Category Archives: Australian immigration and asylum

Legal challenge to Australia’s indefinite immigration detention could determine freedom of hundreds

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Advocates believe Egyptian man’s case paves way to possibly overturn 2004 decision upholding indefinite detention by Migration Act

The legal basis of Australia’s system of indefinite immigration detention is set to be challenged in a case that could determine the freedom of hundreds of asylum seekers and people whose visas were cancelled.

In a judgment earlier in December, federal court Justice Debra Mortimer said Australia’s immigration system has achieved the “disgraceful objective” of desensitising officers to indefinite detention, making preliminary findings in favour of a man she said had “no real likelihood” of being removed from Australia in the near future.

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High court may hear ‘bizarre’ immigration case involving Alex Hawke, a former marine and a steering wheel photo

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Exclusive: Albanese government flags it will seek leave to appeal in high court

A “bizarre” immigration case that featured a photo of a signed ministerial brief next to a steering wheel could be on its way to the high court.

The photograph contributed to a finding that the then immigration minister, Alex Hawke, rushed a visa cancellation decision.

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New Zealanders’ path to Australian permanent residency eased by ditching income and health checks

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Move expected to help clear backlog of about 11,500 applications and could ease process for up to 300,000 Kiwis

The Australian government has lowered the bar for New Zealanders who have applied for permanent residency.

Under changes announced by the home affairs department, New Zealanders who applied on or before 10 December for a subclass 189 visa will no longer face hurdles related to income, period of residence and health conditions.

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Labor to allow 19,000 refugees to stay permanently in Australia from early 2023

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Decision grants people on temporary protection visas rights to social security and reunion with family members

The Albanese government will, in early 2023, allow 19,000 refugees to stay permanently in Australia, granting them rights to social security and reunion with family members.

The decision affects people who hold temporary protection visas (TPVs) and safe haven enterprise visas (SHEVs) who arrived to Australia by boat before 2014, having since spent at least a decade in limbo.

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Australia’s skilled migration program needs overhaul to boost economy, report says

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Grattan Institute says government should target permanent skilled visas at younger, higher-skilled migrants

A better skilled migration program could be the solution to Australia’s major economic challenges, a new report says.

A lack of productivity growth, growing debt in the federal budget and the economy’s transition to net-zero could be assisted by key reforms, the submission by the public policy thinktank, the Grattan Institute, to the federal government’s migration review has said.

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Chinese ambassador hails ‘very successful’ meeting – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

The US secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, is up next.

Austin says there will be an increase rotational presence of US navy and army troops in Australia. It will see more US air, land and sea forces in Australia.

Our mateship will stand as a bedrock of future peace and security.

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Australian government overturns decision to cancel citizenship of man on death row in Iraq

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Home affairs tells Ahmad Merhi’s lawyer the law used to strip him of Australian citizenship was invalid with almost 20 other cancellations also voided

The Department of Home Affairs has overturned a decision to cancel the citizenship of a former Sydney man on death row in Iraq after it ruled the law used to strip him of his Australian citizenship was invalid.

The department has now revealed that 18 other Australians had their citizenship illegally revoked.

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First refugees from Nauru to be resettled in New Zealand arrive nine years after deal offered

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Six men who had been held in Australia’s offshore processing facilities for more than eight years arrive in Auckland

The first six refugees to be resettled in New Zealand from Australia’s offshore processing regime on Nauru have landed in Auckland.

The flight follows a resettlement deal first offered by New Zealand nine years – and three prime ministers – ago when it proposed taking 150 refugees from Australia’s offshore centres every year.

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Electronic monitoring in community could reduce immigration detention, document states

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Briefing note reveals surveillance among ‘key initiatives being further explored’ by home affairs department

Electronic monitoring is being considered to help clear the “intractable” caseload of people in immigration detention, according to a document released under freedom of information.

According to an August briefing note, surveillance is among alternatives to immigration detention under consideration by the home affairs department. These also include better risk assessment, an independent panel to advise on the release of people in detention and a “step-down” model into community detention.

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Queensland watch house whistleblower labelled ‘dog’ in Facebook group for police

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Exclusive: current and former officers appear to be involved in the conversation about the whistleblower on a private group

A Queensland police whistleblower who leaked audio recordings of officers using racist and violent language has been called a “rat” and a “dog” in a private Facebook group for police officers.

The QPS has apologised for the “sickening and disturbing” Brisbane city watch house recordings – which included comments that black people should be beaten and buried – and said the incidents are being investigated.

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Australia ordered to negotiate with 122 Indonesians wrongly held in adult jails when they were children

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The Indonesians launched a class action over being imprisoned as adult people smugglers on the basis of flawed medical evidence

The Australian government has been ordered to attempt to negotiate a settlement with more than 100 Indonesians who say they were wrongly imprisoned as adult people smugglers when they were children, on the basis of flawed medical evidence.

The 122 Indonesians launched a landmark class action against the federal government two years ago claiming wrongful detention between 2008 and 2011.

