Australia to strike new funding deal with Papua New Guinea to manage transferred asylum seekers. By Paul Karp, The Guardian

The Albanese government will strike a new funding deal with Papua New Guinea (PNG) to support asylum seekers after the country threatened to send them back to Australia unless a fresh agreement was signed.

The Greens’ immigration spokesperson, David Shoebridge, said the secrecy behind the deal was “staggering”, with Labor “providing an undisclosed amount of public funds to PNG to hold refugees that sought asylum here over a decade ago”.

“Let’s make this very clear, the only reason the government provided this funding is because PNG rightfully sees this whole arrangement as condescending and unfair … and refugees are in a life-or-death situation,” he told Guardian Australia.

“The obvious response is to bring those refugees here and give them the care they need.”

Australia to strike new funding deal with Papua New Guinea to manage transferred asylum seekers. By Paul Karp, The Guardian

Your guide to Australian visa changes for 2024-25. By Ruth McHugh-Dillon, SBS News

In December 2023, the federal government announced a raft of changes to visas in its new Migration Strategy, which will affect people currently studying and working in Australia, and those who wish to apply.
The government says the strategy will streamline the system, target labour and skills shortages in Australia and help tackle the exploitation of migrant workers and 'permanent temporariness' among visa holders.
Some changes have already come into effect, but many new measures begin on 1 July 2024.

This is what we know.

Your guide to Australian visa changes for 2024-25. By Ruth McHugh-Dillon, SBS News

International students should make up no more than a third of university cohort, RMIT vice-chancellor says. By Caitlin Cassidy, The Guardian

International students should not exceed a third of any university cohort and it is “damaging to the sector” for foreign students to make up 50% of students at any given institution, RMIT’s vice-chancellor, Prof Alec Cameron, has said.

International students should make up no more than a third of university cohort, RMIT vice-chancellor says. By Caitlin Cassidy, The Guardian

Indonesian boys jailed by Australia claim no translation provided in court, The Guardian, Christopher Knaus

Australian policy was to send any underage crew members on asylum seeker boats home to Indonesia, but police instead relied on a deeply flawed and now universally condemned method of wrist X-ray analysis to wrongly deem them adults.

Children as young as 12 were sent to maximum security adult prisons in Western Australia and the Northern Territory on the basis of the flawed evidence.

Indonesian boys jailed by Australia claim no translation provided in court. By Christopher Knaus, The Guardian

FACT CHECK: Michael Sukkar says overseas arrivals under Labor have outpaced housing construction by four to one. Is that correct? ABC News

Michael Sukkar, the Shadow Minister for Housing’s claim is overblown.

In the 15 months for which official data was available at the time of the claim, the number of migrant arrivals minus departures was roughly three times the number of homes built.

However, experts consulted by Fact Check said it made little sense to compare the net arrivals figure — which includes families and children — with building completions, as not every migrant or new addition to the population requires a separate home.

More than 90 per cent of net arrivals were people on temporary visas, and roughly half of the total were temporary students.

FACT CHECK : Michael Sukkar says overseas arrivals under Labor have outpaced housing construction by four to one. Is that correct? The Guardian

Job threat for Australian university staff as claims international student cuts are being weaponised. By Caitlin Cassidy, The Guardian

University staff have been threatened with deep job cuts because of the federal government’s proposed international student cap, raising concerns the controversial policy is being weaponised as an “excuse” to slash jobs.

The draft bill, introduced to parliament last month, would give the education minister powers to set a maximum number of new international student enrolments. Leading policy experts have described it as a “recipe for chaos”.

Job threat for Australian university staff as claims international student cuts are being weaponised. By Caitlin Cassidy, The Guardian

Violence towards refugee and migrant women often goes undetected. We’ve found a way to help fix that. The Conversation

Safety and Health after Arrival (or SAHAR, also an Arabic woman’s name) is the first Australian study to test universal screening for intimate partner violence and response in settlement services.

This three-year project, led by the University of Wollongong, was funded by the Australian Research Council and SSI, one of Australia’s largest resettlement organisations. We introduced and evaluated culturally tailored screening for intimate partner violence at four settlement support services.

In practice, this meant routine screening for abuse and giving women a wallet-sized information card in their language with key messages and useful contact details, irrespective of whether they had disclosed abuse.

