Details of the first payment made to the Nauru government in exchange for resettling the NZYQ cohort have emerged.
Greens senator David Shoebridge has questioned the disbursement of the funds as well as the declaration of conflicts of interest.
Under the arrangement, the Australian government will pay $70 million annually to Nauru.
Migration experts say much of the debate often lacks key context, including ongoing domestic labour shortages, post-COVID-19 migration flows and Australia's economic reliance on skilled migrants and international students.
Australia, like many advanced economies, is an ageing society — a demographic shift that economists and demographers say makes immigration central to sustaining the labour force, productivity and long-term growth.
Experts say the challenge for the broader community is to ensure that debate over migration does not harden into division, as the country grapples with balancing economic pressures with the realities of a diverse, multicultural society.
Exclusive: Prison multinational MTC (Management and Training Corporation) uses a ‘minimalist staffing model’ that critics say is putting detainees and staff in serious danger.
In his budget reply speech, the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, said people got welfare “as soon as they arrive” in Australia.
But refugees, international students, those on temporary visas and permanent residents all face various waits for – and varying access to – any government help at all.
The Australian Council on Social Services says permanent residents already have to wait four years for payments including jobseeker, the parenting payment and youth allowance, and 10 years for disability support and the aged pension.
More Australian women linked to the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) group are reportedly likely to leave Syria within days, but the prime minister insists no government help will be provided to the group.
The six women, along with their children and grandchildren, have been living in a camp for former Islamic State fighters and their families.
Logistics are being negotiated between Kurdish and Syrian officials for the 10-hour drive from the al-Roj refugee camp to the Syrian capital Damascus according to the Australian Associated Press — where they're expected to board flights to Australia.
Second group of IS-linked women have no government support, Albanese says. SBS News
Alison Battisson, Abdul’s lawyer, said his case was “extraordinary and deeply troubling”, owing to claims he was groomed and sexually abused by a carer as a minor after settling in Australia…………
………Battisson said Abdul’s case raised “profound legal and moral concerns” because the Australian government had a duty to protect him and failed.
Many people who cross borders fleeing war, violence and persecution are highly skilled and educated, of working age and are either not permitted or severely constrained to engage in local labour markets. At the same time, regional Australia is experiencing significant skills shortages, particularly among small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The Greek Herald is marking 100 years of serving Australia's Greek community. Despite changes in format, the newspaper has continued to be an important source of connection for its readers.
For relatives back home, the paper was a powerful symbol of possibility, historical researcher Janiszewski says, showing that a Greek community could thrive on the other side of the world. "What it was telling them was not just simply that there was a community here, but there was a community in which you had churches, a community where you could go to a Greek barber, you could go to a Greek shop, you could go to a Greek store," he tells SBS News. "And that stimulated further chain migration."
Drawing on a submission to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion from the Group of Six (Vasiliki Nihas Bogiatzis OAM, Marie Coleman AO PSM, Helen L’Orange AM, Steve Mark AM, Christopher Scarf and Jozefa Sobski AM), Vasiliki Nihas Bogiatzis argues Australia needs a broader understanding of social cohesion grounded in fairness, rights, belonging and democratic trust.
Informed by Australian and international evidence, including case studies in interfaith dialogue, community relations and facilitated dialogue, the submission urges the Commission to consider: ……………………..
That the Commission recommend legislating a Human Rights Act as a central structural reform, addressing systemic gaps in rights protection and strengthening what Human Rights Commission President Hugh de Kretser described as “fraying social cohesion,” with consideration given to incorporating a Multicultural Act within it.
That the study of Multiculturalism in Australia be incorporated within the school civics curriculum.
Bondi continues to confront our sense of national identity. Yet it also produced a powerful symbol of multicultural success. Ahmed al Ahmed, a 43-year-old Syrian Muslim, wrestled a weapon from one of the gunmen, was shot twice, and likely saved countless lives.
Our capacity to prioritise shared humanity above religious difference and ideology speaks to who we are as Australians.
Australia needs a broader vision of social cohesion. By Vasiliki Nihas Bogiatzis, P&I
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor used his budget reply speech to announce a Coalition government would block non-citizens from accessing 17 welfare programs.
Critics say the proposal will unfairly target permanent migrants from China and India, who are forced to give up citizenship in their home country to become Australian citizens.
…Yet another global humanitarian crisis is the plight of the estimated 130 million people under UNHCR’s mandate, refugees and people forcibly displaced and seeking protection across national borders or are displaced within their own countries.
These rising movements of people forcibly displaced compound trends to extreme populist nationalism, prompting denial of refugee protection and anti-migration demands, now a leading political issue globally, including in Australia…..
The rules-based order is breaking down before our eyes. By Gillian Triggs, P&I
The Kaldor Centre has consistently given evidence that Australia’s offshore detention and processing system ‘is not a necessary, effective or sustainable measure’ for deterring boat arrivals. Despite this, spending in this area continues to grow.
