Originally designed to display service times or bible quotations, church signs are becoming a site of political commentary, tackling everything from pill testing to refugee rights.
Scott Morrison leads Bill Shorten at 48- 38 as preferred prime.
minister.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The result will be a major fillip to government MPs, who are hoping the revival of the boats issue will swing public opinion in the Coalition’s direct.
This week One Nation and Brian Burston were beyond embarrassing.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
If the government really intends to “reopen” Christmas Island in any major way, it could find itself spending a lot of money there on few if any people.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other Coalition MPs described Labor as weak on borders after the opposition and the crossbench voted to pass a bill allowing medical transfers from Manus and Nauru.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
A refugee law expert on a week of ‘reckless’ rhetoric and a new way to process asylum seeker claims
The Conversation44 Mo(download)
Today on Trust Me, I'm An Expert, a refugee legal expert busts myths about how proposed medical transfer rules would work, and described some of this week's border security rhetoric as 'reckless'.
Phelps has only been in parliament since she won the Wentworth by-election but she has got one big win under her belt.
Lukas Coch/AAP
A bill to allow for asylum seeker on Nauru and Manus Island to be transferred to Australia for medical and psychiatric treatment has passed both Houses. How will it change things for those detained?
Scott Morrison signals he might reopen the Christmas Island detention centre, closed in October 2018.
AAP
Morrison told a news conference cabinet’s national security committee had met early Tuesday to discuss the contingency planning already in train in anticipation of the bill’s passage.
Morrison operates a minority government and Tuesday’s loss underscored that he can’t.
automatically get his way.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The government will turn up the dial by announcing “contingency plans” against fresh arrivals. Morrison is already moving on to the claim that Shorten couldn’t be trusted to be strong on turnbacks.
Six of the seven crossbenchers backed the ALP amendment to the bill that had come from the Senate.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The government has suffered a historic defeat in the House of Representatives, with Labor and crossbenchers passing the legislation facilitating medical transfers from Manus and Nauru by 75-74.
Australia could be breaching its international legal obligations if it is not fairly assessing asylum seekers who apply for protection at customs.
BRENDAN ESPOSITO/AAP
Australia’s immigration department doesn’t keep a record of the number of people applying for asylum at airports. This means there is no oversight over the treatment of those seeking protection.
Shorten has been caught every which way in the last few days.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
After Shorten was briefed by security officials and with enormous political pressure coming from the government, Labor moved back from its support of the bill as it has come out of the Senate.
Shorten is worried about Labor being wedged, because border protection is always a politically vulnerable area for the ALP.
Dean Lewins/AAP
Scott Morrison says the government will not shift from outright
opposition to the bill, which is based on a proposal originally coming from independent Kerryn Phelps but subsequently refined.
If the government feels it is on the rack over the amendments, Labor also is in an awkward position, and at least one of the independents finds herself in the spotlight.
Protesters depicting detainees of the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis
A. Naomi Paik, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Alleged ‘enemy combatants’ held at Guantánamo Bay who went on hunger strikes to protest their indefinite detention were force-fed by the US military. Today, ICE is force-feeding immigrant detainees.
Some young people are taken to immigration detention as they approach their 18th birthday.
The Prime Minister has been anxious over the last two days to hose down talk that a government defeat on the bill could lead to an election.
Rob Blakers/AAP
Morrison declares the amendments, based on a proposal from independent Kerryn Phelps, would leave the government powerless to stop the entry of a paedophile, rapist or murderer.
The government has been hopeful that it can persuade independent Cathy McGowan to break ranks with other crossbench supporters of the bill.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Scott Morrison and David Coleman said: “There are now only four asylum seeker children on Nauru and they have all been approved for departure to the United States of America with their families”.