Asylum seekers

Analysis and Comment (78)

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The Coalition remain steadfastly in favour of an asylum seeker policy that seeks to turn back the boats, but is this really feasible? AAP/Jon Faulkner

Towing back the boats: bad policy whatever way you look at it

By Savitri Taylor, La Trobe University

There is not much bipartisanship in Australian federal politics these days, but the ALP and the Coalition are in agreement on one matter: the boats must be stopped. They just don’t agree on how to do…
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Another High Court challenge to the Gillard government’s indefinite detention of ‘legal black hole’ refugees has experts calling for alternatives. AAP/Jeremy Piper

As a High Court challenge looms, are there alternatives to Australia’s indefinite detention policy?

By Andrew Zammit, Monash University

The Gillard government is facing another High Court challenge to its indefinite detention of the 55 refugees to have received adverse security assessments from ASIO. These continuing legal troubles, along…
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Excising mainland Australia from the migration zone will drastically alter the legal landscape for asylum seekers. AAP/Made Nagi

Out of sight, out of mind: excising Australia from the migration zone

By Melissa Phillips, University of Melbourne

The twists and turns of Australian immigration policy grew even more complicated yesterday with the passage of legislation in parliament to excise the mainland of Australia from the “migration zone…
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Unauthorised boat arrivals from Sri Lanka continue. Recent reports into widespread human rights abuses in Sri Lanka suggest the arrivals might be genuine refugees. EPA/Stringer

The problems with recognising Sri Lankan boat arrivals as refugees

By Catherine Renshaw

It is all pretty confusing. Are Sri Lankan boat arrivals – like the 66 who showed up in the port of Geraldton last month – actually refugees? Are they fleeing from a country where the police and the army…
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Cameras were secretly taken in to detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru by the ABC to film the living conditions there. ABCTV

What if it was our kids? Four Corners and asylum seekers

By Sharon Pickering, Monash University

The federal government does not say how it chooses those it sends for offshore processing. It does not explain how it chooses children to go to Manus Island. Australian doctors have told the Department…
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Asylum seeker detainees at an immigration facility in Broadmeadows have staged a hunger strike this week. AAP Image

Refugees and hunger strikes: the need to appeal ASIO assessments

By Sara Dehm, University of Melbourne

27 men detained in Broadmeadows’ Melbourne Immigration Transit Centre (MITA) ended their hunger strike on Wednesday evening. This group of 25 Tamils and two Burmese Rohingyas had gone ten days without…
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The arrival of 66 asylum seekers by boat on the mainland coast of Australia at Geraldton has prompted the opposition to promise tough new border security measures, including the use of drones to detect boats at sea. AAP/Mark Cairn

All the King’s drones won’t stop the boats

By Melissa Phillips, University of Melbourne

After relying on immigration policies taken from the copy book of John Howard, the Liberal party has turned to defence technology for its latest policy innovation involving drones detecting boats carrying…
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For women and children the risks when crossing borders are far greater than men. EPA/Yuri Kochetkov

Deadly borders: women and children seeking asylum

By Sharon Pickering, Monash University

Crossing borders is far more dangerous for some. The facts are that women and children are more likely to die crossing borders in environmentally hazardous conditions than men. When boats sink or encounter…
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Yesterday’s fatalities highlight the importance of ensuring Australian authorities continue to respond to asylum seekers caught at sea. AAP/Sharon Tisdale

Stop the deaths: rescuing asylum seekers is an integrity issue

By Tony Kevin

We received news yesterday of the latest fatal capsize of a boat carrying asylum seekers towards Australia – the 20th reported sinking event in four years. The two deaths yesterday brought the confirmed…
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Passengers were delighted when Alain Delord was plucked from the sea. Why don’t we feel the same way about asylum seekers? AAP/Orion Expedition Cruises

Compassion for strife at sea is possible … but not if you’re an asylum seeker

By Melissa Phillips, University of Melbourne

Passengers aboard the cruise ship Orion, which recently rescued French sailor Alain Delord in the seas southwest of Hobart, were at first upset that they had to detour from their planned route. They were…
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Governments should be careful to protect human rights when contracting with businesses, such as health services in immigration detention. Department of Immigration & Citizenship

It’s time for business schools to put human rights on the agenda

By Kenneth McPhail, La Trobe University

Last week, the UN held its first-ever business and human rights forum in Geneva. It’s part of a growing awareness that multinationals have a big impact on human rights. Opening the forum, the UN’s human…
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Federal member for Fremantle Melissa Parke has attracted a national profile with her left wing views in recent years. Office of Melissa Parke MP

In Conversation: Greens are not our enemy, says Labor’s Melissa Parke

By Geoffrey Robinson, Deakin University

Labor’s Melissa Parke probably won’t be too popular with rightwing powerbrokers like Paul Howes with her view that the Greens are a fellow progressive party rather than an insidious enemy to be confronted…
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An Australian navy vessel escorts asylum seekers to Christmas Island-but what are our obligations to other vessels? AAP Image/Scott Fisher

Explainer: what are Australia’s duties to rescue at sea?

