The Refugee Olympic Team has settled into the Olympic village in Paris, as part of final preparations ahead of the opening ceremony. This year's team of 37 athletes is the largest yet, reflecting the growing number of refugees worldwide.
Largest ever refugee team to compete at Olympics. Presented by Biwa Kwan, SBS News
The report provides a new and compelling case for Parliament to revisit the idea that Australia should join every other Western nation in providing comprehensive legal protection to combat the widespread infringement of human rights.
There are four key areas of concern in relation to migration. These relate to the mandatory cancellation of visas (on character, security grounds or other grounds); the ‘fast-track’ process for assessing applications for refugee status; changes to the Maritime Powers Act (the legislation which authorises boat turn-backs); and ASIO assessments in relation to refugees and non-citizens. In each, many former rights to procedural fairness have been swept away.
One detainee currently at the centre, Mohammad Anjum, is one of 39 men from Pakistan and Bangladesh who were found at Beagle Bay on the West Australian coast in February after arriving on a fishing boat from Indonesia.
"When we ask them how long we will stay here, how long we will go outside, what is our future — no one is saying this."
"If you attempt an illegal boat journey to Australia you will either be turned back or sent to Nauru," Ms O'Neil said.
Crossbench MPs including independent senator David Pocock, and North Sydney MP Kylea Tink are pushing the Albanese government to improve processing times, and prevent asylum seekers being left on Nauru for years.
Nauru detainee speaks out as new boat arrivals near 100. By Isabel Roe, ABC News
The woman shared a video on her social media of her conversation before the arrest, explaining she was attempting to get assistance for her family in Gaza who had their visa applications to come to Australia denied.
On Friday, Mr Albanese said what had occurred was not about someone being prevented from help.
More than 2,000 Palestinian refugees have arrived in Australia since the war in Gaza began. They are worried about their families left behind in a war zone.
"I know that most of Australia's population are refugees," Shahrazad said.
"That's why they must empathise with us more than the people of any other western country because they lived through oppression, injustice, colonisation, wars, famine, and disease.”
"Everything I just said, we have in Gaza."
VIDEO: Meet the families who escaped the war in Gaza. Reported by Will Murray, ABC News 7:30
New Zealand is unlikely to resettle its full quota of refugees from Nauru under its 2022 agreement with Australia, and faces choices on the future of the pact.
A deal struck by previous governments on both sides of the Tasman agreed New Zealand would take 450 refugees from the detention centre between 2022-2025.
In the first two years of the pact, around 210 people have been approved to settle in New Zealand, and just 172 have done so.
More have been referred to the UNHCR for processing.
Future of New Zealand's Nauru resettlement deal unclear. By Ben McKay, National Indigenous Times
Speakers:
Behrouz Boochani, writer and former Manus detainee
Behnam Satah, social worker and former Manus leader
Ian Rintoul, activist with Refugee Action Coalition
Craig Foster, former national soccer player and human rights activist
Jana Favero, Director of Systemic Change with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
This event is free to attend, but please register your attendance to help us accommodate numbers via Zoom.
Anniversary of 19th July policy : 11 years too long - Zoom event on Saturday 20th July 6- 8pm
"We want to provide a football club that can help new migrants and refugees adjust to Australian society and culture and we want to use the round ball for that," says Julie Crane, the president of the Melrose Park Football Club in Sydney.
In recent weeks there has been a lot of words written and spoken about racism but little to remind us that racism landed here with the First Fleet. It is very deeply imbedded in our culture.
The author of this article Barbara Wertheim OAM was a former Commissioner for Equal Opportunity, Victoria.
Racism arrived with the First Fleet. By Barbara Wertheim, Pearls & Irritations
The leader of the house, Tony Burke, and the education minister, Jason Clare, are among the Labor MPs considered to be vulnerable to campaigns run by new groups known as The Muslim Vote and Muslim Votes Matter.
The groups have said it is wrong to characterise them as political parties, but that they are grassroots campaigns to mobilise voters of the Islamic faith who they say have been taken for granted for too long. They are pressing the government to take a stronger line against Israel’s assault on Gaza.
The Muslim Vote’s website says the movement is “powerful enough to sway the outcome of the next federal election (2024). The showdown will be in Southwest Sydney and Melbourne where there is a high density of Muslims in key areas. Watch this space.”
In November, Guardian Australia revealed that of the 93 people initially affected by the high court ruling, 21 were already living in the community, including 16 let out by the Albanese government and five apparently by the former Coalition government.
Despite at least 16 people having been released by Labor, the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, has said on several occasions since November “if it were up to [her]” the entire NZYQ cohort would “still be in detention” or would never have been released.
A group of 44 men attempting to reach Australia from Java in June were intercepted by an Australian Border Force (ABF) vessel and sent back on two boats after being held onboard for up to 18 days, according to Indonesian authorities.
The men are mostly from Bangladesh, but also include eight ethnic Rohingyas. They were discovered on Indonesia's southernmost island of Rote by local police on Monday.
Border Force holds suspected asylum seeker group for over two weeks before sending back to Indonesia, authorities say. By Bill Birtles & Ari Wu, ABC News
Australian-based athlete Kimia Yousofi says she is grateful to all who have stood by her, after she was named in the Afghanistan Olympic team.
Yousofi fled Afghanistan in 2021 after the takeover by the Taliban and received safe passage to Australia from Iran.
The Afghanistan Olympic Committee operates outside the country and will send three female athletes to the Olympics for the first time.
Aneeta* was already living in fear of her violent and controlling husband when she discovered her abuse was part of a dark pattern.
A call from the Department of Home Affairs alerted her to his past. Her husband, who had sponsored her to migrate to Australia from South Asia, had previously been charged with domestic violence offences from his prior marriages, which he had also kept secret.
Aneeta is among those who have used a safety net for visa applicants, which can provide a pathway to permanent residency without staying with their abuser.
Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed the Rwanda deportation scheme is "dead and buried", on his first full day as prime minister.
The Labour leader said he would end the "gimmick" of deporting migrants arriving in the UK illegally to Rwanda, which was established by the previous Conservative government.
UK's new Prime Minister Starmer confirms Rwanda deportation plan 'dead'. By Sam Francis, BBC
In 2013, UNSW established the world’s first centre dedicated to the study of international refugee law, the Kaldor Centre, with Jane McAdam at the helm.
Under her guidance, the Kaldor Centre has evolved into a global powerhouse – shaping debates, influencing policies, and, above all, producing ground-breaking research.
In this podcast episode, McAdam reflects on the origins of the Centre, how it came to be so impactful during a period of great challenge for refugees, and her aspirations for the decade ahead.
Podcast: Professor Jane McAdam on 10 years as Director of the Kaldor Centre. UNSW, Sydney
Justine Nolan, director of the Australian Human Rights Institute, says that Australia's approach to human rights has historically been "very ad hoc", making it difficult for people to understand what their human rights are and seek recourse if those rights have been abused.
"There's no holistic approach to it in Australia and sometimes rights, like rights to housing and laws around that, differ from state to state, so it becomes very difficult to follow," Nolan said.
"What a human rights act does is try to basically say, 'Here is the global standard which we've agreed to and which we've put into effect.'"
Four in five Australians want a bill of rights — what could it look like? By Elfy Scott, SBS News
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.”
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 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.
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