History suggests that resettling refugees on Nauru and Manus Island in Australia and New Zealand will not enliven people smuggling between Indonesia and Christmas Island.
Both major parties support offshore processing and boat turnbacks. But public opinion on asylum seekers is not so clear-cut. And nor are the policy alternatives.
It is hard to credit that two asylum seekers in Nauru could set themselves alight on Australia’s watch and the stories receive, compared to much else, so little attention in our hyper media cycle. One…
High rates of self-harm are endemic on Nauru. And yet, the Australian government persists in seeing suicide and self-harm as the fault of refugees and their supporters.
Malcolm Turnbull’s nose was out of joint when Tony Abbott said last month the Turnbull government would be running at the election on the Abbott government’s record. Turnbull insisted that while there…
In offering to open church buildings across Australia as places of sanctuary for asylum seekers, church leaders are appealing to an ancient notion of how we should treat people in need of protection.
Malcolm Turnbull turned on the machismo and Peter Dutton stayed tough, after the High Court confirmed Australia’s offshore detention regime is constitutional.
Parts of a High Court decision on the legality of offshore processing deal a crucial blow to the tired argument that what happens offshore is not Australia’s responsibility.
The concept of “ministerial responsibility” means, among other things, that ministers are held accountable for what they say – right? But if you are the immigration minister in the Coalition government…
A new survey shows that many Pacific islanders are considering migrating to escape climate change. It’s time for new international rules to manage the flow.
An Amnesty International investigation has found Australian officials may have paid money to the crew of a boat intercepted in July – the second such alleged incident.
The appalling saga of the pregnant Somali woman known by the pseudonym of “Abyan” shows the urgent need for some neutral watchdog in such a situation to ensure the person’s interests are protected and…
There are reasons to query whether, in practice, proposed legislation to protect Border Force employees who report child abuse in detention centres is necessary.
Many have claimed that the ending of detention on Nauru is a strategic move to undermine a constitutional challenge to Australia’s offshore detention regime, heard by the High Court this week.
The undeniable truth is that Nauru – whether inside or outside the confines of the detention camp – is a dangerous and soul-destroying place for both asylum seekers and refugees.