The personal powers of the immigration minister to grant or cancel visas are extremely broad and powerful. And this isn’t the first time they’ve courted controversy.
The AUKUS agreement has all the Morrison hallmarks: his own work, conceived and executed in secrecy, kept to the smallest possible round of colleagues, details to be worked out much later, and little concern for the incidental fallout, writes Michelle Grattan
The government’s refugee policy in the wake of the Afghanistan war is a chance to show the world what sort of country we are and we should display a more generous character, writes Michelle Grattan
A boy holds a poster in support of the Biloela Tamil family at a 2019 rally.
Joel Carrett/AAP
How hard is Scott Morrison willing to poke the panda? That’s a question posed by the government’s review of the Chinese company Landbridge’s 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin.
Getting the right “balance” is one of the main challenges when framing and executing policies. The difficulties of achieving this are being exposed currently on two fronts – the repatriation of Australians and relations with China.
Tjapukai Shaw, the Air Force’s Indigenous liaison officer, on an outreach mission to Indigenous communities in a remote part of NSW in 2019.
DAN HIMBRECHTS/AAP
These issues matter to our strategic allies, particularly in the Pacific. Dutton’s climate change scepticism and attitudes toward First Nations people could have a damaging effect.
The difficult defence portfolio has had a swift turnover of ministers in recent decades. But with great challenges come great opportunities for Peter Dutton.
When your back’s against the wall, attack is not necessarily the best means of defence. With this in mind, the word from Scott Morrison to his ministers is, lay off the states.
For the first time, a woman has been appointed to the hawkishly masculine home affairs portfolio. Whether this will bring a change of approach on asylum seekers and other issues remains to be seen.
The government is speeding up the establishment of its planned $1 billion Sovereign Guided Weapons Enterprise, which aims to boost Australia’s own defence production capabilities as it faces a deteriorating security outlook.
Detained refugees inside a compound at Darwin Airport where they have been held for a year while they wait for medical treatment.
Aaron Bunch/AAP
Those who have been released have little financial or social support, confining them to lives of precarity, dependency and impoverishment in our community.
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds faces an agonising question. Should she say to Scott Morrison that she doesn’t feel up to staying in what is one of the most demanding portfolios in the government?
Some changes in the new security bill submitted to parliament last week are welcome, but others require careful scrutiny, especially when the rights of children are at stake.
