our detention centres. At last counting there were 1,230 Palestinians killed in Gaza as a result of 3,000 or more air and artillery strikes. 56 Israelis have died. Close to 1,000 of those Palestinians killed were civilians, including children. Only three Israeli Continue reading »
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Refugee success
In recent years we have been getting a diet designed to diminish, denigrate and demonise asylum-seekers and refugees. We have lost a sense of proportion and the enormous contribution which refugees have made to this country. I have set out below links to information and articles which describe the remarkable way in which we have Continue reading »
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Malaysia, Manus, Nauru and offshore processing.
I have not always held the view that asylum seekers who come to Australia could be transferred and processed in another country. I changed my mind on that partly because of the rapid increase in boat arrivals after the Agreement with Malaysia fell over in 2011. The large number of boat arrivals was reducing public Continue reading »
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Creating a Long-Term Framework for Asylum Seeker Policy
Last Friday 11 July 2014, I attended a roundtable at Parliament House, Canberra to discuss possible actions that could be taken to find a way out of the present divisive and harsh treatment of asylum seekers. The media release following that roundtable is reproduced below. The roundtable drew on discussion paper ‘Beyond Operation Sovereign Borders’, Continue reading »
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Tony Smith. Singing out for asylum seekers.
Recent poll results that show rising support for the Abbott Government’s approach to border security are disturbing even if not entirely surprising. Asylum seekers have been detained offshore, out of general sight and conveniently out of mind for those Australians who prefer not to think about the issue, and the Labor Opposition has consistently failed Continue reading »
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Elenie Poulos. Morrison’s Vision of the ‘National Interest’ Does Us No Good.
The parable of the Good Samaritan from the Bible (Luke, chapter 10) has become common place and almost clichéd in Christian conversations about the current Australian Government’s increasingly cold-hearted and abusive responses to asylum seekers. Christian conversations in the public space about this issue matter because the Minister for Immigration has made much of his Continue reading »
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Elaine Pearson. The civil war may have ended, but not the persecution.
What’s happening to boatloads of Tamil asylum seekers on the Indian Ocean? Allegations that Australian authorities have intercepted at least two Tamil boats and handed them over to the Sri Lankan navy after only brief telephone interviews are extremely troubling. Until now, the Australian government has neither confirmed nor denied these allegations – giving the now long-tired excuse of Continue reading »
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Kerry Murphy. The four questions quiz for refugees.
When Malaysian Flight MH370 disappeared, the Australian Government made a major contribution towards the international search operation. Almost daily there were announcements by Prime Minister Abbott and other Ministers about new information they were checking and hopes of finding the plane. Media accompanied the air force on the search and the Australian contribution was a Continue reading »
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Kerry Murphy. More punishment for asylum seekers and refugees.
“As a young boat people refugee, I arrived here 36 years ago with nothing but an invisible suitcase filled with dreams, [with] a dream to live in a peaceful, safe and free country and to live a meaningful and fulfilling life.” said the new Governor of South Australia Hue Van Le OAM. He arrived on Continue reading »
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Xenophobia and strange behaviour over boats.
UN High Commissioner Antonio Guterres criticises Australia’s ‘strange’ obsession with boats Excerpts from his address and answers to questions at UNHCR NGO consultations, Geneva, 17 June, 2014. I think it is .. important to underline that, especially from the perspective now of refugee protection, we are facing also the development in several parts of Continue reading »
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The disastrous outcome on climate change and the Greens’ culpability
As a result of the Clive Palmer intervention, we are now unlikely to have any carbon reduction policy in place. In a few weeks’ time it is likely the Senate will vote down the Carbon Tax, its successor an Emissions Trading Scheme and Direct Action. The party that is chiefly responsible for this fiasco is Continue reading »
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Repost. Holier than thou … but with disastrous results. John Menadue
The posturing of the Greens on the two big issues of this election, asylum seekers and climate change has given us two appalling policy outcomes. They sided with Tony Abbott in the Senate on both critical issues to defeat improved policy. The country is now paying a very heavy price. The perfect became the enemy Continue reading »
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Michael Kelly SJ. The banality of evil
Denial has many faces. Some of them are necessary. If any of us entertained what might befall us each day and the harm we could come to, we would never get out of bed. But denial also has corrosive and destructive effect if we deny the facts of our experience or refuse to be honest Continue reading »
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Patty Fawkner SGS. Permissible victims.
Permissible victims are defined as those whose life and dignity is violated with very little notice, outrage or public protest. Only once have I been ‘bumped off’ a plane. It was in the USA on a 6am domestic flight. I recall the sequence of emotions: surprise, dismay then anger as I became acquainted first-hand with Continue reading »