Imagine not being able to attend school, see a doctor or even open a bank account? This can be the life for stateless people, and there are more than 4 million people across the globe who experience it. Living with a disputed nationality can impact lives in all kinds of unseen ways, and has been described by some as an overlooked human rights issue. In this four-part SBS News podcast we ask what it’s like to experience statelessness, how it occurs, and what society can do about it.
After 100 applications, Behz finally landed his dream job. Here's how. By Sandra Fulloon, SBS News
Pourdarab is not alone. The Australian Institute of Family Studies found only one quarter of refugees secure employment within the first two years.
What changed Pourdarab's life was meeting Carmen Garcia, the founder of an Adelaide-based employment service, Community Corporate. It connected him with an employer.
Garcia said: "Last financial year, Community Corporate supported more than 1,600 people across Australia and 91 per cent of those were from migrant or refugee backgrounds.”
After 100 applications, Behz finally landed his dream job. Here's how. By Sandra Fulloon, SBS News
Analysis : Imagine Dutton’s implausible cuts to migration were actually possible. Now see the dire economic consequences. By Patrick Commins, The Guardian
Even if practically and legislatively possible, the scale of the cuts would have dire consequences for the economy, the budget and businesses already struggling to find workers in a tight labour market.
The collapse in foreign student enrolments would also blow a hole in the profitability of major universities, which have become hugely reliant on high international fees.
Australia’s inhumane floating prisons. By Deham Sadler, The Saturday Paper
The floating prison consisted of one area enclosed by shipping containers, with thin mats covering grated floors. The ship is a makeshift detention area with no furniture or bedding, no hot water and no privacy. The toilets leak sewage into the ocean.
Australia’s inhumane floating prisons. By Deham Sadler, The Saturday Paper
Nauru and Australia finalise long-term funding for refugee processing, RNZ
Nauru's President David Adeang has announced the conclusion of negotiations with Australia on long-term funding for the Regional Processing Centre.
Adeang made the announcement in parliament this month, according to the Nauru Bulletin.
To date, 93 transferees reside on Nauru, four of whom have been granted refugee status, while 89 asylum seekers are undergoing the appeals process, according to a report in the fortnightly newsletter published by the Government Information Office.
Nauru and Australia finalise long-term funding for refugee processing, RNZ
Thanh was 19 when he was sent to war. The Fall of Saigon changed him forever. By Christopher Tan, SBS News
Half a century after the Vietnam War ended, South Vietnamese veterans and refugees Le Quang Vinh and Thanh Nguyen recount their harrowing experiences of war, brutal re-education camps and perilous escapes by sea.
Le and his family were among the first wave of Vietnamese refugees welcomed into Australia under then-Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser's humanitarian resettlement program in 1978.
It was a significant turning point in Australian history — coming just five years after the end of the White Australia Policy.
Australia once had ‘immigration amnesties’ to grant legal status to undocumented people. Could we again? By Sara Dehm & Anthea Vogl,The Conversation
More immigration amnesties were promised during later election campaigns and then implemented in 1976 and 1980.
These amnesties occurred under successive Labor and Liberal federal governments, and each enjoyed enthusiastic bipartisan support.
So, how did these amnesties work – and could they happen again?
Why has there been no discussion of asylum-seekers in this campaign? By Abul Rizvi, P&I
Despite it being a perennial topic during Elections this century, neither major party wants to talk about asylum seekers this time around.
After 10 years of scaremongering, Peter Dutton has given up trying to tell us we are about to be invaded by an impending armada of boat arrivals. He also knows that it was his negligence that from 2015 led to the biggest labour trafficking scam abusing the asylum system in our history. That may explain why he hasn’t brought up the issue this time.
While Labor put more resources into processing asylum claims to stabilise the number of asylum applications at the primary level and at the Administrative Review Tribunal, it knows it has not done enough to stabilise growth in the number of people who have been refused at both the primary level and at the ART (see Table 1).
Why has there been no discussion of asylum-seekers in this campaign? By Abul Rizvi, P&I
5 ways to tackle Australia’s backlog of asylum cases. By Daniel Ghezelbash, Keyvan Dorostkar & Mia Bridle, The Conversation
For people seeking asylum who have their initial applications refused and seek review in the Administrative Review Tribunal and in the Federal Circuit and Family Court, the process can often take more than ten years.
Whoever wins the upcoming election inherits the daunting task of addressing this issue.
Our research evaluated data on Australia’s previous attempts to increase efficiency of asylum processing. We also examined international best practice for designing fair and fast procedures, including lessons from recent successful asylum reforms in Switzerland.
‘The beauty of immigration’: Inside Khawaja’s heartfelt mission for change By Nick Wright SMH
“When I hear immigration getting blamed for the housing crisis, which I fundamentally know is not true – housing prices went through the roof when no immigrants were coming through in COVID – it disappoints me because I think Australia was built on the back of immigration,” he says.
