Category Archives: Australian immigration and asylum

US fought for right to launch fresh case against two Rwandans accepted by Australia

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Exclusive: court documents show US attorney wanted to be able to prosecute pair again for ‘horrendous’ crime, before they came to Australia in refugee swap deal

Two Rwandans accepted into Australia were accused of crimes so “grave” and “horrendous” that the United States fought for the right to prosecute them a second time, court documents show.

The Australian government sparked controversy last month for accepting two Rwandan militants previously accused of murdering tourists in targeted 1999 attacks in the Bwindi Impenetrable national park in Uganda.

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People smuggling at top of Peter Dutton’s agenda during Sri Lanka visit

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Home affairs minister to hold high-level meetings and says Australia will help country rebuild after Easter terrorist attacks

The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, will hold high-level meetings in Sri Lanka on Tuesday, with people smuggling at the top of the agenda.

Dutton is due to meet Sri Lanka’s president Maith­ripala Sirisena, prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministerial counterpart in Colombo on Tuesday.

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‘Do they actually care?’ Rwanda survivors don’t understand why Australia took in rebels

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Rwandan community doesn’t want genocide victims’ families living in Australia to experience additional trauma

Celestin Ngoga knows what happens when Rwanda’s traumatic history comes hurtling into the present.

He’s been on European streets with genocide survivors when they encountered their attackers by chance. It can happen in English classes, he says, or on the train, or in shopping centres.

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US was ‘certain’ Rwandan pair in Australia were members of banned ‘terror group’

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Former prosecutor says US was confident when charges were brought that the two men were part of a Hutu rebel group

The attorney who brought charges against two Rwandan men recently resettled in Australia says the United States was “certain” they were members of a Hutu rebel group that was later designated a terror group by the US government.

The comments again raise questions about how the pair managed to pass Australia’s tough and vigorously applied character and security checks, under which others have been deported for minor offences or historical associations with criminal groups.

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Resettlement of Rwandan rebels labelled a ‘frustrating’ hypocrisy

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‘There never seems to be any consistent rule or fairness,’ specialist migration lawyer

A 28-year veteran of migration law whose Rwandan clients have all been denied Australia’s protection says the resettlement of two members of a violent Hutu rebel group shows a “frustrating” double standard.

Australia’s deal with the US to take in two former members of the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda, once designated a terrorist group by the US, has prompted consternation among some experts and lawyers. The pair were languishing in US detention after the collapse of a case against them for the slaughter of tourists in Uganda in 1999.

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Refugee swap Rwandans: how did they pass Australia’s ‘character test’?

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Two men accused of killing tourists were resettled despite being members of a group on a terrorist exclusion list, as judge in their case brands them ‘dangerous’

Two Rwandans who were let into Australia under a secret US aslyum deal could have been rejected under Australia’s strict and vigorously enforced character test, a migration law expert has said.

The assessment comes as an American judge who heard their US asylum case insisted they were “dangerous” and had posed a threat to the safety of the US.

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How Australia ended up taking in Rwandans accused of killing tourists

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Australia’s government faces questions over secret deal with US in which the men were granted humanitarian visas

Just hours out from a federal election, the Australian government is facing questions over its decision to grant humanitarian visas to two Rwandan men accused of the brutal 1999 murder of tourists in Uganda.

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said that the men were subject to – and cleared – security checks, and on Friday distanced himself further by suggesting the approvals occurred when his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull was prime minister.

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Morrison knew in 2016 of Australia’s resettlement of Rwandans accused of killings

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Exclusive: US advice was that the men, who have refugee status and were accused of murdering tourists in Uganda in 1999, presented no security threat

The national security committee of cabinet was briefed about all aspects of the American refugee swap deal in late 2016, including the resettlement of two Rwandan men accused of murdering tourists in Uganda.

Guardian Australian understands the NSC was briefed, and the then treasurer, Scott Morrison, the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, and the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, were aware of all the elements of the agreement signed by Malcolm Turnbull and Barack Obama in 2016.

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There’s no such thing as an Aboriginal ‘alien’ – and the high court should say so | Micah Kickett and Julian R Murphy

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Deporting Indigenous peoples strips them of their identity and right to country and devalues their cultural obligations and responsibilities

Aboriginal people have occupied the continent of Australia for more than 60,000 years, so why does the Australian government feel justified imprisoning them in immigration detention centres and threatening them with deportation?

Australia’s indefinite detention of asylum seekers in inhumane conditions has long been a public concern, but only recently have we learned that the government is prepared to treat its Indigenous people in a similar manner. This week, two Aboriginal Australians who have experienced such treatment brought their cases to the high court, asking the court to rule that the federal government’s constitutional power to make laws with respect to “aliens” (essentially, foreigners) cannot apply to Aboriginal Australians.

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Have we, Australia, become a country that breeds mass murderers with our words? | Richard Flanagan

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We are better than our politicians’ dark fears. We are not their hate. We are optimistic about a country built on openness

I have only ever heard Behrouz Boochani’s voice through speakers. One day, he will stand here before us, and we will hear and see him in the flesh. As a free human being. And I am here today to say that day is coming.

Because change is coming. You can feel it, you sense it. It is coming and it will not be denied. But it needs us to fight for it and to keep fighting for it, and we need to fight for it, not only for the refugees of Manus and Nauru, but for our own salvation.

