The government estimates its proposed $3.5 billion child care package will encourage more than 240,000 families to increase their involvement in paid employment, including almost 38,000 jobless families.
Social Services Minister Scott Morrison confirmed that the government has abandoned its 2014 budget plan to cut back the indexation of pensions.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Social Services minister Scott Morrison has unveiled the first part of the Abbott government’s “families package” ahead of next month’s federal budget and the signs are not good. With the announcement…
Scott Morrison has rejected criticism that the nannies scheme was using taxpayers money to subsidise baby sitters.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The day that then immigration minister Scott Morrison announced an inquiry into allegation of abuse in the Nauru detention centre, News Corps tabloids ran dramatic claims against Save the Children.
The demand for jobs among Australia’s young people is far outstripping supply.
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In racing parlance, Scott Morrison is sitting one out and one back, very well placed politically for both the short and longer terms.
Getting the right balance between short- and medium-term ‘fixes’ may well be the most significant challenge for Social Services Minister Scott Morrison.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Scott Morrison’s appointment as minister for social services in late December 2014 has been seen as an important step for the Abbott government as it moves towards its second budget. The tasks he faces…
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has so far continued in the ‘bad cop’, border protector image of his predecessor, Scott Morrison.
AAP/Lukas Coch
2014 was the year of triumphant press conferences at which the Abbott government affirmed its determination to “stop the boats” and outlined its success at doing so. However, 2015 is likely to be much…
Michael Pezzullo is spearheading far-reaching changes in doctrine and organisation of Australian immigration and border security.
AAP/Stefan Postles
The Australian government is in the throes of a major recasting of traditional immigration and border security doctrines and institutions. The changes are being led by the incoming secretary of the newly…
Howard-era Human Rights Commissioner Sev Ozdowski is the new chairman of the revamped Australian Multicultural Council.
AAP/Matthias Engesser
Late in December, I took a phone call from a young woman working for the Department of Social Services. She had called, she said, because the department was checking its database of contacts, so that the…
Scott Morrison has lobbied and manoeuvred for months for an expansion or change of role.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Tony Abbott has seized the opportunity for a significant reshuffle that he says puts “jobs and families” at the heart of his 2015 agenda, as he seeks to “reset and refocus” his battered government. The…
Scott Morrison has repeatedly characterised the Asylum Seeker Code of Behaviour as being necessary to protect the Australian community.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Recently, it was reported that asylum seekers are “staying indoors”, fearful of breaching the Asylum Seeker Code of Behaviour. All unauthorised maritime arrivals (UMAs) who are granted bridging visas are…
No other minister has the same unchecked control over the lives of other people as the immigration minister has.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison now has unchecked power to decide the outcomes that will affect the lives of asylum seekers and refugees coming to Australia. Previous immigration ministers have had…
Australia announced this week that asylum seekers who are waiting in Indonesia to be resettled in Australia will not be accepted.
EPA/Hotli Simanjuntak
There was a collective shrug in Indonesia over Australia’s decision to stop accepting refugees who are waiting in Indonesia to be resettled in Australia. Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison…
Nauru’s culture of hospitality once applied to all, including the asylum seekers who arrived in 2001 to a dance of welcome, a tradition depicted on this stamp. Refugee resettlement has changed all that.
Refugees settled on Nauru woke on Monday to find an ominous letter, signed “Youth of Republic of Nauru”, had been delivered overnight. Copies had been left at shops, homes, workplaces employing refugees…
Religious leaders have come together to promote community harmony, but some political and media agendas have encouraged Islamophobia.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
Many incidents of violence and harassment directed at Australian Muslims have been reported recently. These are visible confirmation of fears expressed by their community, that support for the government’s…
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng toast the resettlement deal, which has alarmed refugee advocates.
EPA/Mak Remissa
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Australia and Cambodia raises important questions about Australia’s international legal obligations, the nature of regional refugee protection and resettlement…
When Immigration Minister Scott Morrison talks of restoring integrity to the program, he isn’t fretting about meeting international legal obligations.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Whenever an immigration minister states that new laws will “restore integrity” to the immigration program it is clear what they mean is we have new ways of refusing cases and punishing the bad refugees…
Senior Lecturer in Political Science: Research Fellow at the Cairns Institute; Research Associate for Centre for Policy Futures, University of Queensland, James Cook University