Australia is talking about migration – but what do people at the centre of the debate have to say? By Achol Arok, The Guardian

When Shamsullah Sadey, 19, fled Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and arrived in Australia with his family in 2024, he brought with him dreams of becoming a neurosurgeon.

But the high school student is feeling increasingly “uncertain” about his future. He says the recent debate about migration means for “the first time I’ve genuinely felt unwelcome” in Australia.

That feeling is common among migrants, refugees and asylum seekers who tell Guardian Australia they’re anxious and fear being excluded as the major political parties compete on policies to reduce net overseas migration (Nom).

“It’s quite disheartening. Behind every migration number is a person and a family and a story. Australia can have a well-managed migration system while also treating migrants and refugees with dignity,” he says.

“Australia has given me more than enough. I hope Australia remains a place where young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds can feel that they belong and have a future. I just hope that we don’t lose sight of the human side of migration.”

Australia is talking about migration – but what do people at the centre of the debate have to say? By Achol Arok, The Guardian

Australia's cross-border couples urge government to reconsider delaying offshore partner visas. By Doug Dingwall and Erwin Renaldi, ABC News

In a submission to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke this week, a group of partner visa applicants and their Australian sponsors have urged him to explain his decision in July to deprioritise the processing of offshore partner visa applications.

Applicants face waits of more than three years for subclass 309 visas, with 90 per cent of cases processed in up to 39 months, compared to 29 months for onshore partner visa applicants.

A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson told the ABC while offshore partner visa applications would have lower priority, they would still be processed and granted "in accordance with the planning levels and priorities set by the government".

"An onshore-focused program will support timely transitions to permanent residency for migrants already living, working and contributing to Australia, and further reduces the program's impact on net overseas migration."

Australia's cross-border couples urge government to reconsider delaying offshore partner visas. By Doug Dingwall and Erwin Renaldi, ABC News

Qazwan hasn't seen his family in 16 years. He fears he may not get another chance. By By Youssef Saudie & Mikele Syron, SBS News

One Yemeni Australian worries his family in Yemen can't access food, clean water and medicine — he doesn't know if they'll survive.

More than 130,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since the start of September amid escalating fighting.

UNHCR says its response is severely underfunded and is calling for greater humanitarian support from Australia.

Qazwan hasn't seen his family in 16 years. He fears he may not get another chance. By By Youssef Saudie & Mikele Syron, SBS News

Australia's migration tightening is part of a bigger shift. Here's what other nations are doing. By Alexandra Koster, SBS News

The government's new measures to lower net overseas migration are part of a much broader global shift in immigration policy.

Australia is targeting students, backpackers and overstayers as it seeks to bring net overseas migration down.

Canada, the US, UK and countries across Europe are also tightening parts of their immigration systems.

Australia's migration tightening is part of a bigger shift. Here's what other nations are doing. By Alexandra Koster, SBS News

Analysis : If Australia wants to lower migration it needs more productivity. By Alan Kohler, ABC News

Everyone now understands that growing the economy only by increasing the number of people, while individuals feel worse off, is a recipe for unhappiness and dissent.

Aggregate growth is a statistic, but individual decline is a vote. The political solution? Fewer people.

That's because those in focus groups and answering polling questions complain about how many people they can see, rather than the reason they are worse off: weak productivity, which they can't see.

Does Canada have the answer?

Analysis : If Australia wants to lower migration it needs more productivity. By Alan Kohler, ABC News

Why is Australia propping up Nauru Airlines to keep offshore detention alive? By Nick Feik, The Weekend Point

Here’s a question you’ve probably never asked yourself: Why does Nauru Airlines exist? There’s a simple answer – Australia’s offshore detention regime. Australia’s “resettlement” program in Naoero requires air transport, and Nauru Airlines is the only airline that flies to Naoero, so our government needs Nauru Airlines to keep the offshore regime up and running. But Nauru Airlines isn’t viable as a commercial airline.

Why is Australia propping up Nauru Airlines to keep offshore detention alive? By Nick Feik, The Weekend Point

SIEV X at 25: 353 lives Australia should not forget. By Mainul Haque , P&I

The 25th anniversary comes at an important time.

Australia is again debating migration, multiculturalism and what it means to be Australian. There is now open discussion about whether Australia should become more monocultural.

We should be able to have that debate. But we should also remember the country we are talking about.

Australia is the ancient and continuing home of the First Nations peoples. Their connection to this land goes back tens of thousands of years and must always be recognised.