By Eric Wilson, Monash University

Australia, like all coastal states, is under an absolute obligation to undertake rescue at sea wherever and whenever necessary. It is not, however, immediately apparent that this is the case. A question…
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Current immigration policies promote uncertainty, fear and disempowerment, which contribute to mental illness. AAP

One step forward, two steps back for asylum seeker mental health

By Belinda Liddell

The recent overhaul of Australia’s immigration policies aims to protect the lives of asylum seekers by removing any advantage of arriving by boat. Whether this goal will be achieved remains unclear. But…
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The first group to arrive at Manus Island since facilities were reopened flew in on Wednesday. AAP/Department of Immigration and Citizenship

Four steps to more humane refugee processing

By Julian Burnside

The latest announcements about boat-people involved heading further down the wrong track: a track marked out by the Howard government for political reasons, and sold to the public using dishonest rhetoric…
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Chris Bowen’s new policy on bridging visas takes the Pacific Solution further in the wrong direction. AAP/Dean Lewins

Bridging visas send refugee policy further down the wrong track

By Julian Burnside

It is clear enough that the Gillard government’s revived Pacific Solution has not stopped the boats: it has not even slowed them. In 2002, the boats stopped, some months after the Pacific Solution was…
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Asylum seekers will now be released into the community with no right to work. AAP/Department of Immigration and Citizenship

The ‘no advantage’ myth in refugee processing

By Kerry Murphy

In August 2012, the Report of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers created a new myth in the language of asylum seekers and refugees. That was the idea of “the no advantage principle”. It is a variation…
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Sri Lankan asylum seekers arrive in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Many will attempt the onward journey to Australia. EPA/Stringer

Why the increase in Sri Lankan asylum seekers?

By James Jupp

Until recently most “boat people” seeking asylum in Australia have come from wartime situations or from dictatorships. But this is not the case for the increasing numbers coming from Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka…
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With immigration detention recommencing in Nauru, we must monitor the welfare of asylum seekers. AAP image/Department of Immigration and Citizenship

If we care about asylum seekers we must count deaths in detention

By Sharon Pickering, Monash University and Leanne Weber, Monash University

The Houston Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers was set the task of reducing deaths of asylum seekers following the mounting loss of life on the seas between Indonesia and Australia. But it remained blind to…
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Tents at Nauru that await asylum seekers as their claims are processed. AAP/Department of Immigration and Citizenship

M47 and ASIO case may not prove a victory for refugees after all

By Dilan Thampapillai, Deakin University

The High Court’s decision in the M47 case is likely to be a pyrrhic victory for refugee rights. Last week the High Court ruled that the regulation that allowed the Commonwealth to deny a visa to a refugee…
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The new government campaign misses the mark. Australian government

No advantage for Gillard in misguided asylum seeker campaign

By Sally Webster, Victoria University

With 5,459 attempted boat arrivals to Australia in the first half of 2012, an increase of 894 since last year, it is no wonder the prime minister is desperate to demonstrate she is combating people smuggling…
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Both political parties are lining up their elections strategies now, even though an election could still be a year away. AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Feels like an election year? Here’s why

By Rob Manwaring, Flinders University

The former British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson famously said a week is a long time in politics. If this is the case, then you have to wonder how long it will feel if the current Parliament runs it full…
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For many asylum seekers the route to Australia is via Ashmore Reef, and fraught with danger. AAP/Department of Defence

Benevolent neglect: how Indonesia handles its asylum seeker problem

By Antje Missbach, University of Melbourne

Despite arrivals of asylum seekers by boat being a major political issue for Australia over the last decade, the Indonesian government has not regarded the presence of asylum seekers and refugees with…
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Australian troops examine the asylum seeker detention centre on Nauru. AAP/Alex Ellinghauses

Asylum seekers and the Houston Report’s ‘Australian solution’

By Savitri Taylor, La Trobe University

The Houston panel reported on Monday 13 August 2012. The government has committed to implementing all of its recommendations. In fact, one of its recommendations (recommendation 7) has already been implemented…
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Immigration Minister Chris Bowen may no longer be guardian to unaccompanied asylum seeker minors. AAP/Alan Porritt

Expert panel leaves asylum seeker children in the dark

By Kerry Murphy

The circumstances of unaccompanied minors are barely addressed by the Houston report on asylum seekers. There is one reference to “vulnerable persons”. This is in the context of transferring those with…
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The Conversation expert panel and the Houston panel: same terms of reference, different recommendations. AAP/Alan Porritt

Houston report on asylum seekers: did the panel listen to the experts?

