Opposition leader claims government has cut $600m from border enforcement and reduced surveillance flights. Budget numbers tell a more nuanced story.
Will Albanese follow the Coalition handbook of staying schtum over on-water matters? By Daanyl Saeed, Crikey
…But while the Labor Party came to power in 2022 promising greater transparency and accountability, not much has changed in terms of disclosures around maritime arrivals.
“The policy settings have not changed,” said Madeline Gleeson, senior research fellow at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law.
“It remains impossible to reach Australia by boat and then seek asylum here. That has not changed, nor has the lack of transparency on boat arrivals.
“In terms of on-water matters, and Operation Sovereign Borders, there has been no substantive change in policy or transparency. Those matters are still outside the public domain. It is difficult to scrutinise them even through parliamentary proceedings.”
Albanese slaps back criticism, defends Operation Sovereign Borders. By James Massola and Angus Thompson, SMH
The initial group of about 30 asylum seekers, believed to be Pakistani nationals, was discovered by locals around Beagle Bay on Friday, and the second group, found about an hour later, was Bangladeshi and Indian.
Albanese pushed back against the opposition’s strident criticism of the men’s arrival on Australian shores, and criticised Dutton for politicising it.
Suspected asylum seekers taken to Nauru as political storm over boat arrivals intensifies. By Andrea Mayes, Cason Ho & Rosanne Maloney, ABC News
The arrival of 39 foreign nationals by boat in remote northern WA on Friday is continuing to cause a political storm.
The opposition says its shows the government is weak on border protection, but the prime minister has accused Peter Dutton of "talking Australia down".
The men have been taken to an offshore detention centre at Nauru.
Dutton likely unscathed by damning Home Affairs revelations, thanks to the media. By Nick Feik, Crikey
This week revealed new details about how Home Affairs under Dutton entered into contracts with multiple companies that were under investigation by the Australian Federal Police. His department contracted a company whose CEO was being investigated for possible drugs and arms smuggling.
Dutton likely unscathed by damning Home Affairs revelations, thanks to media. Crikey
Money for PNG asylum seekers vanishes amid corruption scandal. The Saturday Paper, Karen Middleton
The government has not been able to account for $80 million paid to support asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea, as advocates reveal financial assistance stopped months ago.
Money for PNG asylum seekers vanishes amid corruption scandal. The Saturday Paper, Karen Middleton
Behrouz Boochani: ‘I was not a victim. I was a fighter’. By Charlotte Graham-McLay, The Guardian
“I found my way through my writing again,” says Boochani. “Writing not as a place where you escape to or rely on, but writing as a life.” He adds: “Also through writing, I met people.”
Behrouz Boochani: ‘I was not a victim. I was a fighter’. By Charlotte Graham-McLay, The Guardian
Hundreds more immigration detainees could be released in sequel to NZYQ high court ruling. By Paul Karp, The Guardian
Attorney general applies to have case heard by high court to end legal uncertainty on detainees who refuse to cooperate on deportation.
Many of the remainder have been kept in detention because the government’s legal advice states the NZYQ decision does not require their release if deportation is being frustrated by a lack of cooperation, such as refusing to meet government officials from their country of origin or obtaining a travel document.
Violence against women held in immigration detention rife, new research shows. SBS, AAP
Griffith University criminologist Lorena Rivas, who authored the study, said the key factor influencing women's experience of violent victimisation is their long-term detention.
The more time they spent in custody, the more likely they were to have been victims of abuse, assault and other forms of violence.
Violence against women held in immigration detention rife, new research shows. SBS, AAP
Peter Dutton intervened to allow criminal to extend stay in Australia. By Paul Karp, The Guardian
The revelation about Dutton’s decision in February 2018, when he was home affairs minister, is contained in documents that were produced to a Senate inquiry that investigated his personal intervention in favour of two au pairs.
Dutton granted a visitor visa to the person two days after his office requested a submission, despite there being no evidence of a required change in circumstances since earlier refusals and departmental concerns about the person’s claim to be married to an Australian.
Peter Dutton intervened to allow criminal to extend stay in Australia. By Paul Karp, The Guardian
Ministers briefed on lock-up laws a month before High Court ruling. By Angus Thompson, SMH
…But Monday’s revelations prompted opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson to accuse the government of being remarkably slow to legislate the regime “given the department says it was preparing as early as September to do so”.
