Médecins Sans Frontières International President, Dr Christos Christou, presents to the National Press Club on 'the state of humanitarianism today'.
Médecins Sans Frontières President Christos Christou at National Press Club | ABC News
ABC denies holding emergency talks after Laura Tingle’s ‘racist country’ comments criticised in Murdoch press. By Amanda Meade, The Guardian
On Sunday, while discussing the Coalition’s plans to cut immigration, Tingle said: “We are a racist country, let’s face it. We always have been, and it’s very depressing.”
Immigration minister re-cancels visa of alleged murderer released after AAT ruling. By Paul Karp, The Guardian
“I also want to inform the house that I have cancelled the individual’s visa and, as this matter is before the courts, I’ll say nothing further about this matter.”
After 20 years, I finally returned to the Kenyan refugee camp I’d left for a new life. By Nyadol Nyuon, SMH
After years of being stateless refugees, my family now enjoys the privileges and protections of citizenship. I hold an Australian passport, the only passport I have ever had.
Recently, I returned to the place that first formed me: Kakuma refugee camp, home to almost 300,000 people in northwest Kenya. I travelled with Australia for UNHCR – the national partner of the United Nations Refugee Agency – in a voluntary capacity. I did this because I want to use my story to help raise funds for refugee education programs.
Taj escaped the Taliban through an Australian program. Now, it's being scrapped. By Rayane Tamer, Jessica Bahr, SBS
The LEE program began in 2013 and offered resettlement for Afghan employees who were at risk of harm as a result of their work with the ADF.
It has helped 900 former workers settle in Australia since its inception, but as it draws to a close, there are still many former interpreters stuck in Afghanistan who say their lives are at risk.
Now, they can do nothing but hide, and they say the Australian government has abandoned them.
The migration debate is heating up, but will the war of words lead to action? By Tom Crowley, ABC News
“ Regardless of who the migrants are, just by having more you benefit because you don't need twice the resources to sustain that population. You also have a larger customer base. There's all kinds of benefits that come from size.
"That's why people move from country to city, it's exactly the same argument there as the argument internationally… There's also international evidence that shows migrants add to productivity, because more people means more ideas."
Dr Ryan Edwards, a migration expert at the Australian National University, warned against letting short-term concerns about housing distract from this long-term benefit. "I think it's a risky game for politicians to play."
Similar sentiment is almost universal among migration experts. And politicians on both sides of politics are also happy to agree that migration has long-run benefits.
But as on many issues, the politics can tend to focus on the short-term.
Serco concealed ‘inappropriate’ use of firefighting equipment to control Christmas Island riots. By Paul Karp, The Guardian
“Firefighting devices were discharged directly on to people in detention and, in one disturbance, into enclosed areas where people had retreated, including people who had not been involved in the disturbances,” the ombudsman said.
A spokesperson for Serco said: “The safety of all detainees in our care is of paramount importance to Serco. “Our priority is always to treat people in our care with dignity and respect in a safe and secure environment.
Plating it forward. By Leisa Scott & Vanessa Gorman, Australian Story’s “Off Menu: Shaun Christie-David” on ABC iview
Shaun Christie-David can still picture the bin where he used to ditch his dhal sandwiches, the furtive act of a teenage boy of migrant parents desperate to fit in.
Today, that dhal, Amma’s Dhal, takes pride of place on the menu of Colombo Social, the first of Shaun Christie-David’s string of Sydney-based restaurants and social enterprises that celebrate multiculturalism and diversity, giving work and purpose to refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, older women, people with a disability and former prisoners.
Peter Dutton’s migration cuts would cost budget $34bn over coming decades, thinktank calculates. By Paul Karp & Amy Remeikis, The Guardian
The Grattan Institute estimate backs the treasurer Jim Chalmers’ statement that Dutton’s proposed migration cuts would cost “billions”, which the opposition leader dismissed on Monday as “voodoo economics”.
Exclusive: Repatriation of ISIS brides shelved. By Jason Koutsoukis, The Saturday Paper
Two senior government sources with direct knowledge of the issue told The Saturday Paper that while the government had not formally decided against repatriating the so-called ISIS brides and their children, the prime minister had made it “very clear” that unless there was a dramatic deterioration in the security situation in and around the camps, the issue “would not be revisited before the election”.
“Not bringing these women and children who are Australian citizens home is nothing other than a complete failure of political will,” says Save the Children Australia chief executive Mat Tinkler. “That and nothing else.”
Exclusive: Repatriation of ISIS brides shelved. By Jason Koutsoukis, The Saturday Paper
Victoria announces new grants for groups supporting LGBTIQ+ communities. SBS News video
Achieving a sense of belonging is one of many barriers faced by refugees and asylum seekers coming to Australia, and advocates say that's even more so when they identify as LGBTIQ+. On International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersex Discrimination and Transphobia, new funding in Victoria is aiming to give vulnerable people a chance at a new start.
