Opinion: If Bikram Lama were alive today, we still couldn’t guarantee him a way out of homelessness. By Erin Longbottom, The Guardian

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.

Opinion : If Bikram Lama were alive today, we still couldn’t guarantee him a way out of homelessness. By Erin Longbottom, The Guardian

Islamic State wives’ return is no threat, but our cruelty to their kids is shameful. By Ben Saul , SMH

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.

Islamic State wives’ return is no threat, but our cruelty to their kids is shameful. By Ben Saul , SMH

Ailin is a regular teenager but she holds a weight most adults would struggle to carry, A Current Affair, Channel Nine

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.

Ailin is a regular teenager but she holds a weight most adults would struggle to carry. A Current Affair, Channel Nine

What we know about the ISIS-linked Australian families in Syria. By correspondent Bridget Rollason in Jerusalem, Cherine Yazbeck and Baderkhan Ahmad, The Guardian

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.

What we know about the ISIS-linked Australian families in Syria. By correspondent Bridget Rollason in Jerusalem, Cherine Yazbeck and Baderkhan Ahmad, The Guardian

Tony Burke says migrants are the ‘solution, not the problem’, defends pre-election citizenship ceremonies. By Frank Chung, News.com.au

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”.

Tony Burke says migrants are the ‘solution, not the problem’, defends pre-election citizenship ceremonies. By Frank Chung, News.com.au

Let them stay for good, ASRC

Ten years ago, Australians took to the streets to demand that no child be sent back to offshore detention and it worked. Now these young adults and their families have rebuilt their lives in Australia, all while surviving on temporary visas. It’s time to let them stay for good.

Around 700 people remain in Australia who were transferred to Nauru and Papua New Guinea under Australia’s brutal offshore processing regime and were later brought to Australia for urgent medical treatment.

They remain stuck on short-term exit visas with no pathway to permanency, despite having nowhere else to go. 

“We are part of Australia in every way, except on paper.”

Despite all they have been through, they are here and contributing to the Australian community, paying taxes and building their lives. It's time to let them stay for good. 

Despite all they have been through, they are here and contributing to the Australian community, paying taxes and building their lives. It's time to let them stay for good. 

The Government has shown a willingness to support people in similar situations to be granted permanent protection on humanitarian grounds, including the Iranian women’s soccer team. 

Now, with nowhere else to go, the government must intervene to guarantee permanency to this community that has suffered so much harm at the hands of Australia’s brutal offshore detention regime. 

If we can show our political representatives that these 700 people are part of our community and that the community is behind them, they are more likely to finally act to end this injustice. Can you write to your MP today, to demand they let them stay for good?

Let them stay for good, ASRC

Judgment: Cases That Changed Australia - ABC TV Iview

S1 Episode 3 We Will Decide

Duration: 46 minutes 59 seconds46m

When asylum seekers' futures are argued before the High Court, questions of borders, power and national identity are laid bare.

Judgment: Cases That Changed Australia - ABC TV Iview

Fifty years on, Lam Tac Tam reflects on life in Australia as the first Vietnamese refugee to arrive by boat. By Bertin Huynh, The Guardian

….in the port of Kuching, the captain of an Australian timber ship warned them a voyage across open ocean to Guam would be a death sentence for the small fishing boat. He pointed them south.

“Don’t worry, Australian government will accept you,” Lam says the Australian ship captain told them. He advised it would be safer to sail to Australia, and his advice came with a gift: a maritime map of south-east Asia, an upgrade from the one torn from a school atlas.

…/.Arriving in Darwin, the first person they spoke to wasn’t an immigration officer, but a local skipper who give them the 10 cents needed to call the Australian authorities (and a pack of cigarettes for a first smoko).

Charities found them food and board, but within a week, Lam and his crew went out to find work, not wanting to be a burden on the locals.

“They always help us. We don’t want to make trouble for them,” he says. The men took on construction jobs as speaking English was not required. It was a stark contrast to the life Lam left behind in Vietnam as the son of a business man,…

Dr Claire Higgins, a historian and academic at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, says Lam’s arrival was no surprise to the Australians.

“[Malcolm] Fraser felt there was a moral obligation to aid the refugees given Australia’s military involvement in Vietnam,” she says.

Fifty years on, Lam Tac Tam reflects on life in Australia as the first Vietnamese refugee to arrive by boat. By Bertin Huynh, The Guardian

PNG hotel owner looks to sue Australian government for $11m in unpaid refugee accommodation costs. By Marian Faa and Theckla Gunga, ABC News

He launched a civil case against the PNG immigration department last year in a bid to recover the outstanding money, but the department argued Australia was responsible.