By Sharon Pickering, Monash University and Melissa Phillips, University of Melbourne

Angus Houston’s expert panel on asylum seekers released its final report yesterday. Charged by the prime minister with breaking the political deadlock on asylum seeker policy, the panel has handed down…
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Prime Minister Julia Gillard meets with the Chief of the Defence Force General David Hurley in Canberra. AAP/Alan Porritt

The sad politics of the Houston Report on asylum seekers

By James Jupp

Greeting the findings of the Houston expert panel on asylum seekers, The Australian front page exclaimed “At last, people put before politics”. This is, of course, ridiculous. The Malaysian solution would…
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In asylum seeker policy, the most punitive measures are the most politically acceptable. AAP/Lukas Coch

For asylum seekers, ‘disincentives’ are the new deterrence

By Leanne Weber, Monash University

Remarkably, in all the 162 pages of the Houston panel’s report on asylum seekers, the word “deter” does not appear a single time. But this does not necessarily indicate a welcome move away from the deterrence…
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Gillard’s expert panel – Michael L'Estrange, Angus Houston and Paris Aristotle (L-R) – gave her exactly what she wanted. AAP/Alan Porritt

Hard-headed politics: ask the right experts and you’ll get the answers you want

By Bronwyn Hinz, University of Melbourne

Politics drives policy, and not the other way around. If we ever needed a sober reminder of this democratic truism, we got it in the political responses to the expert panel’s report on asylum seeker policy…
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Rohingya asylum seekers from Myanmar rest at a temporary shelter in the port of Krueng Raya, Aceh, Indonesia. EPA/Hotli Simanjuntak

Houston panel offers a circuit breaker in regional asylum crisis

By Sara Davies, Griffith University

As we waited for the release of the Houston panel’s report on asylum seekers yesterday, I saw a mixture of high hopes and low expectations from those in attendance at the Parliament House briefing room…
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The Houston panel – Paris Aristotle, Angus Houston and Michael L'Estrange – briefed the media on their findings yesterday afternoon. AAP/Alan Porritt

Houston panel ignores the evidence on asylum seekers

By Sharon Pickering, Monash University and Melissa Phillips, University of Melbourne

The Report of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers contains some threads of a genuine shift from the prevailing framework towards a more regulatory model for responding to asylum seekers. The panel has…
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Seven Cameroonians disappeared this week … but why? EPA/Dennis M. Sabangan

The case of the lost athletes – when Olympians seek asylum

By Melissa Phillips, University of Melbourne

Every four years, the Olympics brings us plenty of drama on and off the sports field. This year has been no different with seven athletes from Cameroon absconding from the Olympic village and more anticipated…
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There is a fairer and more humane way of dealing with asylum seekers. AAP/Department of Defence

Saving lives at sea: the asylum seeker expert panel reports

By Sharon Pickering, Monash University; Helen Ware; Melissa Phillips, University of Melbourne; Sandy Gifford, Swinburne University of Technology; Savitri Taylor, La Trobe University, and Stephen Castles

After two weeks of assessing the evidence, discussing policy and reporting on fieldwork, The Conversation’s asylum seeker expert panel has made its findings. Using information from our research repository…
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35 years of refugee journeys, charted on an interactive map.

Infographic: global refugee populations 1975-2010

By Steve Melnikoff, University of Melbourne

Welcome to our new infographic, displaying global populations of refugees from 1975-2010, as part of The Conversation’s expert panel on asylum seekers. Using UNHCR data compiled by the United Nations…
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Our panel will consider options to prevent deaths at sea. AAP/Basarnas

The Conversation panel on asylum seekers: meet the experts

By Megan Clement, The Conversation

The Conversation has brought together a team of six academic experts to tackle one of the thorniest issues in Australian politics – asylum seeker deaths at sea. Over the next few weeks, they’ll be examining…
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Detention on Nauru is not the answer – and neither is the Malaysian solution. AAP/Rural Australians for Refugees

Fraser: increase refugee intake, process in Indonesia and Malaysia

By Malcolm Fraser, University of Melbourne

Recent debates on asylum seeker problems have revolved around two approaches that are not going to work. The opposition’s Nauru solution is not going to get people off boats. It is part of the process…
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Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre. DIAC