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US prison operator begins $750,000-a-day contract for Nauru offshore regime

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Previously accused of ‘egregious’ security failures, MTC will be paid $47.3m to oversee detention of 111 refugees and asylum seekers for two months

The private prison operator now in charge of Australia’s offshore processing regime on Nauru will be paid more than three-quarters of a million dollars every day to provide “garrison and welfare services” for a little over 100 people.

The US-based Management and Training Corporation – a company previously accused in US courts of “gross negligence’’ and “egregious” security failures – has been awarded a contract for $47.3m covering just 62 days of work on the Pacific island.

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Siev X: man denies involvement in 2001 people-smuggling operation that ended in significant deaths

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Maythem Kamil Radhi pleads not guilty facilitating the proposed entry of non-citizens into Australia

More than 20 years after the asylum seeker boat known as the Siev X sank, causing a “significant number” of deaths, a man has denied involvement in an alleged people-smuggling operation in an Australian court.

Appearing in the Brisbane supreme court on Monday, Maythem Kamil Radhi pleaded not guilty to facilitating the proposed entry of at least five non-citizens into Australia between 1 July and 19 October 2001.

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Young and sick children to be first Australians repatriated from Syrian detention camps

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About 60 wives, sons and daughters of slain or jailed IS combatants to be rescued from Roj camp, but some women face arrest upon return to Australia

The youngest, most unwell and most vulnerable of the Australian children currently held in squalid Syrian detention camps will be the first ones repatriated to Australia. But some of their mothers could face arrest – and potential charges – upon return to the country.

The Australian government is currently implementing plans to repatriate about 60 Australian women and children – wives, sons and daughters of slain or jailed Islamic State combatants – who have been held for more than three years in the dangerous detention camps in north-east Syria.

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Australian children rescued from Syrian camps need tailored support to reintegrate into society, expert says

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Shane Healey urges government to establish holistic and ‘individualised’ process for kids who spent formative years in violent conditions

A former ADF Special Operations intelligence analyst who is now an expert on countering violent extremism says Australian children brought out of Syrian refugee camps will require intensive support to successfully integrate into the community.

“It’s a long, intensive and individualised process but, done holistically, will have excellent results,” Shane Healey said. “Australia has the capability and the expertise to support these children.”

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Australia-New Zealand refugee deal: UN blames mental health toll after just 36 people take up offer

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UN refugee agency says many refugees have been traumatised by years in Australian detention camps, hampering uptake of the offer

In nearly six months, just 36 people have taken up New Zealand’s offer to resettle refugees held in Australian detention camps such as Nauru, with UN’s refugee agency saying the brutality of Australia’s immigration regime is partly to blame.

In March 2022, Australia’s government accepted a longstanding offer from New Zealand to resettle up to 450 refugees from Australia’s regional processing centres over the next three years, at a rate of up to 150 per year. But after nearly six months, uptake has been slow – stymied by the dire mental health of prospective applicants.

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Could a digital twin of Tuvalu preserve the island nation before it’s lost to the collapsing climate?

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With rising seas expected to submerge the nation by 2100, official says ‘we should always be able to remember Tuvalu as it is, before it disappears’

When Tuvalu vanishes beneath rising seas, its diaspora still want somewhere to call home – and that could be a virtual version of the tiny Pacific nation.

Global heating is threatening to submerge Tuvalu by the end of the century, and its 12,000 inhabitants are considering the future.

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‘I can never feel settled’: wait time for key Australian work visa more than doubles

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Migrants waiting for the 887 skilled regional visa are set to protest across the country, angry at the worsening delays

Processing times for an important skilled worker visa have more than doubled and the number of migrants languishing on bridging visas has increased six-fold, a new report warns.

The Migrant Workers Centre on Friday released a report documenting the deterioration in Australia’s visa processing system, which found processing times for the 887 skilled regional visa has more than doubled since 2018.

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Australia to pay controversial US prisons operator $4.6m for 52 days of transition work on Nauru

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MTC, which has been accused of ‘gross negligence’ that allegedly led to gang rape, will be paid during same period as previous contractor Canstruct

The Australian government will pay $4.6m to a controversial US private prisons operator for 52 days of preparatory work ahead of its expected takeover of the offshore processing regime on Nauru, despite a range of serious allegations made against the company abroad.

The US-based Management and Training Corporation (MTC) has been accused in civil suits of “gross negligence” and “egregious” security failures that allegedly led to the gang-rape of a woman in detention, the murder of two retirees by escaped prisoners, and the months-long solitary confinement of a US citizen wrongfully held in immigration detention. It has also paid a multi-million dollar fine over a government bribery scandal.

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Call for UN torture watchdog to investigate Australia’s handcuffing of asylum seekers en route to medical care

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Detainees report feeling humiliated sitting in handcuffs in waiting rooms during medical appointments

The United Nations’ torture prevention watchdog has been urged to investigate Australia’s use of handcuffs on asylum seekers when seeking medical care – a practice advocates condemn as inhumane and unlawful.

In 2020, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (Piac) launched a landmark test case in the federal court alleging the practice of handcuffing immigration detainees for medical transfers was unlawful and traumatic, particularly for those with histories of torture and abuse.

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