"The federal government makes decisions about how many people are able to move to Toowoomba, and we love being a refugee welcome zone, but we need to have federal government support when they make those decisions," Catholic Care executive director Kate Venables said.
A tale of two disasters: Missing Titanic sub captivates the world days after deadly migrant shipwreck. By Chantal Da Silva, NBC News
Last week's sinking of a fishing boat crowded with migrants trying to get from Libya to Italy sparked arrests, violent protests and questions about authorities’ failure to act or find a long-term solution to the issue. But many human rights advocates are frustrated that the world seems to have already moved on and that the resources and media attention being dedicated to the Titan rescue efforts far outweigh those for the sunken migrant ship.
Hotel immigration detention policy to change following Commissioner's critical report. SBS News (Audio - 3:38 mins)
Serious and prolonged human rights issues of holding people in hotel immigration detention have been highlighted by Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner. The Department of Home Affairs has responded to the Commissioner's report by accepting only two of her 24 recommendations, but says it is changing the policy.
I have seen the devastating impacts of Australia’s hotel detention – it’s time to stop ‘regularising’ it. By Lorraine Finlay, Opinion : The Guardian
The first thing that struck me was the proximity. Other guests stayed in the same hotel, coming and going without realising they shared the place with people who were imprisoned – who looked out their windows as the world went by in the city centre but were unable to join it. The invisibility of detainees within hotels themselves emphasised their political invisibility.
Inspection report: Serious human rights concerns in hotel detention. Australian Human Rights Commission
An inspection report by the Australian Human Rights Commission has found serious human rights concerns persist in the use of hotels as Alternative Places of Detention (APODs) within Australia’s immigration detention system.
The report found detention in hotels had severe negative impacts on people’s physical and mental health, which became progressively worse the longer a person was detained.
Australia’s use of hotels for immigration detention found to have ‘devastating’ health effects. By Ben Doherty, The Guardian
Human rights commissioner, Lorraine Finlay, inspected detention hotels with Prof Suresh Sundram, the head of the department of psychiatry at Monash University, and found “entrenched boredom, loneliness, frustration and apathy” among detainees.
Some reported they felt they were better off in prison or immigration detention centres, where they had access to activities, exercise and fresh air.
At the time of the commission’s inspections in mid-2022, the longest continuous detention in a hotel was 634 days and the average time was 69 days.
Human Rights Commissioner takes aim at lengthy stays in hotel detention By Tom Lowrey, ABC News
Australia's Human Rights Commissioner has criticised an over-reliance on hotels for use in immigration detention, and the often-lengthy stays many detainees are subjected to.
Human Rights Commissioner takes aim at lengthy stays in hotel detention By Tom Lowrey, ABC News
Greens Senator Nick McKim speaking on Instagram from Refugee Week Fair at Parliament House
This World Refugee Day the Greens recommit to ending offshore detention once and for all.
Greens Senator Nick McKim speaking on Instagram from Refugee Week Fair at Parliament House
VIDEO: Calls for Australia to take in more refugees. ABC News (6:09 mins)
Amnesty International's Zaki Haidari says there hasn't been any movement on refugee intake, despite Labor's promise of 27,000 refugee places per year.
VIDEO: Calls for Australia to take in more refugees. ABC News (6:09 mins)
Former refugees gain Australian citizenship. SBS News (1:47 mins video)
Advocates have used World Refugee Day to call on the Australian government to increase its yearly humanitarian intake. The government has confirmed it's filled the number of humanitarian visas allocated to Afghan nationals, following the fall of Kabul in 2021.
Former refugees gain Australian citizenship. SBS News (1:47 mins video)
Daryna Povorozniuk fled Ukraine when she was heavily pregnant, but has found safety and support in Brisbane By Janelle Miles, ABC News
Daryna Povorozniuk was heavily pregnant when she fled to Australia last year from Ukraine after the Russian invasion, leaving her soldier husband behind to fight for their homeland's freedom.
Migrant groups urge reform of Australia’s ‘broken’ skills recognition process. By Mostafa Rachwani, The Guardian
It can be an arduous task to get overseas qualifications recognised in Australia. The Productivity Commission in 2006 described it as “complex, time-consuming and bureaucratic” process.
