STATELESS: The 20 best shows to stream on Netflix right now. Craig Mathieson, The Age

Stateless

A funding arrangement means that Netflix ends up taking the ABC’s scripted shows to the world, while providing a valuable second chance locally. It means you can rediscover this coruscating 2020 drama about Australia’s refugee detention regime, with co-creator Cate Blanchett in a supporting role. The multiple storylines deliver startling detail and unadorned empathy.

STATELESS: The 20 best shows to stream on Netflix right now. Craig Mathieson, The Age

Despite High Court win for Ned Kelly Emeralds, he remains detained - Human Rights Law Centre

Ned Kelly Emeralds, an Iranian man who has been detained for over a decade while seeking asylum, has won his appeal in the High Court of Australia, leaving open the possibility that courts could end indefinite detention by making ‘home detention’ orders. Despite this victory however, Ned’s detention continues – now in its eleventh year.  

Despite High Court win for Ned Kelly Emeralds, he remains detained - Human Rights Law Centre

Policy Brief 14 - Asylum Capacity Development: Building New and Strengthening Existing Systems, Kaldor Centre, Uni NSW

Refugees have certain rights under international law, but whether they can enjoy them depends on the asylum system they encounter. Too often, national systems are failing. They are inefficient for governments, which waste resources without resolving asylum claims, and they are ineffective for refugees, who are left without rights or protection.   

That’s where a vital, emerging area of policy and practice comes into play: asylum capacity development. It’s about strengthening the legal, institutional and social arrangements that are put in place to meet the needs of refugees.  

A new Kaldor Centre Policy Brief sheds light on what asylum capacity development is, how it should be understood and put into practice, and spells out the best-practice standards for measuring success.  

Policy Brief 14 - Asylum Capacity Development: Building New and Strengthening Existing Systems, Kaldor Centre, Uni NSW

Queensland Government slammed for abusing human rights of children. By Melissa Sweet and 180 organisations and individuals, Pearls & Irritations

More than 180 human rights and legal experts, social justice organisations and First Nations community groups have signed the open letter below condemning the Queensland Government for overriding the state’s Human Rights Act to lock children in the state’s police watch houses indefinitely.

Queensland Government slammed for abusing human rights of children. By Melissa Sweet and 180 organisations and individuals, Pearls & Irritations

'Powerful' grassroots efforts could be the decider for multicultural Australians' Voice to Parliament referendum vote. By Annika Burgess, ABC News

Mr Singh left Sydney on August 1 on a 25,000-kilometre road trip around Australia to promote the Indigenous Voice to Parliament to religious, multicultural and regional communities.

'Powerful' grassroots efforts could be the decider for multicultural Australians' Voice to Parliament referendum vote. By Annika Burgess, ABC News

Does putting children in detention prevent or produce crime? AAP, SBS News

The younger a child is slapped with a probation order or locked up for committing a crime, the more likely they are to return behind bars.
So when Queensland brought in laws allowing kids as young as 10 to be held in police watch houses, human rights groups were appalled.
Indigenous advocates were also alarmed given the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the youth justice system.

Does putting children in detention prevent or produce crime? AAP, SBS News

Pacific countries are not 'outposts' to grow labourers for Australia, Samoan PM says The Pacific. By Stephen Dziedzic, Dubravka Voloder and Johnson Raela, ABC News

Some Pacific nations — including Vanuatu, Tonga and Samoa – have become increasingly anxious that their own workforces are being depleted by the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, and are reviewing their rules allowing workers to travel to Australia.

Pacific countries are not 'outposts' to grow labourers for Australia, Samoan PM says The Pacific. By Stephen Dziedzic, Dubravka Voloder and Johnson Raela, ABC News

Chinese migrants believe Australian media fuels hostility towards them, study shows. By Daniel Hurst, The Guardian

Reports about China’s ‘influence’ made public more suspicious of Chinese-Australian communities, according to 70% of respondents to UTS survey.

The survey also sought to test feelings of inclusion by asking participants: “As a first-generation migrant, do you think the mainstream Australian community considers you to be an equal member of that community?”

