Detainees at Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre escaped from a burning building by jumping out of windows on Thursday morning, with 18 people treated for smoke inhalation.
Home free: I’m waiting for justice after Australia locked me in an invisible coffin for 15 months. By Mostafa Azimitabar, The Guardian
I brought proceedings against the Australian government to challenge the legality of hotel detention. If I win this case, it will have significant ramifications and not just for other people who have been held in hotel detention.
Ezidi refugees in Armidale say gap in language translation service impacts health care. By Max Tillman, ABC News
The language Ezidi is not recognised by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI), which trains and accredits translators in more than 180 languages.
The ABC has spoken to several members of Armidale's Ezidi community, who all said an absence of interpreters trained specifically in their language made visits to the hospital or local GP a highly stressful experience.
Why our detention centres are a form of cruel care. Late Night Live presented by Philip Adams, ABC Radio National
Much of the debate around stopping the boats and even locking children up in detention centres has been around what is in the "best interests" of kids and their families. Dr Jordana Silverstein argues this approach has resonances with settler-colonial attitudes to Indigenous people and to any who come to our shores seeking succour from non-white countries.
Guest: Dr Jordana Silverstein, Senior Research Fellow at the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness at the University of Melbourne.
Nauru: Why Australia is funding an empty detention centre. By Hannah Ritchie, BBC News Sydney
Despite quietly shifting away from offshore processing, Australia recently signed a A$422m contract with a US prison company to oversee Nauru until at least 2025.
"The enduring capability ensures regional processing arrangements remain ready to receive and process any new unauthorised maritime arrivals, future-proofing Australia's response to maritime people smuggling," a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said.
Nauru: Why Australia is funding an empty detention centre. By Hannah Ritchie, BBC News Sydney
Nazim was detained on Nauru for over ten years. He says he's lost everything. AAP, SBS News
An asylum seeker who was detained on Nauru for a decade says the hardest part about life in detention was feeling unheard and invisible.
Despite being brought to the Australian mainland, he has no pathway to a permanent visa.
Nazim was detained on Nauru for over ten years. He says he's lost everything. AAP, SBS News
I know firsthand the torture of offshore detention. How can Labor maintain such a racist system? By Elahe Zivardar, The Guardian
The trauma and torture of Australian border violence and its offshore detention centre has never left me, even though it’s been four years since I left Nauru and came to the US to start my new life here.
UK scheme to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda falls over after court challenge. By Jacqueline Howard, ABC News
The UK government's plan to resettle asylum seekers in Rwanda has been deemed unlawful, after advocates challenged the policy in the courts.
Breaking down barriers for migrant women in the digital world. SBS TV News (2 mins)
It's hoped a new federal government pilot program to help improve digital literacy for migrant refugee women will break down barriers for those settling in Australia. Research suggests almost one in four people in Australia are left out.
Breaking down barriers for migrant women in the digital world. SBS TV News (2 mins)
The ‘triumph of cruelty’ in Australia’s asylum seeker policy – Full Story podcast. Presented by Jane Lee with Eden Gillespie and Paul Karp, The Guardian (20:42 mins)
The last refugee has now been evacuated from Nauru. Yet the Australian-run detention centre remains ‘ready to receive and process’ any new unauthorised maritime arrivals at an annual cost of $350m.
Guardian Australia chief political correspondent Paul Karp and reporter Eden Gillespie tell Jane Lee about what refugees and asylum seekers detained for more than a decade make of the decision, and what it means for Australia’s deterrence policy.
Boost for refugees looking for work, Labor defends visa cost increase. By Finn McHugh, SBS News
A group that assists refugees in securing employment will get a financial boost of $1.5 million.
Boost for refugees looking for work, Labor defends visa cost increase. By Finn McHugh, SBS News
After the Morrison government, we hoped for a new way on refugees. Instead it is a brutal business as usual. By George Newhouse and Duncan Fine, The Guardian
The last refugee is off Nauru, but Australians will still pay $350m a year to keep the island’s detention centre ready for future arrivals.
New money to help refugees into work. Reporter: Sara Tomevska, SBS News (2:02 mins)
Funding of $1.5m is to be spent by the Federal government to help refugees find permanent work in Australia.
New money to help refugees into work. Reporter: Sara Tomevska, SBS News (2:02 mins)
Hotel detention breaches human rights. By Denham Sadler, The Saturday Paper
A new report from the Human Rights Commission has damned Australia’s use of hotel detention as a breach of basic standards – but it is a practice the government has no plans to abandon.
Hotel detention breaches human rights. By Denham Sadler, The Saturday Paper
Yes, of course we need a Human Rights Act! By Bronwyn Kelly, Pearls and Irritations
For instance, if an Act were designed to prohibit executive decisions that run counter to the international human rights treaties our parliaments have already ratified, we might hope that this would lessen the harms that have flowed from our unconstrained governments in policies such as those on detention of asylum seekers and children, mixing of adult and juvenile offenders as well as accused persons and convicted persons in detention centres, compensation of wrongly convicted persons, whistleblowers making genuine public interest disclosures, compensation of Indigenous peoples for theft of their lands and children, protection of Australians and others from climate change, and protection of Australians from propaganda for war.
Yes, of course we need a Human Rights Act! By Bronwyn Kelly, Pearls and Irritations
Last refugee on Nauru evacuated as Australian government says offshore processing policy remains. By Ben Doherty and Eden Gillespie, The Guardian
The last refugee held by Australia on Nauru has been evacuated off the island, flying into Brisbane on Saturday night, marking the end – at least for now – of more than a decade of offshore processing on the Pacific island.
However the Australian government says it remains committed to offshore processing as a policy. It maintains an offshore detention centre in abeyance on the island, at an annual cost of $350m, which it says is “ready to receive and process any new unauthorised maritime arrivals”.
Australia to move last refugee from offshore processing on Nauru – but its cruelty and cost are not over. By Ben Doherty and Eden Gillespie, The Guardian
“Offshore processing failed to achieve its stated objectives of ‘stopping the boats’ or ‘saving lives at sea’,” Madeline Gleeson (senior research fellow at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW) says. “During the height of this policy, more asylum seekers were trying to reach Australia by boat than at any previous time. What it was effective at doing was dehumanising people who came here in search of safety, and scoring political points.”
Barnaby Joyce apologised to Peter Dutton for breaking ranks over the Biloela family. By Paul Karp, The Guardian
Barnaby Joyce appears to have blindsided Peter Dutton with his support for the Murugappan family to stay in Australia, linking his position to his pro-life stance, a newly-released letter reveals.
Refugee Week 2023. Behind the News, ABC TV. Lyeba Khan, Reporter
June 18 - 24 is Refugee Week. It’s all about celebrating the positive contributions made by refugees to Australian society. We find out more about what it means to be a refugee and meet some kids who came to Australia as refugees.
Refugee Week 2023. Behind the News, ABC TV. Lyeba Khan, Reporter
University sport program helps Armidale's Ezidi settlers find community through volleyball. By James Paras, ABC News
When Shiroq Majid fled Iraq and found herself half a world away in the NSW New England town of Armidale in 2019, she lacked friends and the language skills to make them.
The international language of sport has helped her find both.