Following the Labor conference’s decision to leave open the option of turning back asylum seeker boats, are there any differences left between Labor’s asylum policies and the Coalition’s?
The new Australian Border Force conforms to the national security paradigm of combining maximum power with maximum secrecy.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The Australian Border Force is the culmination of the move towards militarised border security. This commenced in earnest with the introduction of Operation Sovereign Borders in September 2013.
Lawyers and asylum seeker advocates are concerned that the Border Force Act will have a ‘chilling effect’ on whistleblowers working in detention centres.
AAP/Eoin Blackwell
The Australia Border Force Act further entrenches the culture of secrecy around our asylum seeker policy at the cost of open and transparent government. That is something we should be worried about.
A drawing by a six-year-old child detained at the Christmas Island detention centre.
AAP/AHRC
The federal government has tabled the long-awaited Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) report into children held in immigration detention. The report, which recommends a royal commission be held…
Australians should demand a more representative dialogue on matters of refugee protection, inclusive of asylum seekers’ voices.
AAP/Refugee Action Coalition
Australia has long shown disregard for international conventions surrounding refugees. It labels asylum seekers in detention on Manus Island as “transferees”, also frequently referring to those who arrive…
Detained asylum seekers on Manus Island are searching for ways to communicate and be heard beyond the faceless inhumane bureaucracy.
AAP/Refugee Action Collective
Reports continue to emanate of escalating hunger strikes among asylum seekers at the Manus Island detention centre in protest at the length of their detention and their conditions. The Australian government…
Scott Morrison’s release of more children from detention is selective, and the timing of his announcement has a distinctly political flavour to it. The decision applies to about 150 children under ten…
Asked to describe their situation, many children in detention drew pictures to express their feelings of hopelessness and despair.
Author supplied
If a visit to Christmas Island sounds like fun, think again. A remote tropical island in the Indian Ocean – billed as a birdwatcher’s paradise and a haven for snorkelling – has a dark side. It is “home…
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has been the subject of calls to get asylum seeker children out of detention centres and into the community.
AAP/Nikki Short
Two characteristics of this government are that it regularly overreaches and that where possible it shies away from transparency and accountability. Very different issues in the news this week highlight…
Detainees protest in the Woomera centre in 2002: ‘Animals in Australia have more rights than we have!’ one wrote.
AAP/Tom Miletic
Several years ago an asylum seeker wrote a letter about his experiences at the now-decommissioned Woomera Detention Centre. This is an extract: I have been in this cage for 13 months … Why should all these…
Protesters in Brisbane at a rally against the Australian government’s asylum seekers policy on April 12, 2014.
AAP/Andrew Stevenson
A report on the refugee detention centre in Nauru by five independent clinical experts posted online by The Guardian on Friday paints a bleak picture of life on the island, particularly for children. But…
Both major political parties are so intent on ‘stopping the boats’ that they have lost sight of their obligations to protect people.
ROSSBACH/KREPP/AAP IMAGE
Like many other Australians, I am alarmed by the hardening policy positions on asylum seekers of both major political parties. And today, the Royal Australian College of Physicians (RACP), of which I am…