Victoria announces new grants for groups supporting LGBTIQ+ communities. SBS News video
The immigration debate: smoke, mirrors and a dash of xenophobia By Abul Rizvi, P&I
After heavily criticising the level of net migration, as if Coalition Government policies had nothing to do with the boom, in his Budget reply Dutton announced he would cut the migration program to 140,000 and the Humanitarian Program from 20,000 to 13,750.
The immigration debate: smoke, mirrors and a dash of xenophobia By Abul Rizvi, P&I
Labor’s deportation bill shelved in Senate stand-off. By Angus Thompson, SMH
The government pushed debate on the bill to the next parliamentary sitting in late June as Immigration Minister Andrew Giles faced off with the Coalition, which is calling for greater safeguards for those affected.
Labor’s deportation bill shelved in Senate stand-off. By Angus Thompson, SMH
Peter Dutton promises to slash permanent migration by 25% in short term in populist budget reply. By Paul Karp, The Guardian
But in the budget reply Dutton did not commit the opposition to a target on net migration, instead promising to slash the permanent migration program by 25% from 185,000 to 140,000 for the first two years, followed by 150,000 then 160,000.
Dutton argued this was being done in “recognition of the urgency” of the housing “crisis”. The policy would reduce the intake of skilled workers and recipients of family visas by a cumulative total of 150,000 over four years.
After 10 years of pain and uncertainty my family risks being torn apart by Labor’s deportation bill. By Vashini Jayakumar, The Guardian
My name is Vashini Jayakumar. I am a mother, a childcare worker and a permanent resident of Australia. I am also one of the people whose families risk being torn apart by the government’s deportation bill.
If this bill is passed, my husband, Riswan – who is the father of our three young children – would be put in jail if he does not immediately leave Australia, just because he refuses to leave me and our young children. This is not right – it is inhumane. It is more trauma for our family, after more than 10 years of pain and uncertainty.
Mothballing Nauru’s detention centre could save $250 million in a year. By Olivia Ireland, James Massola and Angus Thompson, SMH
The Nauru facility has operated for a decade under both Coalition and Labor governments, and was briefly empty mid-last year, before asylum seekers were discovered in Western Australia’s far north in November.
If the facility remains mothballed beyond the initial 12 months, the government anticipates banking $774 million in savings over four years.
Serious concerns over ABF conduct using local fishermen in search for unlawful arrivals. By Carli Willis & Jennifer Enosa, NITV
The Torres Strait Island Regional Council (TSIRC) has slammed the federal government for using local fishermen and their personal dinghies to assist the Australian Border Force (ABF) in search and locate operations of unlawful international arrivals.
On Monday June 6, five men believed to be unlawful arrivals from Senegal in West Africa were located in mangroves on Saibai Island.
TSIRC has also renewed calls to bolster services and invest in resources in the Torres Strait, which is on the frontline of Australia’s only active international border.
Saibai is just 4 kilometres from Papua New Guinea – the neighbouring country’s shoreline is visible from the island.
Third boat arrival detected in a week, but no one taken to Nauru, By Angus Thompson and James Massola, SMH
Four Vietnamese asylum seekers intercepted by the Australian Border Force off the coast of Broome late last week are still being kept at sea, as are 33 people of unknown nationality who arrived at Christmas Island after their vessel was damaged………..
……….A second government official, who asked not to be named so they could speak freely, described people smugglers as having a new “drop and run” operational model that was challenging for Border Force.
Smaller numbers of would-be asylum seekers are being shipped to Australia in faster boats, dropped onshore and told not to alert authorities to their presence immediately so the people smugglers can get away.
The government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its deportation bill. Given the findings, it’s easy to see why. By Daniel Ghezelbash, The Conversation
It potentially affects tens of thousands of people, most of whom have spent years living in the Australian community. Those who fail to comply with directions to cooperate in their removal would face a mandatory jail term of between one and five years. Where Australia’s flawed processes have failed to identify protection claims, people may be forced to choose between going to jail, or cooperating in their removal to a country where they may face persecution or other serious harm.
33 suspected asylum seekers reach Christmas Island by boat. By Andrew Greene, ABC News
The group of 33 arrivals was initially held on Christmas Island by the Australian Border Force (ABF) but has since been transferred to another offshore facility, understood to be Nauru.
A spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil told the ABC "as is long standing practice, we do not confirm or comment on operational matters".
33 suspected asylum seekers reach Christmas Island by boat. By Andrew Greene, ABC News