What if our government really wanted to save money? As well as going after $6.7 billion in its omnibus savings bill, it could go after the billions more it costs to run our immigration detention centres: $9.2 billion in the past three years, $3.9 billion to $5.5 billion in the next four, according to the most complete Read more
Australia’s migrant and refugee detention centre on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea is to be closed. With very few of the refugees willing to be resettled in Papua New Guinea, it is unclear where the refugees and asylum seekers will go after Manus closes. Australia’s immigration minister Peter Dutton has made it clear that Read more
“In my entire career of 43 years I have never seen more atrocity than I have seen in the incarcerated situations of Manus Island and Nauru.” Paul Stevenson has had a life in trauma. The psychologist and traumatologist has spent 40 years helping people make sense of their lives in the aftermath of disaster, of Read more
There was a very moving scene at the state funeral of Malcolm Fraser in March last year, when Vietnamese Australians thronged outside the church carrying placards which read: “You are forever in our hearts: farewell to our true champion of humanity: Malcolm Fraser.” I honour Fraser, but not because he opened our borders to fleeing Read more
Peter Dutton, what do you do between the hours of midnight and 5am? Do you sleep? If so, I really must ask – how can you? Dozens of Australians sit up all night, every single night, comforting asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru. You don’t have to, therefore the task falls to the advocates. Read more
The death this week of Omid, a young refugee held on Nauru, brought feelings of sadness but also great anger. News that a second refugee, a young Somali woman, has self-immolated and is fighting for her life in a Brisbane hospital only adds to this. These are tragic, entirely predictable and preventable consequences of our Read more
Broadspectrum operates detention centres, under contract to the Australian government, in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. The company that used to be called Transfield Services, has revealed a profit of Au$25.1 million for the six months to the end of December. The jump in group earnings was mostly driven by a 6.5 per cent rise Read more
Germany’s Catholic Church has called for a reduction in the number of refugees coming into the country. The president of the German bishops’ conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, said Germany cannot “take in all the world’s needy”. The question of how to respond to the migrant crisis, he said, should not solely be a matter of Read more
Ten Anglican and Uniting churches in Australia have offered sanctuary to traumatised and abused asylum seekers who are set to be returned to Nauru. A recent Australian court decision stated the lawfulness of the offshore detention regime on Nauru. This means 267 asylum seekers on mainland Australia could be returned there. But 10 Anglican and Read more
Now that Australia’s High Court has ruled that the offshore detention regime at Nauru and Manus Island is lawful a five year old boy who was allegedly raped on Nauru is facing the prospect of being returned to the detention centre where his attacker remains. The Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said he will carefully Read more