Asylum seekers and Australia: the evidence

By Sharon Pickering, Monash University

Welcome to The Conversation’s research repository on asylum seeker issues. When public debate has ground to a halt over something as serious as lives lost at sea, it’s time to look to what the evidence…
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Rohingya asylum seekers from Burma in a temporary shelter at Aceh, Indonesia. EPA/Hotli Simanjuntak

Want to stop the boats? Make refuge accessible off-shore

By Lucy Fiske, Curtin University

Last week Australia’s politicians determined to “do something” to stop people risking their lives at sea on asylum boats headed for Australia. The government wanted a bill from independent MP Rob Oakeshott…
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Refugees on boats en route to Australia are seen by many Indonesians as our problem, not theirs. AAP/Karlis Salna

Not our problem: the Indonesian perspective on asylum seekers

By Colin Brown, Griffith University

If the lead stories in the digital and print media are anything to go by, Indonesians have little interest in the recent asylum seeker boat sinkings and the accompanying loss of life. Over the past couple…
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Refugees stuck in Malaysia are not a means to an end – their rights as individuals are inviolable. AAP/Karlis Salna

The moral philosophy of the Malaysia Solution

By André Dao, Monash University

There’s a knock on the door. It’s late, and it has been a wild and stormy night. You wonder who could possibly be outside in this weather. Opening the door you find a young man collapsed on your doorstep…
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A boat carrying asylum seekers arrives at Christmas Island today. AAP/Rossbach/Krepp

Don’t blame people smugglers – bad policy leads to deaths at sea

By Leanne Weber, Monash University

As I write this, mainstream political parties are locked in a futile battle to determine whose deterrence-based policy will prevail. Debates like the one we saw yesterday in the House of Representatives…
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While politicians debated a bill in Canberra, 150 asylum seekers' lives were at risk. AAP/Australian Maritime Safety Authority

Six issues missing from the asylum seeker debate

By Sharon Pickering, Monash University

When asylum seekers die at sea there are too many things we don’t want to talk about. Following the news of another asylum boat capsizing yesterday, at 2pm the federal Parliament began with a sombre and…
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There is no queue. EPA/Lynn Bo Bo

Refugee populations across the globe: the facts

By Helen Ware

Refugees are created by wars and persecution. People flee their homes because their governments will not, or cannot, protect them from harm and allow them to live in peace. Under international law, as…
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Some Australian refugees develop “protracted asylum seeker syndrome”. Alex E. Proimos

Long waits for refugee status lead to new mental health syndrome

By Suresh Sundram, University of Melbourne and Samantha Loi, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne

There’s a common misconception within the Australian community that asylum seekers arrive by boat. In fact, most asylum seekers arrive here by aeroplane with valid travel documents and reside in the community…
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Falun Gong protestors outside the Chinese consulate in Sydney in 2008. AAP/Dean Lewins

Chinese refugees risking lives for asylum in New Zealand

By Mary Anne Kenny, Murdoch University

UPDATE: The Chinese nationals have now elected to stay in Australia, where they will seek asylum. A group of ten Chinese people fleeing persecution in their home country has presented Australian authorities…
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The government’s obligations to immigration detainees are very similar to those of prisoners. AAP/Dean Lewins

After Serco, what rights do asylum seekers have in detention?

By Adam Fletcher, Monash University

A training manual instructing immigration detention centre guards to use force to incapacitate detainees was leaked this week. It included techniques to kick, punch and target pressure points on detainees…
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Opposition leader Tony Abbott has resurrected former coalition government policy to “turn back” boats seeking asylum in Australia. (AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)

Abbott’s asylum seeker policy floats in murky legal waters

By Maria O'Sullivan, Monash University

Opposition leader Tony Abbott has said that under a coalition government every boat coming to Australia carrying asylum seekers will be sent back to Indonesia. The Indonesian police, the United Nations…
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Asylum seekers held in detention centres like Villawood have been protesting that the current system doesn’t work. AAP/Dean Lewins

Why Australia should abandon the Refugee Convention

By Bob Birrell, Monash University and Adrienne Millbank, Monash University

With the collapse of offshore processing, and the likely increase in boat arrivals into a politically charged environment, a cross-road may have been reached regarding asylum policy in Australia. Now…
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Shooty Vikadan died in Villawood Detention Centre before the Commonwealth Ombudsman could review his case. AAP/Torsten Blackwood

Dead refugee caught in ‘legal limbo’ between government agencies

By Michael Lavarch, Queensland University of Technology

The asylum seeker who committed suicide in Villawood detention centre this week should have been interviewed by the Commonwealth Ombudsman to establish whether he should have been released into the community…
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Julia Gillard and her Immigration Minister Chris Bowen haven’t had the best of weeks. AAP/Alan Porritt