SIEV X at 25: 353 lives Australia should not forget. By Mainul Haque , P&I

Australia's university sector and international students alarmed by immigration crackdown. By Mikaela Ortolan, Max Walden and staff, ABC News

The federal government today announced international students will be barred from bringing their families to Australia as part of a broader immigration crackdown.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke said there would be exemptions for students in PhD programs or who were nationals of countries in South-East Asia and the Pacific.

Industry figures argue the move jeopardises the nation's fourth-largest export market by making Australia a less attractive destination for study.

Australia's university sector and international students alarmed by immigration crackdown. By Mikaela Ortolan, Max Walden and staff, ABC News

Labor tightens visa rules as Tony Burke vows migration targets will be met. By Clare Armstrong, ABC News

Labor is tightening visa rules for international students and backpackers, while increasing efforts to remove overstayers as it seeks greater control over migration.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said housing pressures mean net overseas migration forecasts are now considered a target that must be met.

Labor will implement changes that can be made under existing powers but still wants a parliamentary path for further reforms targeting student arrivals and weak protection visa claims.

Labor tightens visa rules as Tony Burke vows migration targets will be met. By Clare Armstrong, ABC News

Albanese and Taylor explore possibility of deal on migration reforms. By Susie Dodds, The Conversation

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition leader Angus Taylor have met twice this week to explore the possibility of a deal on measures to tighten the migration system.

The discussions between the two leaders reflect a desire by both sides to reduce the heat around the migration issue, which is being fuelled by One Nation to the disadvantage of the major parties.

Measures being discussed include reining in “visa-hopping” and the exploitation of visas for students, working holiday makers and temporary workers. The government is also anxious to curb the use of asylum claims as a way for people to drag out their stays.

Albanese and Taylor explore possibility of deal on migration reforms. By Susie Dodds, The Conversation

Labor premiers join business groups in warning Albanese government over immigration cuts. By Patrick Commins, The Guardian

Amid reports that the Albanese government is poised to announce a migration crackdown as early as next week, the South Australian leader, Peter Malinauskas, warned of the collateral damage from blaming migrants for issues such as unaffordable homes.

Malinauskas told ABC radio on Thursday that the nation and his state have “a massive shortage of almost every trade”, and that migration should be seen as a cure for, rather than the cause of, inadequate housing supply.

“We need to explain that Australia doesn’t really have a migration crisis so much as a housing crisis,” he said.

Labor premiers join business groups in warning Albanese government over immigration cuts. By Patrick Commins, The Guardian

Australia considers new Israel sanctions but won’t join UK in banning trade with ‘settler terrorists’. By Tom McIlroy and Ben Doherty, The Guardian

Australia is preparing another round of sanctions against Israel but has stopped short of joining the UK in banning trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

“Australia is pursuing further targeted measures in coordination with international partners to deter illegal settlements and settler violence,” Wong said.

“We have concerns about the implementation of a blanket ban and unintended consequences for Australian businesses, for Palestinians and for Israelis, and we will continue to work with partners to protect the prospects of a two-state solution.”

But Wong said the Israeli government was “extinguishing the possibility of a two-state solution” through violence and expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

Wong called on Israeli government to stop violence between settlers and Palestinians, including the destruction of property, displacement of families, torture, sexual assault and killings.

Australia considers new Israel sanctions but won’t join UK in banning trade with ‘settler terrorists’. By Tom McIlroy and Ben Doherty, The Guardian

Australia as a model of violence. By Behrouz Boochani, Substack

In June 2024, I attended a conference titled ‘Camps, Carceral Imaginaries and Critical Interventions’ at Graz University in Austria alongside a variety of scholars and thinkers from across the world. We gathered to create a dialogue around prison camps and border politics, with a focus on how current border regimes impact human rights and, more broadly, political culture. At that time, the key focus was the shifting refugee policies in Europe to banish refugees to other countries: the main example was the deal to send refugees from Italy to Albania and from the UK to Rwanda.

Throughout the conference, Australia was referenced constantly. Wherever I went, I heard of the nation’s banishment of refugees to Manus Island and Nauru cited as a cruel example of the detention industry.

Australia as a model of violence. By Behrouz Boochani, Substack

UN raises ‘ethnic cleansing’ concerns over Israel’s West Bank operation By Al Jazeera Staff

Displaced Palestinians reported being told by Israeli officers that there would be no more refugee camps and that they should “all go to Jordan”.

Such large-scale, long-term and systematic displacement of the Palestinian population could amount to a crime against humanity of forcible transfer, the report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Friday.

