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
“The Abbott Government is erecting an iron curtain of secrecy over what is happening and what has happened in Australia’s immigration detention system,” says barrister and spokesperson for the Australian Lawyers Alliance, Greg Barns. “The Australian Border Force Act, supported by the ALP and opposed only by the Greens, effectively turns the Department of Immigration Read more
Catholic education authorities in Sydney are encouraging students to speak out if they are unhappy with Australia’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. Sydney archdiocese executive director of Catholic schools Dan White said these schools have a long-standing tradition of encouraging students to engage with social justice issues. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a Read more
The New Zealand Government has not ruled out the possibility transferring any boat people reaching it shores to detention centres in third countries. It has rejected of the recommendation made by the United Nations Human Rights Council to rule out the transfer of asylum seekers to detention centers in third countries. This is one of Read more
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands says it is appalled to hear of recent disturbances at the Manus Island detention centre resulting in death and injury for the asylum seekers. The The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands has consistently spoken against offshore processing in PNG Read more
Over the past three-and-a-half years, the outback mining town of Leonora in Western Australia has been a temporary home for asylum seekers. Last month however, the Federal Government announced that Leonora’s detention centre – along with three other centres on Australia’s mainland – would close by the end of February. For Good Samaritan Sister, Annette Dever, a Read more
The Salvation Army, which is running care services for asylum seekers on Nauru Island, says facilities should be improved before women and children are transferred there. Salvation Army spokesman Paul Moulds says women and children should not be sent yet, because asylum seekers are sleeping in tents while the compound is under construction. “We certainly Read more
Pressure is growing on Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott to put politics aside and sort out the border protection mess. On Thursday The Australian reported Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has been given the authority to put the Nauru detention centre on the table in talks with the Opposition aimed at ending the stand-off over offshore Read more
On Monday the Nauruan government confirmed it was now a party to the UN Refugee Convention. The paperwork necessary to join the convention in June was signed in June. It then had to wait for the UN to process its application. Nauru’s decision to sign the convention bolsters Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s calls to recommence offshore processing Read more
Tony Abbott wants Nauru to be used for the off-shore processing of asylum seekers. The Australian opposition leader has refused to support either of the Government’s versions of amendments which would have made a Malaysian deal lawful, and offered a third – his own. Like Labour’s, it is designed to accommodate a recent High Court Read more