Ministers briefed on lock-up laws a month before High Court ruling. By Angus Thompson, SMH
Dutton ignored warnings as offshore processing show ‘rolls on’, says Labor By Michael Bachelard, Nick McKenzie and Angus Thompson
Documents tabled in parliament on Monday show that when then-minister Peter Dutton was sent a briefing note about the audit, he simply indicated he had “noted” the report without having a discussion about it with his department.
Editorial : Detention Disgrace. The Saturday Paper
For as long as the camps were running, nothing else mattered. Regimes were propped up. Corrupt businessmen were paid. The rule of law was debased. Countries were left to teeter into bankruptcy.
This was Australia’s calculation: whatever happens in Papua New Guinea or Nauru is fine, so long as they continue to keep our secrets, so long as they agree to keep storing our refugees.
Both countries became less democratic in the time they ran Australia’s detention centres. Both saw corruption flourish and mismanagement go unchecked. Australia knew this and did nothing. In some cases, the government encouraged it.
It is in this context that Papua New Guinea’s prime minister, James Marape, addressed Australia’s parliament this week. He is the first Pacific leader to do so.
“These have all been our challenges, but as I visit you today, I ask you – do not give up on Papua New Guinea,” he said.
Drugs, guns, corruption, Australia paid suspect companies to run offshore detention. By Nick McKenzie, Michael Bachelard and Amelia Ballinger, SMH
Much of the questionable contracting happened when now Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was responsible for the Department of Home Affairs, although Richardson laid blame with senior public servants and said he found no evidence of ministerial involvement in suspect contracting.
Richardson said blame for the failures he uncovered lay with “senior people within Home Affairs” who were “responsible [for ensuring] proper communication across the department”.
Pope Francis would find PNG refugee conditions an eye-opener By Mark Gaetani, P&I →
In December, an impressive young Papua New Guinean named Jason Siwat, the director of the refugee program for the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and the Solomon Islands, travelled to Canberra bearing two important documents.
The first was a letter from the bishops to Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil asking the government to urgently bring to Australia a group of refugees, now 57 following some acceptances by New Zealand, who been taken to the capital of Port Moresby from the Australian-run Manus Island detention facility in late 2021……………………………………
………..The second document Mr Siwat carried was a survey of the living conditions of several hundred refugees and asylum seekers from the Indonesian province of West Papua, formerly Irian Jaya.
Pope Francis would find PNG refugee conditions an eye-opener. By Mark Gaetani, P&I
PNG Prime Minister Marape's Australia visit must prompt repatriation talks for former Manus Island detainees. Amnesty International
Amnesty International Australia calls on the Australian government to use Prime Minister James Marape’s visit to Canberra to offer repatriation to the 55 remaining men who sought asylum in Australia, were then detained on Manus Island as part of Australia’s offshore detention regime and now remain in Papua New Guinea.
Watchdog lambasts Australian Border Force and home affairs deportation procedures. By Sarah Basford Canales & Paul Karp, The Guardian
In a report released on Wednesday, the government watchdog lambasted the government agencies for having policies and procedures that contained “little acknowledgment” of the effect each day spent detained can have on a person’s physical and mental health.
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PLEDGES AT THE 2023 GLOBAL REFUGEE FORUM - Refugee Council of Australia
At each Global Refugee Forum (GRF), governments, civil society organisations and others are invited to make pledges on additional concrete actions they will take over the coming four years to support refugee self-reliance, ease pressure on host countries and contribute to durable solutions.
The Australian Government has made 23 pledges at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum on matters relating to resettlement, community sponsorship, refugee labour mobility, education, mental health, immigration detention, refugee participation, gender, refugee travel documents, statelessness, international cooperation, peacebuilding, the needs of Rohingya refugees and displacement in and from Afghanistan and Sudan.
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PLEDGES AT THE 2023 GLOBAL REFUGEE FORUM - Refugee Council of Australia
UNICEF chief understands donors need to feel comfortable before resuming aid to UNRWA. By Sarah Ferguson & Marina Freri, 7:30 ABC .
UNICEF's executive director Catherine Russell says she understands the concerns of donor countries including Australia who have suspended aid to the UN's refugee agency in Gaza, following allegations of staff involvement in the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel.
Immigration detainees drop High Court challenges after ankle monitoring bracelets removed. By Matthew Doran, ABC News
People released from immigration detention in the wake of a High Court ruling were made to wear ankle monitoring devices, but some have been removed after legal challenges.