…As of July, about 33,362 displaced Palestinian refugees from these camps remained forcibly displaced, according to UNRWA.

At least 21 children were killed by Israeli forces during the military operation in the period covered by the report. Saddam Hussein Rajab, aged 10, was shot in the stomach in Tulkarem while waiting for his father to go to the mosque. In Jenin, a two-year-old girl was shot in the head by Israeli forces while having dinner with her mother and aunt.

UN raises ‘ethnic cleansing’ concerns over Israel’s West Bank operation By Al Jazeera Staff

Sisterhood of the travelling wedding dress: Greek 'bride ship' women reflect 70 years on. SBS World News

In the 1950s and 60s, thousands of women from Greece came to Australia by boat to marry, often to men they hardly knew or had only seen in photographs. The M.S. Tasmania docked in Australia in October 1956 and was one of what would become known as “bride ships”. Renowned Greek-Australian photographer Effy Alexakis has spent decades documenting the experiences of post-war migrant women — and discovered a surprising new detail in her own family photo albums. Her mother Maria’s wedding dress was shared with and worn by five other women.

Sisterhood of the travelling wedding dress: Greek 'bride ship' women reflect 70 years on. SBS World News

Meat industry faces worker shortage after visa policy changes. By Jess Baker and Kate Forrester, ABC News

The long-awaited reopening of northern Western Australia's only major abattoir will be pushed to next year after changes to visa processing priorities.

The changes are also set to impact a mixed farm enterprise in the south where a piggery expansion is underway.

Employers affected by recent visa processing changes say it is unclear when their overseas employees will be able to start work.

Meat industry faces worker shortage after visa policy changes. By Jess Baker and Kate Forrester, ABC News

Guardian Essential poll: One Nation’s popularity slips as Albanese records lowest approval as prime minister. By Tom McIlroy, The Guardian

Coalition regains ground as support for Labor and Pauline Hanson’s party falls amid ‘messy immigration debate’.

Just 35% of the more than 1,000 Australians polled approve of the prime minister’s performance, according to the results, with 56% disapproving.

Essential Media’s executive director, Peter Lewis, said the results showed the debate around cutting net overseas migration (Nom) into Australia had hurt Labor’s standing with voters.

Albanese overruled moves to cut Australia’s annual refugee intake on Friday, and broader policy changes expected from the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, have been delayed for weeks.

Hanson and her One Nation colleagues have struggled to explain their policy to cut overseas arrivals into Australia, including naming different baselines for Nom.

“This month’s poll shows some churn away from the government towards both One Nation and to the Coalition as a messy immigration debate swirls,” Lewis said.

Guardian Essential poll: One Nation’s popularity slips as Albanese records lowest approval as prime minister. By Tom McIlroy, The Guardian

Australia has spent 25 years ‘stopping the boats’, but that’s not the same as controlling migration, The Conversation, Alan Gamlen, ANU

While it was shutting down asylum by boat, the Howard government was opening up temporary migration.

The temporary skilled 457 visa was introduced in 1996 and grew rapidly.

This changed the fabric of the migration system. The permanent migration program remained capped and carefully controlled by government, but much temporary migration became “demand-driven” rather than subject to an overall cap.

Universities recruited temporary students. Employers sponsored temporary workers. Farmers became dependent on temporary backpackers. Migrants moved between temporary visas. The size of the temporary system came to depend heavily on those separate decisions rather than on one overall government limit.

Harsh asylum policy did not prove migration as a whole was becoming more tightly controlled. It showed toughness in one small, but highly visible, part of the system while creating political room to loosen migration policy elsewhere.

https://theconversation.com/australia-has-spent-25-years-stopping-the-boats-but-thats-not-the-same-as-controlling-migration-290532?utm_campaign=the-daily-39333&utm_content=the-daily-39333_au%7C1%7C39333%7Cf03bf6e8&utm_medium=email&utm_source=braze&utm_term=Australia+has+spent+25+years+%E2%80%98stopping+the+boats%E2%80%99%2C+but+that%E2%80%99s+not+the+same+as+controlling+migration

NSW Premier Chris Minns tells Indian community 'we've got your back' on first official visit. By Nick Dole, ABC News

The NSW premier's first day of his trade mission to India included a visit to the Asha community centre and the official launch of Western Sydney University's India campus.

At the centre, he met young people who had grown up in poverty in Delhi, describing his visit as a "humbling" experience.

He said the Indian community was "hugely important" for the future of NSW. 

NSW Premier Chris Minns tells Indian community 'we've got your back' on first official visit. By Nick Dole, ABC News