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Only one person has been transferred under medevac law, refugee advocates say

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As the new process for bringing sick refugees to Australia faces unexplained delays, others who have come are being held under guard in hotels

More than a month after the medevac bill passed the Australian parliament, just one person is believed to have been transferred under the law.

The Department of Home Affairs and Australian Border Force refuse to say how many transfers have occurred, but according to advocates and detainees only one of more than 25 people brought to Australia for treatment in recent weeks has been under the new law.

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Penny Wong warns racism and hate speech in parliament threaten democracy

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Labor senator says those who ‘see political or commercial advantage in heightening cynicism’ are diminishing civic life

Penny Wong will say that “racism is a threat to our democracy” in a speech taking aim at those who see “political or commercial advantage” in increased cynicism towards public institutions.

The Labor senator is set to warn that hate speech and extremist views in parliament and a “lack of unity in response to these” have harmed democracy, pointing the finger in part at the Coalition for its tardy response to condemn One Nation in the 45th parliament.

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Australia cancels Milo Yiannopoulos’s visa after Christchurch comments

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Immigration minister says remarks by far-right figure were ‘appalling and foment hatred and division’

The Australian government has cancelled the visa of far-right commentator Milo Yianopoulos just a week after it was personally approved by the immigration minister.

Immigration minister David Coleman said on Saturday that comments about Islam made by Yiannopoulos in the wake of the Christchurch massacre were “appalling and foment hatred and division” and he would not be allowed in the country.

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Scott Morrison leads PR sortie to reopened Christmas Island

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PM hints it is possible asylum seekers with serious medical emergencies will still be treated in Australia

Scott Morrison has indicated it is possible that asylum seekers with serious medical emergencies will continue to be treated in Australia, while taking a pool of reporters to Christmas Island to showcase the facilities the government has reopened at an estimated cost of $1.4bn over four years.

The prime minister led reporters on a tour of the Christmas Island facilities on Wednesday. When pressed about why he was on the remote island, with reporters in tow, for what was self-evidently an expensive public relations sortie, Morrison declared it was “important for Australians to know this facility is up to the job”.

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Julian Burnside takes on Josh Frydenberg as Greens candidate for Kooyong

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The refugee advocate sets up a four-way contest with the treasurer, Liberal-turned-independent Oliver Yates and Labor

The human rights lawyer and refugee advocate Julian Burnside will run as the Greens candidate for Kooyong at the next election.

In a statement that appeared in Nine newspapers and the Australian on Tuesday the prominent barrister said he would take on the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, in the blue-ribbon Liberal seat because he believes the “political system is broken”.

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The medevac bill is law: what does that mean for ailing offshore refugees?

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A diversion to Christmas Island, a change of law on Nauru and other complications may hinder the ability to provide care

When the medevac bill – which on Friday became law – passed parliament, it was intended to create a streamlined process to get sick refugees and asylum seekers into the medical care they needed in Australia, because it wasn’t available on Manus Island or Nauru.

The government expressed concerns the bill could lead to weakened borders and national security. Amendments to the bill gave the minister 72 hours to assess a transfer referral which, if he or she refused, would be sent to an independent medical panel. The panel could override a minister’s refusal on health grounds but the minister has the final veto if there are security issues surrounding the patient.

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Last four refugee children leave Nauru for resettlement in US

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Move follows intense campaign by refugee advocates for all children sent to the island by the Australian government to be taken off

The last four children living in Australian government-run offshore processing on Nauru have now left the island, amid a group of 19 people flown to the US for resettlement.

The group includes a number of Iranians, according to refugee advocates, contradicting persistent suspicions that Donald Trump’s travel ban on six nationalities was blocking refugees from the resettlement scheme.

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‘Hockey owes me’ – Penny Wong releases bombshell Helloworld email – politics live

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Senate estimates hears startling email about Joe Hockey’s meeting with travel agency representative. All the day’s events, live

Labor is persisting with Helloworld, and the evidence given by Dfat officials this morning. Can the prime minister confirm officials were unaware before the meeting that Joe Hockey had a major shareholding in Helloworld, and not told about the conflict of interest until after the meeting?

Christopher Pyne hides behind the secretary of Dfat, Frances Adamson.

The committee has moved on to Rex Patrick asking Dfat questions about Julian Assange.

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Australian government security contractor Paladin breaks silence on corruption allegations

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Company that was awarded $423m to provide services on Manus Island says reports linking it to bad debts are ‘offensive’ and ‘unsubstantiated’

Security contractor Paladin has broken its silence to attack suggestions of corruption as “offensive”, while rejecting reports linking it to a series of bad debts or failed contracts across Asia.

The firm said it is seeking legal advice about media articles it said had “failed to identify any evidence to sustain the damaging allegations being made against Paladin”.

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Labor demands investigation into ministers Cash and Keenan over AFP raid on AWU – politics live

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Earlier Mathias Cormann admitted he books holidays by calling CEO of travel company, who is also Liberal party treasurer, directly. All the day’s events live

Wayne Swan is on his feet, talking about his career, which included eight election wins and one loss, since 1993. Or as he describes it, enough days to cover almost four continuous years of parliament.

Wayne Swan says yesterday was his 35th wedding anniversary, and two hours ago, he became a grandfather again.

So it’s a good week to be Wayne Swan.

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