Two years of ever-intensifying repression since the Taliban seized power in August 2021 have not dimmed the resilience of girls and women in Afghanistan, who continue to risk their lives fighting for their right to an education and employment.
UK begins housing asylum seekers on barge in Dorset. ABC News video 2:14 mins
Asylum seekers are being housed on barges, under the UK's newest plan to cut refugee costs in the country.
Australian travel firm Corporate Travel Management (CTM) have been put in charge of this arrangement using a barge as UK’s first offshore accommodation for asylum seekers.
UK begins housing asylum seekers on barge in Dorset. ABC News video 2:14 mins
The police came to set the record straight, but we all ended up confused. By Michael Bachelard and Nick McKenzie, SMH
But the entire time the Australian Federal Police were pursuing him for the phosphate crimes, Bhojani was doing lucrative business with a separate part of the Home Affairs department – offshore processing.
Juliet wants to help the regional doctor shortage, but can't afford university as a temporary resident. By Sophie Landau, ABC News
She wants to become a doctor, to help ease the urgent demand for more health workers in her regional area. But Juliet says she can't afford uni because she will face international student fees, despite calling Australia home for the past eight years.
She's one of the more than 12,000 "permanently temporary" migrants in the country.
The police came to set the record straight, but we all ended up confused. By Michael Bachelard and Nick McKenzie, The Age
Why is all this important? Because not only have these contracts meant potentially millions of Australian taxpayer dollars has been wasted, but Home Affairs rewarded the corrupt in the tiny nation of Nauru whose people can ill afford it.
It’s time to abandon the Home Affairs experiment. By Paddy Gourley, Inside Story
Labor’s changes to the controversial Home Affairs portfolio don’t go anywhere near far enough.
It’s time to abandon the Home Affairs experiment. By Paddy Gourley, Inside Story
'Moz' will appeal court's decision that his 14 months of hotel detention were legal. SBS News
Mostafa "Moz" Azimitabar will appeal a ruling that found hotel detention for refugees lacked 'human decency' but was legal.
A date is yet to be set for the appeal hearing but it likely won't be before February next year.
'Moz' will appeal court's decision that his 14 months of hotel detention were legal. SBS News
FIFA won't recognise them. So this team can only watch on during the Women's World Cup. By Tys Occhiuzzi, SBS News
Football's world governing body FIFA has resisted calls to recognise the Afghan women's football team living in exile in Australia, forced to watch the Women's World Cup from the sidelines.
In the absence of recognition from FIFA came solidarity from ministers and dignitaries in Australia, including Penny Wong.
"We will continue to work with others, as I say to shape the world for the better, that's what we'll try and do, and it was a real privilege to meet with these young women and listen to some of their stories and I hope that we can keep engaging with them."
Egyptian refugee Sayed Abdellatif cleared as security threat by Asio, but still detained after 11 years. By Sarah Malik, The Guardian
Sayed Abdellatif arrived in Australia by boat in 2012, seeking asylum with his wife and children. Australia has recognised he has a well-founded fear of being persecuted and cannot be forced to return to his home country. But he has been denied a visa on the basis of tainted security assessments and held in immigration detention.
Note: this article includes a photo of the Grandmothers for Refugees.
Labor launches inquiry into home affairs procurement after ‘serious issues’ with Nauru contracts. By Paul Karp, The Guardian
Labor has announced an independent review of the management of regional processing procurement by the Department of Home Affairs after revelations it granted contracts to a company linked to the subject of a bribery investigation.
The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, announced the inquiry citing “serious issues” with the governance of offshore processing contracts which she said “merit detailed and thorough examination”.
Asylum seeker walking 1,000km from Ballarat to Sydney to raise awareness about temporary protection visas, The Guardian
Not entitled to work rights, study rights or healthcare, the Paras have spent the last decade relying on support and funding from organisations including Rural Australians for Refugees, church groups, and individual members of the community.
Rural Australians for Refugees Ballarat convener Margaret O’Donnell said Para has been an upstanding member of the Ballarat community for many years, and his family has earned the respect and admiration of many. Para also founded the Union of Australian Refugees.