On Wednesday Justice Pauline Bre adjourned an application to make the Commonwealth of Australia and the Australian Department of Home Affairs defendants in the case.

If it is approved, it would open the door for Mr Kopyoto to pursue the Australian government for the unpaid fees…

..While the exact amount of money given to the PNG government for refugees has not been disclosed, Senator Shoebridge expects the figure to be substantial.

"What we do know from history, whether it's Manus Island or Christmas Island or Nauru … is that the so-called Pacific Solution costs hundreds of millions here, billions of dollars there," he said.

PNG hotel owner looks to sue Australian government for $11m in unpaid refugee accommodation costs. By Marian Faa and Theckla Gunga, ABC News

What hopes and dreams brought him to Australia, and what went wrong? By Christopher Knaus, Gaurav Pokharel in Kathmandu & Cait Kelly, The Guardian

Bikram Lama had a morning ritual.

The rough sleepers of Hyde Park remember it well.

The young Nepali man would emerge from his sleeping bag, perched in the bushes near the bustling tunnel entrance to Sydney’s St James station………

…Asylum seekers are also restricted in their ability to access mainstream supports.

The Refugee Council of Australia estimates that about 5,000 people seeking asylum across Australia are living either in crisis or destitution, though exact figures on homelessness are not readily available.

The Centre for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees, a support service, says it is increasingly fielding requests for help from asylum seekers at risk of homelessness.

The centre’s chief executive, Suha Ali, says the situation is “hugely unjust”.

In Western Australia, the centre successfully lobbied the state government to let asylum seekers access hospital emergency departments without a Medicare card but that gap still exists in other states.

What hopes and dreams brought him to Australia, and what went wrong? By Christopher Knaus, Gaurav Pokharel in Kathmandu & Cait Kelly, The Guardian

After three years of war, Sudan army and RSF locked in military impasse. By Alnoor Ahmed Alnoor, Aljazeera

…On the humanitarian front, the war has reached catastrophic levels. A joint report by the International Committee of the Red Cross, UNICEF, and Intersos found that about 14 million people have been displaced over three years. Simultaneously, 26 million people face acute food insecurity, while 33.7 million require humanitarian assistance, including 7.4 million people internally displaced.

After three years of war, Sudan army and RSF locked in military impasse. By Alnoor Ahmed Alnoor, Aljazeera

On asylum, the Coalition is offering old fixes to problems of its own making. By Abul Rizvi, P & I

The Coalition’s asylum plan repackages familiar measures that have failed before, while sidestepping its role in creating a large and growing backlog of unsuccessful applicants…

…In announcing these policies, Taylor will want the Australian public to forget that he was Assistant Law Enforcement Minister when Australia experienced the start of the biggest labour trafficking scam abusing the asylum system in our history.

On asylum, the Coalition is offering old fixes to problems of its own making. By Abul Rizvi, P & I

‘We waited 12 years’: escapees from Syria’s camps face an uncertain future. By Arbjona Cibuku in Tirana, William Christou and Ashifa Kassam, The Guardian

The collapse of al-Hawl, and uncertainty over al-Roj, means women and children risk being left to navigate a conflict zone alone, said Beatrice Eriksson of the rights organisation Repatriate the Children. She said many women had contacted their governments for help, often without response.

Eriksson said these children and their mothers were facing an “immediate threat”. “Responsible countries need to step in now and assist their citizens to get home, there’s no more time to waste. There are non-state groups in Syria who have an interest in recruiting, coercing and exploiting these children and their mothers,” she added.

Research by Human Rights Watch found many repatriated children were able to reintegrate successfully, despite being held in conditions so dire the organisation warned their cumulative psychological impact may “amount to torture”.

‘We waited 12 years’: escapees from Syria’s camps face an uncertain future. By Arbjona Cibuku in Tirana, William Christou and Ashifa Kassam, The Guardian

Analysis: The nannasphere is an antidote to the world's grief and horrors. By Julia Baird, ABC News

I think the essayist Rebecca Solnit is right. We can peer into groups like the manosphere any time and bemoan the hate, the misogyny, the racism, the homophobia and superficial values, along with broader polarisation and distrust. But surely one of the best ways to combat them is to foster communities driven by decency, calm and care. Watch some of these blokes say horrible things about women in front of their nan, see how that goes. Find out if they would accept anyone describing their nans the way they describe other women.