“Unless you’re First Nations or a person of Aboriginal descent, we’re all immigrants in one way or another. I think Australia’s greatest asset is its immigrant community who’ve come into Australia, contributed to Australia and contributed to make it such a great country.
‘The beauty of immigration’: Inside Khawaja’s heartfelt mission for change. By Nick Wright SMH
ICC's plan for exiled Afghan women's cricket team exciting but unclear, advocate says. By Henry Hanson & Daniela Intili, ABC News
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced a task force and fund for the exiled Afghan women's cricket team now residing in Australia. Specifics of the initiative remain unclear, but the cricket boards of Australia, England and India will provide "meaningful support" to Afghan players.
Dr Catherine Ordway, a key figure in the team's relocation to Australia, is hopeful the fund will match the sum currently given to the Afghan men's team.
Calls for better planning as Aussie suburbs feel the squeeze amid migration, housing pressures. By Isabella Higgins, ABC News
The vast majority of permanent migrants who have moved to Australia since 2000 have come to the capital cities, according the 2021 census data.
Dutton says Coalition wouldn't cut Australia's 'important' annual parent visa intake. By Sara Tomevska & Cameron Carr, SBS News
The Coalition has pledged to cut permanent migration by 45,000 places per year, but Peter Dutton says parent visa numbers wouldn't be reduced.
Immigration minister Tony Burke told SBS the Coalition’s proposed cuts to permanent migration were "reckless" and the pledge to not cut parent visas would mean deeper cuts would be made to the skilled visa category.
2025 Election Policy Comparison on Refugee and Asylum Issues. From Refugee Council of Australia
What are the policies and positions of the political parties running for Parliament?
Election Policy Comparison on Refugee and Asylum Issues. From Refugee Council of Australia
Nige has waited 16 years to reunite with his wife. Now, he fears they never will. By Sandra Fulloon, SBS News
Immigration remains an election issue with both sides forecasting a fall in net migration, next financial year. That’s worrying for families waiting to reunite, including an asylum seeker from Sri Lanka.
Pakistan expels 80,000 Afghans in two weeks amid crackdown on undocumented migrants By Libby Hogan, ABC News
Thousands of Afghans who have lived in Pakistan for years — some for decades —are being forced to return to a homeland they describe as unsafe, economically crippled, and socially repressive under Taliban rule.
Many cite fears over limited job prospects, insecurity, and the Taliban's ongoing restrictions on women, particularly the ban on girls' education.
Dandenong housing crisis leaves refugee families at risk of homelessness. By Sacha Payne, ABC News
In 2022, the federal government announced it would provide 31,500 places for Afghan nationals through the humanitarian and family visa programs, saying it "reflected a sustained commitment following Australia's two decades of operations in the country".
The allocation included 26,500 places for Afghan nationals within the humanitarian program to 2026.
Nearly 7,000 people from that program have come to Victoria, home to Australia's largest Afghan diaspora.
Many have gravitated to Dandenong, where there is a large existing community who speak Afghan languages like Dari and Pashto.
But they are increasingly falling through the cracks.
Dandenong housing crisis leaves refugee families at risk of homelessness. By Sacha Payne, ABC News
Belonging Nowhere: How hard is it to feel like you belong in Australia? SBS News Podcast series (Season 1 : Episode 2)
Many stateless people are displaced around the world, attempting to find somewhere they can call home. Their journeys can often take a heavy toll, as they deal with traumatic experiences, or need to hid their true identities as a persecuted minority. In this second episode of 'Belonging Nowhere' we’ll hear some of the many stories of how people from different stateless backgrounds come to Australia – and the difficulties they’ve faced trying to make a home.
Some listeners may find some of this content distressing
Petro Georgiou, the ‘conscience of the Liberal Party’, dies at 77. By Tony Wright, SMH
He refused an early offer to join Howard’s frontbench, making it clear he put a higher value on exercising his freedom to oppose the party’s hardline policies, particularly towards asylum seekers.
As member for the blue ribbon Melbourne electorate of Kooyong – famously the seat of his old political hero, Liberal Party founder Sir Robert Menzies, and now held by a teal – Georgiou was a voice for diversity and considered a champion of Indigenous Australians, underdogs and outsiders.
In mid-2006, Georgiou joined fellow Liberals of the time Russell Broadbent and Judi Moylan to cross the floor and vote against Howard’s legislation that would force all asylum seekers to be processed offshore.
Petro Georgiou, the ‘conscience of the Liberal Party’, dies at 77. By Tony Wright, SMH
Fleeing Taliban fighters, Ibrahim begs the country he helped – Australia – to save his family. By Ben Doherty, The Guardian
Mohammed Ibrahim, now in hiding with his wife, Amina, and two children, Daniel and Helene, is a target of the Taliban because he worked on behalf of the Australian government.