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

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.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-15/png-hotel-lodge-10-refugee-cost-court-case-australian-government/106566082?mc_cid=501cbaa78d&mc_eid=63743e84d5

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

ikram 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.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2026/apr/19/bikram-lama-birdman-sydney-st-james-tunnel-homelessness-ntwnfb

After three years of war, Sudan army and RSF locked in military impasse, 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.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/16/after-three-years-of-war-sudan-army-and-rsf-locked-in-military-impasse

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

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.

https://johnmenadue.com/post/2026/04/on-asylum-the-coalition-is-offering-old-fixes-to-problems-of-its-own-making/?utm_source=Pearls+%26+Irritations&utm_campaign=336956656c-Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0c6b037ecb-336956656c-583167479

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

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”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/12/we-waited-12-years-escapees-from-syrias-camps-face-an-uncertain-future

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

Iranian tourist ban doesn’t align with the ‘Australian values’ Hedieh signed up to as a citizen. By Adeshola Ore and Sarah Basford Canales, The Guardian

Jamshidian, who has lived in Australia for eight years, says the government’s decision makes the country feel like a “home that doesn’t support you”.

“The Australian government was so quick to support this illegal war and shockingly quick to ban Iranian people who might have wanted to shelter from this war temporarily somewhere safer,” she says.

“I don’t feel this is aligned with the ‘Australian values’ I committed to when I was granted Australian citizenship, such as ‘equality of all people’ and ‘equality of opportunity and a fair go’.”

Iranian tourist ban doesn’t align with the ‘Australian values’ Hedieh signed up to as a citizen. By Adeshola Ore and Sarah Basford Canales, The Guardian

Australia wasting migrant talent on an 'industrial scale', former Treasury secretary says. By Gareth Hutchens, ABC News

Australia is wasting the skills of highly qualified permanent migrants by taking too long to recognise their qualifications.

We need to overhaul our skills recognition system to help highly qualified workers fill critical skills shortages, experts say.

Martin Parkinson, a former Treasury secretary, says that as Australia faces the risk of stagflation, these reforms would help to boost our record-low labour productivity growth and combat rising inflation.

Australia wasting migrant talent on an 'industrial scale', former Treasury secretary says. By Gareth Hutchens, ABC News

Different beliefs, shared humanity: why so many Australians celebrate diverse religious festivals. By Dellaram Vreeland, The Guardian

Faith Communities Council of Victoria multi faith officer Sandy Kouroupidis says there is a growing tendency for people who do not formally identify with a religion to attend religious festivals and community observances.

“In Victoria, we are seeing increasing curiosity about cultural and spiritual traditions, particularly during major festivals such as Ramadan iftars, Diwali celebrations and Passover meals,” he says.

“Many of these events are now intentionally welcoming to the broader public. Faith communities themselves are inviting neighbours, colleagues and local leaders to participate as a gesture of hospitality and relationship-building.”

Different beliefs, shared humanity: why so many Australians celebrate diverse religious festivals. By Dellaram Vreeland, The Guardian

National migrant worker scheme uncovers 'shocking' exploitation in first year of operation. By Isobel Roe & Melinda Hayter, ABC News

A national program protecting the rights of migrant workers has uncovered millions in unpaid wages, threats of visa cancellation and modern slavery.

In NSW, $1.35 million in potential unpaid wage claims have been identified, while in Victoria, $236,000 has been recovered for migrant workers.

National migrant worker scheme uncovers 'shocking' exploitation in first year of operation. By Isobel Roe & Melinda Hayter, ABC News

Audio: Are refugees still welcome in regional Australia? Sunday Extra, ABC Radio National

With the rise of popularity of One Nation with rural and regional Australians, what is the effect on refugees who have settled in regional areas? Do they feel welcomed and supported in their communities?

Our guest,Associate Professor Natascha Klocker, shares insights from her multi-year study "Settling Well investigates the impacts of refugee settlement in regional Australia".

Guest: Natascha Klocker, social geographer, study lead and Interim Head of School, Social Sciences at the University of Wollongong

Audio: Are refugees still welcome in regional Australia? Sunday Extra, ABC Radio National

Warnings about possible unintended consequences of Iran visitor ban. By Wing Kuang, SBS

Professor Daniel Ghezelbash, the Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at the University of New South Wales, says the law is not fair.

"I think it's important to point out that the government already had powers to cancel visas in circumstances where they thought people weren't genuine temporary entrance and intended to stay here. But importantly, that had to be done on an individual case by case basis, with an individual assessment of each case. And what this new law does, it allows the government to declare large cohorts, and it's very, very vague in terms of what those codes could be, was to be as broad as an entire nationality and suspend their visas without any individual assessment of that case. I don't think that is fair."

Professor Ghezelbash says the law and the new ban on Iranian visitor visa holders can sets a precedent in Australia's migration system.

"It brings just a level of arbitrariness in our decision making. And when someone goes through the process of applying for a visa, they pay their fees. They meet all the requirements of that visa. Often, they book in their travel, they pay for accommodation, they pay for their flights. And now this sends a signal that no none of that matters. At any moment the Australian Government can declare that you are unable to travel here, and I think that sets a precedent of arbitrariness and potential unfairness in our system."

Warnings about possible unintended consequences of Iran visitor ban. By Wing Kuang, SBS