International students should not exceed a third of any university cohort and it is “damaging to the sector” for foreign students to make up 50% of students at any given institution, RMIT’s vice-chancellor, Prof Alec Cameron, has said.
Expanding refugee protection for a changing climate. By Jane McAdam, P&I
For the Asia-Pacific, which has experienced most of the world’s disaster-related movements, finding workable solutions is especially urgent. Between 2010 and 2021, there were, on average, 19 million internal displacements each year in the region, nearly 80 percent of the global total.
Expanding refugee protection for a changing climate. By Jane McAdam, P&I
VIDEO: Afghan refugee reunites with family after more than decade. ABC News
Mohammad Zaki Rezayi fled Afghanistan with the hope of finding a pathway for his family to join him in Australia 12 years ago.
VIDEO: Afghan refugee reunites with family after more than decade. ABC News
Indonesian boys jailed by Australia claim no translation provided in court, The Guardian, Christopher Knaus
Australian policy was to send any underage crew members on asylum seeker boats home to Indonesia, but police instead relied on a deeply flawed and now universally condemned method of wrist X-ray analysis to wrongly deem them adults.
Children as young as 12 were sent to maximum security adult prisons in Western Australia and the Northern Territory on the basis of the flawed evidence.
FACT CHECK: Michael Sukkar says overseas arrivals under Labor have outpaced housing construction by four to one. Is that correct? ABC News
Michael Sukkar, the Shadow Minister for Housing’s claim is overblown.
In the 15 months for which official data was available at the time of the claim, the number of migrant arrivals minus departures was roughly three times the number of homes built.
However, experts consulted by Fact Check said it made little sense to compare the net arrivals figure — which includes families and children — with building completions, as not every migrant or new addition to the population requires a separate home.
More than 90 per cent of net arrivals were people on temporary visas, and roughly half of the total were temporary students.
Job threat for Australian university staff as claims international student cuts are being weaponised. By Caitlin Cassidy, The Guardian
University staff have been threatened with deep job cuts because of the federal government’s proposed international student cap, raising concerns the controversial policy is being weaponised as an “excuse” to slash jobs.
The draft bill, introduced to parliament last month, would give the education minister powers to set a maximum number of new international student enrolments. Leading policy experts have described it as a “recipe for chaos”.
Violence towards refugee and migrant women often goes undetected. We’ve found a way to help fix that. The Conversation
Safety and Health after Arrival (or SAHAR, also an Arabic woman’s name) is the first Australian study to test universal screening for intimate partner violence and response in settlement services.
This three-year project, led by the University of Wollongong, was funded by the Australian Research Council and SSI, one of Australia’s largest resettlement organisations. We introduced and evaluated culturally tailored screening for intimate partner violence at four settlement support services.
In practice, this meant routine screening for abuse and giving women a wallet-sized information card in their language with key messages and useful contact details, irrespective of whether they had disclosed abuse.
After a decade in detention I call Australia home. Labor’s deportation bill is horrific. By Farhad Bandesh, The Guardian
My name is Farhad Bandesh. I am a human being first. Then, I am an artist, a musician and a wine-maker. Lastly, I am a refugee.
I am one of the people who could end up in jail, if the deportation bill became law.
I came to Australia by sea in 2013 seeking safety. I am Kurdish and, while I was raised in Iran, I have no country. Iran does not recognise me as a citizen; I am labelled as stateless. War and persecution against the Kurdish people continue.
NEW PODCAST | Refuge: Viet Thanh Nguyen & Shankari Chandran, UNSW, Sydney Writers Festival
The podcast of Refuge: Viet Thanh Nguyen & Shankari Chandran is now available to listen on demand.
"What does it mean to be included in a military industrial complex that wants to be the global hegemon? We as refugees, we come to the United States, we're expected to be grateful for what? To become settler citizens on indigenous land? And to become the alibi for the exercise of an imperial machine?'" – Viet Thanh Nguyen
In recognition of World Refugee Day 2024 go beyond media reports in this discussion of the refugee experience with Pulitzer Prize for Fiction-winner Viet Thanh Nguyen (A Man of Two Faces), Miles Franklin-winner Shankari Chandran (Safe Haven) and refugee law expert and advocate Daniel Ghezelbash.
NEW PODCAST | Refuge: Viet Thanh Nguyen & Shankari Chandran, UNSW, Sydney Writers Festival
Proposed extraordinary immigration powers and religious protections face uncertain future. By Brett Worthington, ABC News
Labor looks to have effectively shelved its bid to introduce extraordinary immigration powers and offer greater religious protections.