Violence towards refugee and migrant women often goes undetected. We’ve found a way to help fix that. The Conversation

After a decade in detention I call Australia home. Labor’s deportation bill is horrific. By Farhad Bandesh, The Guardian

My name is Farhad Bandesh. I am a human being first. Then, I am an artist, a musician and a wine-maker. Lastly, I am a refugee.

I am one of the people who could end up in jail, if the deportation bill became law.

I came to Australia by sea in 2013 seeking safety. I am Kurdish and, while I was raised in Iran, I have no country. Iran does not recognise me as a citizen; I am labelled as stateless. War and persecution against the Kurdish people continue.

After a decade in detention I call Australia home. Labor’s deportation bill is horrific. By Farhad Bandesh, The Guardian

NEW PODCAST | Refuge: Viet Thanh Nguyen & Shankari Chandran, UNSW, Sydney Writers Festival

The podcast of Refuge: Viet Thanh Nguyen & Shankari Chandran is now available to listen on demand. 

"What does it mean to be included in a military industrial complex that wants to be the global hegemon? We as refugees, we come to the United States, we're expected to be grateful for what? To become settler citizens on indigenous land? And to become the alibi for the exercise of an imperial machine?'" – Viet Thanh Nguyen


In recognition of World Refugee Day 2024 go beyond media reports in this discussion of the refugee experience with Pulitzer Prize for Fiction-winner Viet Thanh Nguyen (A Man of Two Faces), Miles Franklin-winner Shankari Chandran (Safe Haven) and refugee law expert and advocate Daniel Ghezelbash.

NEW PODCAST | Refuge: Viet Thanh Nguyen & Shankari Chandran, UNSW, Sydney Writers Festival

Proposed extraordinary immigration powers and religious protections face uncertain future. By Brett Worthington, ABC News

Labor looks to have effectively shelved its bid to introduce extraordinary immigration powers and offer greater religious protections.

The government and opposition are in a stand-off over both proposals, with the Coalition demanding changes to both.

Proposed extraordinary immigration powers and religious protections face uncertain future. By Brett Worthington, ABC News

Renewed calls to remove controversial migration act amendment. Reported by Tys Occhiuzzi, SBS News

There have been renewed calls to scrap a controversial amendment to the migration act, with claims it could lead to indefinite detention and separation of families. Critics of the proposal have used the start of Refugee Week to bring attention to the bill which is currently before the Federal Senate.

Renewed calls to remove controversial migration act amendment. Reported by Tys Occhiuzzi, SBS News

'I'm not living, just alive': Why Ghulamreza hasn't seen his wife and son for 12 years. By Edwina Guinanm & Madeleine Wedesweiler, SBS News

Ghulamreza Haidari left Afghanistan in 2012 because he feared for his safety as a Hazara man and hoped he could settle his family in Australia. He's still waiting.

Their son Ali was 7 when he left, he is now 20.
Ali didn't know the alphabet then and now is trained as a teacher. His father says the pain of missing so much of his son's life is unimaginable.

After the Taliban claimed power in 2021 , Ali was fired and his mother Jamila has been practically housebound due to the government's restrictions on women.

’I’m not living, just alive' : Why Ghulamreza hasn't seen his wife and son for 12 years. By Edwina Guinan, Madeleine Wedesweiler, SBS News

Reflecting on Family and the Journey to Freedom this Refugee Week. Asylum Seekers Centre, Sydney

This year’s Refugee Week theme of Finding Freedom, with a particular focus on Family, invites us to reflect on the resilience, strength, and unity that is the refugee experience. It’s also a celebration of the transformative power of familial bonds, both by birth and chosen, in the face of adversity.

To mark Refugee Week, all donations to the Asylum Seekers Centre will be matched. This means every contribution will be doubled, providing even more support for those seeking safety without a safety net.

Reflecting on Family and the Journey to Freedom this Refugee Week, Asylum Seekers Centre, Sydney

Archibald Finalist's fight to call Australia home as an asylum seeker. Interviewed by Hamish Macdonald on The Sunday Project (Channel 10)

Moz (Mostafa Azimitabar) is a two-time Archibald finalist recognised as one of Australia’s best portrait artists. But while he lives here, works here and undeniably loves this country, as an asylum seeker there’s a real chance that he might never call Australia home.
Archibald Finalist's fight to call Australia home as an asylum seeker. Interviewed by Hamish Macdonald on The Sunday Project, (Channel 10)