https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-11/refugee-workers-occupational-downgrade-report/105398792, ABC, Bronwyn Herbert

……new report from the Department of Social Services' Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS).

The report found that after arriving in Australia, most refugees struggled to have their skills and qualifications recognised.

Before arriving in Australia, 30 per cent of women and 19 per cent of men worked in managerial or professional roles.

But after a decade of residency in Australia, those figures dropped to 17 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-11/refugee-workers-occupational-downgrade-report/105398792

What we miss when we simplify refugee stories. By Samah Shda, City of Sydney News

For many who seek refuge, storytelling begins as survival. To gain protection you must narrate your suffering to a case officer who decides if it is legitimate. Later you are invited to become an inspirational example. In both moments the narrative is moulded by what makes others comfortable.

This pressure erodes dignity. As Dina Nayeri notes in The Ungrateful Refugee, it flattens lives into something palatable for an audience when what people need is space simply to be who they are. It reinforces narratives that dehumanise refugees.

As a storyteller, I believe we need a model grounded in antifragility, a term coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, to describe how growth can emerge from pressure and uncertainty.

What we miss when we simplify refugee stories. By Samah Shda, City of Sydney News

Refugee advocate strives for change. By Miriam Litwin, Ballarat Times

Maureen Doonan has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the King’s Birthday Honours in recognition of her services to Ballarat, which includes providing refugees and asylum seekers with accommodation in her home, and teaching them how to drive.

She is a member of Rural Australians for Refugees, Ballarat Refugee and Asylum Seeker Network, is a a founding member of Ballarat Afghan Action Group, and has protested for more than a decade for refugee acceptance.

Refugee advocate strives for change. By Miriam Litwin, Ballarat Times

Labor unveils Home Affairs’ multiculturalism mission for Australia. By Melissa Coade, The Mandarin

Australia will soon have a dedicated Office for Multicultural Affairs, to be created within the Department of Home Affairs.

“Modern Australia and multicultural Australia are the same thing,” Burke said. 

“This office provides a central hub for government work and makes sure every Australian feels welcomed and at home.”

Labor unveils Home Affairs’ multiculturalism mission for Australia. By Melissa Coade, The Mandarin

Scott Morrison sought advice to obstruct Nauru asylum seekers from accessing abortions, documents reveal. By Krishani Dhanji, The Guardian

Documents show Scott Morrison, in 2014 as immigration minister, sought advice to deny the transfer of women to a hospital on the Australian mainland to access termination services before 20 weeks’ gestation.

Later, in 2019, Peter Dutton, by then the home affairs minister in the Morrison government, accused women in Nauru refugee centres of using rape and abortion claims as a ploy to get to Australia.

Scott Morrison sought advice to obstruct Nauru asylum seekers from accessing abortions, documents reveal. By Krishani Dhanji, The Guardian

INTERVIEW: Anne Aly on Australia's multiculturalism. Interview with Rania Yallop, SBS News

The Albanese government says it's taking a new approach to multicultural affairs this term - moving the ministry into cabinet, and establishing a new Office for Multicultural Affairs.

The establishment of the new office follows concerns about how multicultural issues have been treated by the government, with communities feeling like they're being monitored rather than assisted.

After becoming Australia's first female Muslim cabinet minister last month, Anne Aly spoke to SBS News about her new role in the multicultural, small business, and international development portfolios.


INTERVIEW: Anne Aly on Australia's multiculturalism. Interview with Rania Yallop, SBS News

'We just sit here’: the broken men Australia’s offshore detention regime left behind in Papua New Guinea. By Ben Doherty, The Guardian

Samad Abdul was 23 when he arrived in Australia by boat seeking asylum.

He was on one of the first planes to Manus Island after Kevin Rudd’s 2013 declaration that boat-borne asylum seekers would never settle in Australia. He has been held in PNG ever since, first in the Manus Island detention centre, then in Lorengau and now in Port Moresby – free to come and go from the hostel where he lives, but not to leave the country.

The persecution he faced in his home in Quetta, Pakistan, has been formally recognised. He has a “well-founded fear of being persecuted” in his homeland. He cannot be returned there and Australia has a legal obligation to protect him.

Abdul is now 35.

“How long should we wait? We need to know a solution,” he says.

'We just sit here’: the broken men Australia’s offshore detention regime left behind in Papua New Guinea. By Ben Doherty, The Guardian

Data-driven lessons from Australia’s failed Fast Track process. By Mia Bridle and Daniel Ghezelbash , Asylum Insight

Our new article in Refugee Survey Quarterly illustrates this by analysing data from Australia’s recently abolished Fast Track review process at the Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA). We found that the IAA was neither fair nor efficient, and resulted in a system that was both slow and unjust. These findings provide valuable lessons for the design and operation of Australia’s new Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) and other international reforms aimed at improving the efficiency of asylum review mechanisms. Ultimately, our research calls for a re-evaluation of the relationship between fairness and efficiency for asylum systems across the world, arguing that fairness enhances, rather than detracts from, efficiency. Procedural fairness—which includes safeguards such as the right to be heard and access to legal representation—is essential to ensuring that asylum claims are assessed effectively and efficiently. 