The government and opposition are in a stand-off over both proposals, with the Coalition demanding changes to both.
Renewed calls to remove controversial migration act amendment. Reported by Tys Occhiuzzi, SBS News
There have been renewed calls to scrap a controversial amendment to the migration act, with claims it could lead to indefinite detention and separation of families. Critics of the proposal have used the start of Refugee Week to bring attention to the bill which is currently before the Federal Senate.
Renewed calls to remove controversial migration act amendment. Reported by Tys Occhiuzzi, SBS News
Australian election fought on immigration could cause ‘civil unrest’, former department official warns. By Sarah Basford Canales, The Guardian
Abul Rizvi accuses major parties of ‘short-termism’, saying Labor’s approach to immigration is ‘unsustainable’ while Coalition’s would be ‘pure chaos’.
'I'm not living, just alive': Why Ghulamreza hasn't seen his wife and son for 12 years. By Edwina Guinanm & Madeleine Wedesweiler, SBS News
Ghulamreza Haidari left Afghanistan in 2012 because he feared for his safety as a Hazara man and hoped he could settle his family in Australia. He's still waiting.
Their son Ali was 7 when he left, he is now 20.
Ali didn't know the alphabet then and now is trained as a teacher. His father says the pain of missing so much of his son's life is unimaginable.
After the Taliban claimed power in 2021 , Ali was fired and his mother Jamila has been practically housebound due to the government's restrictions on women.
Reflecting on Family and the Journey to Freedom this Refugee Week. Asylum Seekers Centre, Sydney
This year’s Refugee Week theme of Finding Freedom, with a particular focus on Family, invites us to reflect on the resilience, strength, and unity that is the refugee experience. It’s also a celebration of the transformative power of familial bonds, both by birth and chosen, in the face of adversity.
To mark Refugee Week, all donations to the Asylum Seekers Centre will be matched. This means every contribution will be doubled, providing even more support for those seeking safety without a safety net.
Reflecting on Family and the Journey to Freedom this Refugee Week, Asylum Seekers Centre, Sydney
World Refugee Day. Reporter : Michelle Wakim, Behind The News, ABC
June 20 is World Refugee Day, which is dedicated to the millions of people around the world who have been forced to leave their homes to escape conflict, disaster or persecution. We find out what it means to be a refugee and meet some young people who are making a new life in Australia.
World Refugee Day. Reporter : Michelle Wakim, Behind The News, ABC
World Refugee Day Telethon on Thursday 20 June powered by Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, Melbourne
On World Refugee Day, join refugees and people seeking asylum and celebrate and acknowledge their strength and resilience.
World Refugee Day Telethon on Thursday 20 June powered by Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, Mellbourne
Home Affairs: Boats, borders and dysfunction. 7am Podcast
Barely a week goes by when the Department of Home Affairs isn’t under the blowtorch of media or political scrutiny. The question is, should one department have so much power? Today, chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper Karen Barlow, on the inner workings of the super department.
Archibald Finalist's fight to call Australia home as an asylum seeker. Interviewed by Hamish Macdonald on The Sunday Project (Channel 10)
Moz (Mostafa Azimitabar) is a two-time Archibald finalist recognised as one of Australia’s best portrait artists. But while he lives here, works here and undeniably loves this country, as an asylum seeker there’s a real chance that he might never call Australia home.
Archibald Finalist's fight to call Australia home as an asylum seeker. Interviewed by Hamish Macdonald on The Sunday Project, (Channel 10)
Forcibly displaced population doubles to 120 million over the past 10 years. By AJLabs, Aljazeera
At least 117.3 million people, or one in 69 individuals worldwide, remain forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence and human rights violations, according to a report released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today.
Almost three-quarters (72 percent) of all refugees came from just five countries: Afghanistan (6.4 million), Syria (6.4 million), Venezuela (6.1 million), Ukraine (6 million) and Palestine (6 million).
Globally, the largest refugee populations are hosted by Iran (3.8 million), Turkey (3.3 million), Colombia (2.9 million), Germany (2.6 million) and Pakistan (2 million).
Forcibly displaced population doubles to 120 million over the past 10 years. By AJLabs, Aljazeera
‘What is our future?’: the Nauru detention centre was empty. Now 100 asylum seekers are held there. By Ben Doherty, The Guardian
Welfare and garrison services at the detention centre is run by US private prisons operator MTC, which has a $420m contract with the Australian – not the Nauruan – government.