In Endless Transit: Contributions and Challenges for Refugee-led Initiatives in Indonesia. By Mohammad Baqir Bayani, Patrick Wall, Najeeba Wazefadost and Tristan Harley
This report explores the ways in which refugee-led initiatives (RLIs) in Indonesia support and engage with their communities and other stakeholders, as well as the barriers that they face when conducting their work.
The research team would like to thank Act for Peace, the Asia Pacific Network of Refugees and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney for their support throughout this project.
Minister announces inquiry into offshore detention contracts scandal. By Angus Thompson and Matthew Knott, SMH
Dutton said he believed he had been “caught in the crossfire” between O’Neil and long-time department secretary Mike Pezzullo.
“The minister obviously is at loggerheads with the secretary,” he said.
Offshore refugee processing funding allegations: How did we get here? By Peter Hughes, Pearls & Irritations
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have published serious allegations about millions of dollars of Australian government funding for Offshore Processing Centres finding their way through contractors to bank accounts controlled by South Pacific politicians. This comes on top of a history of criticism by the Auditor-General on how providers were selected and contracts managed by the Department of Home Affairs. The blocking of the Labor government’s “Malaysia Arrangement” by the Coalition and the Greens in 2011 was the strategic turning point that sent governments down the pathway to this sad destination.
Scandal has stuck to Morrison, but offshore truths could hit home for Dutton. By Peter Hartcher, SMH
The most politically sensational of the reports? That the Australian Federal Police told Dutton as home affairs minister in July 2018 that an Australian businessman was under investigation for bribery, and that Dutton’s department awarded the same man’s company a multi-million-dollar government contract a month later.
Scandal has stuck to Morrison, but offshore truths could hit home for Dutton, By Peter Hartcher,SMH
Boats, borders and bad guys: How a super department has come unstuck. By Michael Bachelard and Nick McKenzie, SMH
Two official inquiries, one by former police chief Christine Nixon and the other by former public servant Martin Parkinson, are equally scathing. Commissioned by Labor’s Home Affairs Minister, Clare O’Neil, they found criminals can eke out a 10-year crime spree on temporary visas alone. The number of people in visa limbo has been rising for years, and appeals are slowing processing times almost to a halt.
As for technology, Parkinson found at Australia’s borders it was, in some cases, 40 years old.
Nixon concluded that the laser focus over the past decade on stopping boat arrivals had taken attention from the department’s core business of helping legitimate migrants arrive and settle, and repelling or expelling the rest.
‘No one’s indispensable’: Former minister takes aim at Home Affairs. By Michael Bachelard and Nick McKenzie, SMH
In an interview, Andrews said she had observed unease among senior public servants about attempts by Pezzullo to centralise power in his office, poor results in the visa processing system and a “massive” staff morale issue. If she had been returned as minister she would have made some “pretty significant” changes, Andrews said.
Asked if the dysfunction was Pezzullo’s responsibility, Andrews said: “It has to be, simply because he’s the secretary of the department.” Quizzed on whether Home Affairs could operate without him she said: “Well, no one’s indispensable.”
The money trail of human misery. By Rachel Withers, The Monthly
We don’t need to wait for tomorrow’s story to know that something has gone deeply wrong here. As with robodebt, obscene amounts of money have been wasted on a system designed to inflict harm, to punish desperate people for having the temerity to seek help. In this case, many appear to have enriched themselves off the back of it, lining their pockets with blood money. Australian politicians have long profited politically off this trail of human misery. But perhaps only a royal commission can get to the bottom of where the money has gone, and measure the true cost of the system we all enabled.
The money trail of human misery. By Rachel Withers, The Monthly
‘Love is the answer’: the Kurdish refugees finding art and healing in a country that imprisoned them. By Susan Chenery, The Guardian
A new documentary about their journey, Freedom Is Beautiful, will screen this weekend in Melbourne. Directed by Angus McDonald, the film follows their flight from Iran, through the years in detention, to finally being able to make new lives in Australia – albeit still not fully free.
Nauru doctor: Where did all the millions go? By Michael Bachelard, Nick McKenzie and Amelia Ballingerr, SMH
Jones says that after his arrival on Nauru on August 5, 2018, many of the children aged 11, 12 and 13 he was treating had been detained for five years. Their every moment – showers, meal times, movements – was timed and monitored by Australian contractors in ways they say were humiliating and debilitating. All were called by their boat number, not their name – a policy he denounces as dehumanising.