Total funding for the offshore regime reached $13.35 billion between 2012 and 2025. This year’s budget brings that figure to $14.35 billion.
While $581 million was initially allocated for 2025-2026, actual spending is now expected to exceed $971 million – ‘an enormous increase’ of almost $400 million in a budget item that involves ‘supporting the implementation of regional processing and resettlement arrangements between Australia and partner countries’. Sector organisations have described this as a ‘massive cost blowout’.
For 2026-27, offshore processing is estimated to cost just over $605 million….
……many Afghan refugees have been purged out of Iran, the majority of whom have attempted to journey back to their home country. Afghanistan, however, is in no position to receive them. With already 64% of the population living in multidimensional poverty following the recent takeover of the Taliban, Afghanistan is considered one of the poorest countries in the world, and simply does not possess the resources necessary to support a torrent of exhausted refugees. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative, Dr. Tajudeen Oyewale, “families returning through Islam Qala will move onwards to communities where basic services are already under pressure,” spoken at a press briefing on March 10; “Any significant increase in returns would place additional strain on health, nutrition, water and child protection services that children and families rely on.”
While Afghanistan continues to reluctantly accept its nationals, other countries do not. Countries such as Turkey and Pakistan are actively taking precautionary measures, such as the prohibition of open-door immigration policies and border sealing processes, to avoid widespread resource depletion that has been seen to cause national strain. Absorbing a massive wave of refugees is already costly; however, considering President Trump’s recent humanitarian aid cuts, along with war-related pressures, countries can only rely on their own current resources and state of infrastructure to provide for the return of their nationals.
A Commonwealth Human Rights Act must do more than help courts identify breaches of human rights; it must enable them to strike down offending laws and give relief to wronged litigants. The groundwork for an act with teeth is still to be done.
Is the renewed push for a Human Rights Act worth the effort? By Frank Brennan, P&I
“As the leader has said, on migration the numbers have been too high and the standards have been too low,” the spokesperson said.
“We have announced the first instalment of our Australian Values First Migration Plan and will have more to say over the term.
“We are considering the full range of options because migration must be at a level Australia can absorb, with enough homes, services and social cohesion to support it.”
Taylor last month unveiled the first planks of an immigration policy that is designed to discriminate against people who didn’t subscribe to “Australian values”.
It’s long past time for Australia’s tertiary institutions to live up to their duty of care for the international students they attract.
In the outpouring of community grief that followed Guardian Australia’s story about Bikram Lama, a comment by a colleague really hit home: The reality is that, even if I met Bikram right now, I still couldn’t guarantee him a way off the street. And it’s true.
Despite the genuine sadness and goodwill behind the thousands of social media comments, likes and shares – the urge to help that symbolises so much of what is great and good about the Australian character – most aspects of our crisis support system remain closed off to people like Bikram who are non-residents.
If Bikram had a pathway out of homelessness, he might still be alive.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
For years, the United States, Syria, security professionals and human rights experts have all urged Australia to bring their nationals home. Unlike Syria, Australia is peaceful, has a strong legal system, a professional and well-resourced national security sector, and comprehensive social services. Even the ASIO director-general has stated that he is not concerned by their return, but will keep a watchful eye on them…..
…..But I have been profoundly shocked by the callous indifference of politicians on both sides to the plight of innocent Australian child victims of child abuse. Politicians have done everything possible to exile them from their own country, and to leave them indefinitely detained in insurgent prisons under violent, cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions.
To be clear, this has also perpetuated the terrorist risk to the world. It has exposed people to risks of terrorist radicalisation among hard-core Islamic State detainees, while prison breaks over the years have seen thousands of potential risks disappear into the wind.
Ailin's parents fled Iran in 2013, with their then three-year-old daughter.
Forced to flee following threats to their lives, they boarded a boat bound for Australia.
It was a time when nearly 17,000 people had made that perilous journey in the months before Ailin and her family, some died trying.
The Rudd government wanted to stop people smugglers.
The new law stated that if you come by boat without a visa and you're processed offshore, you can never permanently call Australia home.
Four Australian women, their children and grandchildren are stuck in limbo in Syria after leaving a refugee camp housing family members of suspected Islamic State fighters.
Last week the group left the Al Roj camp in north-east Syria with the goal of heading to the capital, Damascus, and flying home to Australia.
But after Syrian authorities said they prevented the group from reaching the airport because of strong rhetoric from the Australian government, it is unclear what their next moves will be.
The ABC can reveal the group includes three generations of the same family.
Here is what we know about them.
Tony Burke has declared immigration, particularly from India, is the “solution, not the problem” for the housing crisis, while brushing off “angry” critics of massive citizenship ceremonies in the lead-up to the last election.
Speaking with Indian Link Media Group’s The Pawan Luthra Podcast last week, the Immigration Minister vowed to address the problem of “permanently temporary” visa holders, saying they should be given a chance to “become fully part of Australia’s democracy”.
590 Tahoe Keys Blvd, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150