Despite broader concerns about media coverage, the results showed 17% of respondents answered that they were “always” viewed as equal members of the community, 36% believed that was the case “often”, and 31% replied “sometimes”. On the other hand, 12% responded “rarely” and 5% “very rarely”.

Chinese migrants believe Australian media fuels hostility towards them, study shows. By Daniel Hurst, The Guardian

Experts say migration key to Australia's growth as population ages. SBS News

Over the next 40 years, the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double.
That's the forecast from the government's Intergenerational Report. It means a significant proportion of Australians will age out of the workforce in the coming years.

Economists and groups like the Business Council of Australia are among those urging the government to look to migration to fill the vacancies those retirements will create.

Experts say migration key to Australia's growth as population ages. SBS News

Tiff fled Malaysia in fear. But starting a new life here as a trans man wasn’t easy. By Sandra Fulloon, SBS News

Tiff is packing donated clothing at a not-for-profit in Melbourne that supports refugees and asylum seekers.
The service is based in the city’s west, and has helped Tiff and thousands like him through extreme hardship during the pandemic and the current cost of living crisis.
“Without services like West Welcome Wagon, I would not be here. I would not have put food on my table, or have clothing, a bed to sleep on. Maybe I would be sleeping on the street.”

Tiff fled Malaysia in fear. But starting a new life here as a trans man wasn’t easy. By Sandra Fulloon, SBS News

Refugees are finding it hard to rent a home in Australia for this 'pervasive' reason. SBS News

Ziersch also noted that racial bias could stem from how refugees are talked about by media and politicians.
"Some of the negative discourse around asylum seekers and refugees plays into it (the selection process) where landlords think people are going to be problematic because of their refugee background," she said.

Refugees are finding it hard to rent a home in Australia for this 'pervasive' reason. SBS News

Remembering escaping from Vietnam: SBS News in Depth, By Mahnaz Angury

"From 1977 through to 1991, Australia resettled around 150 thousand Vietnamese refugees and migrants. As we know the White Australia policy ended 50 years ago this year in 1973 so we could see that the arrival of Vietnamese refugees was really the first test to the disestablishment of the White Australia policy."

Fewer than 700 Australians reported Vietnam as their birth place in the 1971 census - but that number grew to more than 80 thousand 15 years later.

In the latest census, there were more than 268 thousand people who reported Vietnam as their country of birth.

Remembering escaping from Vietnam: SBS News in Depth, By Mahnaz Angury

Dear son, why I left you in Afghanistan – Full Story podcast. Presented by Jane Lee with Shadi Khan Saif and Ben Doherty, The Guardian

Forgive me Walo, perhaps I am not as powerful as you might think. In fact I often feel very hopeless as nothing seems to be working right to get us reunited. But hang in there, I have not given up and I will not!

Dear son, why I left you in Afghanistan – Full Story podcast. Presented by Jane Lee with Shadi Khan Saif and Ben Doherty, The Guardian

‘Governments should grow up’: Liberal heavyweight Nick Greiner says refugee limbo must end. By David Crowe, SMH

The comments highlight the plight of more than 1000 refugees and asylum seekers who are being refused settlement in Australia because they arrived by boat and were processed on Nauru and Manus Island, a key policy under Labor and Liberal leaders over the past decade.

‘Governments should grow up’: Liberal heavyweight Nick Greiner says refugee limbo must end. By David Crowe, SMH

Victorian recycling company found to have systematically underpaid refugees and asylum seekers. By Ben Doherty, The Guardian

Refugees and asylum seekers employed to sort rubbish were systematically exploited and underpaid by one of the biggest recycling organisations in Victoria.

A recycling company formerly known as Polytrade, a linked subsidiary, and its owners, were fined more than $375,000 in the federal court this month, over what a judge described as “obnoxious conduct” and a “cavalier disregard” for the law, grossly underpaying migrant workers who spoke little English and were vulnerable to exploitation.

The five workers were in Australia on protection visas and bridging visas, pending the approval of protection visa applications. They had arrived in Australia as asylum seekers from south Asia.

Victorian recycling company found to have systematically underpaid refugees and asylum seekers. By Ben Doherty, The Guardian