And it has forced Harooni to turn to other options, including taking an entry-level role at Transport NSW, a job he says he is happy for but doesn’t reflect what he can do.
“I’m really thankful for my job, but within myself I am not feeling happy that I am not working in my profession, which is what I have dedicated most of my life to,” he says.
'The freedom to choose' - celebrating human rights this Refugee Week. Hume City Council, Victoria
Every day, often without even realising it, people all over Hume City are benefitting from the experiences multiculturalism brings to our community.
Every year Hume City council celebrates this richness of diversity and cultures that refugees bring to the Hume community during Refugee Week, which is happening this year from 18-24 June. Details- rb.gy/ssstp
'The freedom to choose' - celebrating human rights this Refugee Week. Hume City Council, Victoria
For every meal you buy at this Sydney restaurant, another two go to a refugee. By Sandra Fulloon, SBS News
It’s lunchtime at Kabul Social, near Sydney's Wynyard Station, and a queue is forming at the counter. City workers order meals cooked by Afghan women, featuring the flavours of their homeland. For each meal sold, the social enterprise donates another two; one to refugees and asylum seekers living in Australia and the other to someone in Afghanistan.
The Drum (ABC iview) coverage of final evacuations from Nauru (15 June 2023). Presented by Ellen Fanning
Discussion from 22:50 until 39:30 mins into program.
Asylum seekers centre stage in Sid Pattni's exhibition The Story of Us. By Molly Schmidt, ABC Radio Perth
Malak is an Iraqi asylum seeker who now calls Perth home. Her portrait is one of many painted by Indian-Australian artist Sid Pattni for his exhibition The Story of Us. The large portraits stretch across the walls, solemn faces staring into the Cleaver Street Studio in West Perth. Beside each painting rests a pair of headphones offering the viewer a chance to listen to snippets of each asylum seeker's story.
‘My wife thinks I have a beautiful life’: refugees face uncertain future as Australia clears Nauru. By Eden Gillespie, The Guardian
“She [doesn’t] know that I’m in Nauru. I don’t want to tell her, otherwise, she’ll get upset. “When she’s upset, she cuts her hand because she misses me after 10 years apart.” Next week, Ali will fly to Australia as the federal government plans to empty the island of refugees by 30 June.
But despite their transfers, Australia will retain an “enduring” capacity for offshore detention on the island indefinitely.
SUBMISSION TO THE HUMANITARIAN DISCUSSION PAPER 2023-24. By Refugee Advice & Casework Service
RACS welcomes this opportunity to reflect on the Australian Government's Humanitarian Program (the Humanitarian Program) as our service focuses on assisting both onshore and offshore humanitarian applicants and entrants. As such we are well placed to discuss the following issues as part of our submission to inform the management and composition of the 2023-24 Program:
1. The role of legal service provision in the settlement journey of humanitarian entrants; 2. The size of Australia’s offshore Humanitarian Program; 3. Principles to guide the Humanitarian Program; 4. Australia’s role in responding to global and regional crises; 5. Other issues concerning onshore humanitarian applicants.
SUBMISSION TO THE HUMANITARIAN DISCUSSION PAPER 2023-24. By Refugee Advice & Casework Service
'You Have Been Told A Lie' (Blood, Borders, Biloela) - podcast
The Tamil asylum seeker family from Biloela — you may think you know their whole story, but You Have Been Told A Lie. In this series, we’ll explore the family’s journey from Sri Lanka to our shores, and everything that’s happened to them since, from their perspective, in their own words.
'You Have Been Told A Lie' (Blood, Borders, Biloela) - podcast
Australia to transport last asylum seekers off Nauru within weeks, refugees say. By Eden Gillespie, The Guardian
The Australian government is expected to move all remaining refugees and asylum seekers off Nauru by the end of the month, more than a decade after offshore processing restarted on the Pacific Island nation.
But Australia will retain an “enduring” capacity for offshore detention on the island indefinitely.
There are still about 82 asylum seekers held in Papua New Guinea, Abdel-Raouf said. They are not in detention, but live in impoverished and often dangerous circumstances and cannot leave the islands freely.