Asylum seekers to be processed onshore as PM weighs up a long week in politics

By Craig Mark, Kwansei Gakuin University

The Malaysia Solution isn’t quite dead, but its vital signs are certainly not good. With a steely look in her eye, and barely concealed anger, Julia Gillard blamed Opposition Leader Tony Abbott for “trashing…
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Without reform of the Migration Act, the governments plan for processing refugees offshore would be in tatters. AFP/Saeed Khan

A cynical Migration Bill ignores Australia’s international obligations

By Adam Fletcher, Monash University

Later today the Australian Government plans to put the Migration Legislation Amendment (Offshore Processing and Other Measures) Bill 2011 to a vote in the House of Representatives. Without it, the government…
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The Australian Ambassador is doing everything he can for the Australian boy detained in Bali, but Indonesian children aren’t so lucky. AFP/Sonny Tumbelaka

Hypocrisy over Bali teenager as Indonesian children remain in jail

By Kate Gauthier

This week the nation has been in an uproar over the arrest of a 14 year old Australian boy in Indonesia, accused of buying drugs. TV news reports discussed the terrible conditions of the prison, where…
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Julia Gillard and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen after the High Court ruled the Malaysian Solution invalid. AAP

Onshore processing: what it means for asylum seekers

By Maria O'Sullivan, Monash University

The Federal Government’s position on handling asylum seekers is in disarray. The High Court has ruled its Malaysia Solution invalid and the Coalition has indicated it will not support moves to amend the…
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Julia Gillard inherited a failing government, and made it worse. AAP/Lukas Coch

Luckless Labor’s Malaysia failure

By Mark Rolfe

The American comedian WC Fields once joked that the best advice in business was “never give a sucker an even break”. Now the High Court has rejected the government’s deal with Malaysia to swap asylum seekers…
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Australia dispersed refugees who were rescued by the Tampa, and its policies haven’t improved. AAP/Wallenius Wilhelmsen

Australia’s human rights record has not improved since the Tampa

By Linda Briskman, Swinburne University of Technology and Caroline Fleay, Curtin University

The dramatic rescue of more than 400 asylum seekers by the Norwegian vessel, the Tampa, ten years ago set in train a series of events that has since caused immense suffering to so many. It is surely now…
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Not a deterrent? This boat arrived on Christmas Island after the “Malaysia solution” deal was finalised. AAP/Josh Jerga

There are better alternatives to the ‘Malaysia solution’

By Kate Gauthier

The government’s controversial “Malaysia solution”, in which Australia “swaps” refugees with Malaysia is being challenged in the High Court this week. Asylum seekers are being backed by the Australian…
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Campaigners in Sydney protesting against the Malaysian Solution. AAP

High Court ruling: the end for the Malaysian Solution?

By Maria O'Sullivan, Monash University

The High Court’s extension of an injunction preventing the deportation of asylum seekers under the so-called Malaysian Solution threatens to present the Gillard Government with a major political problem…
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Mentally ill detainees should be placed in the community for treatment and support. AAP

Asylum seeker mental health probe long overdue

By Louise Newman, Monash University

The Commonwealth Ombudsman yesterday launched an investigation into rising rates of self-harm among detainees of Australia’s immigration detention centres, after it emerged that 50 instances of cutting…
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Malaysia’s history with human rights spells disaster for its refugee deal with Australia AAP Image/Karlis Salna.

Malaysian refugee swap spells human rights disaster

By Gregore Lopez

On Monday, Australia and Malaysia signed a deal that will mean 800 refugees that have arrived in Australia will be swapped with 4,000 verified refugees from Malaysia. This deal from both Australian and…
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Go Back To Where You Came From participants prepare to go on patrol in Baghdad with the US military. AFP PHOTO/ HO/ 2011 CORDELL JIGSAW/SBS

SBS preaching to the converted on refugees

By David Nichols, University of Melbourne

SBS’ recent three-part series Go Back to Where You Came From is, simply, a manipulative piece of media spin calculated to redress the balance of a media spun too far towards racist insularity. The intentions…
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Participants in “Go back to where you came from” had their attitudes towards refugees challenged. SBS: Go back to where you came from

Go back to where you came from: Reality TV encounters the refugee crisis

By Jeni Thornley, University of Technology, Sydney

Tonight, during World Refugee Week, SBS One premieres Go Back to Where You Came From. Over three nights the series plunges six Australian participants into the intense fear and desperation of the refugee…

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