The nannasphere isn't just for grandmothers, but anyone who wishes to join. It's just a nanna vibe.

So, this is my call to those of you wondering what on earth to do about the grief and horrors of the world, how to manage overwhelm. It's not about looking away or distracting yourself. It's not about disconnecting, but about pooling strength, gathering together.

Gather the nannas around you — nannas in spirit, male and female, young and old — and nurture a community. Look after each other.

Analysis: The nannasphere is an antidote to the world's grief and horrors. By Julia Baird, ABC News

As a 'clog wog', Australians didn't know I was a migrant, so they confided their racism. By Annette Jorgensen, SBS News

I was a 'clog wog', so more accepted than the Mediterranean 'wogs', who were more visible.

Greek kids were bullied the most because they looked different.

Then the Vietnamese came, and suddenly the hierarchy changed. Northern Europeans weren't 'wogs' anymore, and Mediterranean 'wogs' were preferred to the Asians.

Then the Afghans came, and this new round saw the Mediterranean 'wogs' lose their title, and the newcomers become the biggest 'problem'.

Now it's Africans, who are the most visibly different.

Same bigotry, different targets.

As a 'clog wog', Australians didn't know I was a migrant, so they confided their racism. By Annette Jorgensen, SBS News

Sydney healthcare workers push for refugee Medicare access amid growing health concerns. By Phoebe Pin, ABC News

Doctors at a Sydney health clinic have estimated one in three of the centre's refugee patients do not have access to Medicare.

Many refugees can access free health care before they are granted permanent residency in Australia, but others are ineligible due to visa conditions.

Healthcare workers say patients often present with serious symptoms preventable with early intervention.

Sydney healthcare workers push for refugee Medicare access amid growing health concerns. By Phoebe Pin, ABC News

From Gaza to Minab – children are paying the price of war. By Ramzy Baroud, P & I

The scale of children killed, wounded and orphaned in modern conflicts demands more than outrage – it requires a refusal to accept their deaths as normal.

Those who had the misfortune of growing up in a war zone require no explanation. War is hell, it is true – but for children, it is something else entirely: a confusing, disorienting fate that defies comprehension.

There are children who live only briefly, experiencing whatever life manages to offer them: the love of parents, the camaraderie of siblings, the fragile joys and inevitable hardships of existence.

There are over 20,000 children in this category who have been  killed in Gaza over the span of roughly two years, according to figures released by the Gaza Health Ministry and repeatedly cited by United Nations agencies. Some were born and killed within the same short timeframe.

….If the killing of children in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and across the Middle East is normalised, then it will become just another accepted feature of war. And since “war is hell,” we will all move on, accepting that our children – anywhere in the world – now stand on the front lines of victimhood whenever it suits the calculations of war.

I have thought about this often in recent years – during the devastation in Gaza, the wars across the region, and the killing of students at a school in the Iranian city of Minab.

From Gaza to Minab – children are paying the price of war. By Ramzy Baroud, P & I

Suggested Cabinet submission for 2026-27 migration and humanitarian program. By Abul Rizvi, Independent Australia

In the next few weeks and before the Farrer by-election, the Albanese Government will likely consider a cabinet submission on the 26-27 migration program. Abdul Rizvi, a former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration, helped develop a decade’s worth of migration Cabinet submissions between 1995 and 2006. But none would have been as difficult to draft as the one for 2026-27.

Suggested Cabinet submission for 2026-27 migration and humanitarian program. By Abul Rizvi, Independent Australia

Mother-of-three faces deportation after decade-old visa mistake. By Daniel Pizarro & Sydney Lang, SBS News

A local South Australian community is rallying around for a woman who could be deported to Taiwan in less than a fortnight, leaving behind her husband and 3 young children.Ying-Hsi Chou is pleading with Immigration Minister Tony Burke to allow her to stay in Murray Bridge, after being told she breached her visa over a decade ago.

Mother-of-three faces deportation after decade-old visa mistake. By Daniel Pizarro & Sydney Lang, SBS News

Why Iran makes Pauline Hanson more dangerous. By Marcia Langton, The Saturday Paper

Two events in March appear to be only tangentially related, yet their coincidence caused me great consternation. First, the United States and Israel commenced military operations against Iran, stating that their goal was to destroy its nuclear and missile capabilities, eliminate threats to Israel, and pursue regime change. In the same month, the election in South Australia resulted in several lower house seats and one upper house seat being won by Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party.

Why Iran makes Pauline Hanson more dangerous. By Marcia Langton, The Saturday Paper