Data-driven lessons from Australia’s failed Fast Track process. By Mia Bridle and Daniel Ghezelbash , Asylum Insight

Government agrees to cover travel debts for refugees sponsored to Canada. By Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA)

After years of lobbying from the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA), the Department of Home Affairs has paid AU$264,000 (CA$233,864) to cover the travel loans paid or owed by refugees sponsored to Canada after years of detention on Nauru and Manus Island.

Government agrees to cover travel debts for refugees sponsored to Canada. By Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA)

Australia doesn’t have a federal Human Rights Act – but the election clears the way for overdue reform. By Amy Maguire, The Conversation

The Albanese government has achieved an historic re-election, substantially building its majority in the House of Representatives. Much has already been written about the potential for a more ambitious legislative program on the back of this result.

That agenda should include substantive human rights reform. The government has the opportunity in its second term to enhance the protections we all deserve by legislating a national Human Rights Act.

[This article was originally published in The Conversation on 7/5/2025]

Australia doesn’t have a federal Human Rights Act – but the election clears the way for overdue reform. By Amy Maguire, The Conversation

Suspected boat arrivals from China discovered in Arnhem Land. By Erin Parke & Andrew Greene, ABC News

The ABC has been told local workers near the Arnhem Land township of Maningrida found a group of people on Tuesday. Another two people were found the following day, who are all understood to be in custody.

Newly appointed Shadow Home Affairs Minster Andrew Hastie says if confirmed, the arrival of Chinese nationals was a demonstration of the Albanese government's "underinvestment in our border security and defence capabilities".

While not confirming or denying the latest boat arrival, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has strongly criticised the response from his opposition counterpart.

Suspected boat arrivals from China discovered in Arnhem Land. By Erin Parke & Andrew Greene, ABC News

Voters reject fear and division, now it’s time to get to work. Asylum Seeker Centre, Sydney

The Asylum Seekers Centre is calling on the Albanese government to deliver on fairness and justice for people seeking asylum by:

  • Providing access to a more meaningful safety net for people while they undergo the protection visa application process, from expanding the financial support program to ensuring all people seeking asylum have the right to work and consistent Medicare access

  • Resolving protracted protection cases and repairing fundamental flaws in the asylum system, including by offering people failed by the ‘fast track’ system a pathway to permanency

  • Increasing Australia’s humanitarian intake

  • Ending the cruel offshore detention regime for good and ensuring human rights are upheld for all

    Voters reject fear and division, now it’s time to get to work. Asylum Seeker Centre, Sydney

'The Staging Post : The Refugee Education Revolution' (A film directed by Jolyon Hoff)

This 2017 film is available to watch on Kanopy (a free on-demand streaming video platform for public and academic libraries).

‘The Staging Post’ is a story of hope, courage and connection. Against the backdrop of the ongoing refugee crisis, this powerful, emotional and uplifting story proves that refugees are not just the problem, but can be a part of the solution as well.

The film follows Afghan Hazara refugees, Muzafar, Khadim and Tahira. Stranded in Indonesia after Australia 'stopped the boats' and facing many years in limbo, they build a community and start a school in Cisarua which inspires a refugee education revolution.

THE STAGING POST is a real-time, real-life multi-platform documentary. After watching you can follow their story on social media.

'The Staging Post : The Refugee Education Revolution' (A film directed by Jolyon Hoff)

Centre offers homeless Kiwis in Australia one-way flights home. By Danielle Mahe, ABC News

A Gold Coast charity is helping New Zealanders who find themselves homeless fly home. The charity says repatriation can be easier than finding them shelter during a housing crisis.

The New Zealand government says it is aware of the arrangements in place and is encouraging its citizens to reach out to the consulate in Sydney if they need help.

Centre offers homeless Kiwis in Australia one-way flights home. By Danielle Mahe, ABC News

Migrants learn English and find new friends at outback sewing classes. By Maddie Nixon, ABC News

Sewing and language classes are helping new immigrants learn English and find friends in Mount Isa. About 14 per cent of people living in the city speak a language other than English at home.

Organisers say language skills empower class participants with "social and economic inclusion".

Migrants learn English and find new friends at outback sewing classes. By Maddie Nixon, ABC News

‘They first come for great acts of culture’: Cate Blanchett sets up grant for displaced film-makers. By Nadia Komami, The Guardian

Authoritarian regimes “first come for great acts of culture” when they start to curtail civil liberties, Cate Blanchett warned as she launched a new grant for displaced film-makers.

The two-time Oscar winner and goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), has teamed up with the international film festival Rotterdam’s (IFFR) Hubert Bals Fund to set up the Displacement Film Fund, which will support displaced film-makers or those with experience in refugee storytelling.

’They first come for great acts of culture’: Cate Blanchett sets up grant for displaced film-makers. By Nadia Komami, The Guardian

They were flown to Australia from war-torn Vietnam. Now they're back, racing against time. By Alexandra Jones, SBS News

They left Vietnam as babies. Fifty years later, they returned to search for their biological parents.

In a journey more than a decade in the making, thirteen adoptees — most from Australia — and their families cycled 284km over four days in April from the capital Ho Chi Minh City to Sóc Trăng in the far south.

Organiser Sue-Yen Luiten said: "Since 2015 — the 40th year of the end of the Vietnam War — it became evident that we as adoptees or children separated from our birth families due to the war, were running out of time to look for our families."

They were flown to Australia from war-torn Vietnam. Now they're back, racing against time. By Alexandra Jones, SBS News