Category Archives: Australian immigration and asylum

UK man jailed for sexually abusing nine-year-old step granddaughter has Australian visa reinstated by tribunal

Posted on by

The man successfully appealed the automatic revocation of his permanent resident visa after being sentenced to 14 months in prison

An elderly UK man who served a prison sentence for sexually abusing his step granddaughter when she was nine years old has had his Australian visa reinstated by a tribunal because of his “strong ties to Australia”.

The man was sentenced to 14 months prison in the Western Australia district court in February 2024 for molesting the girl in the presence of another child.

In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Continue reading...

Liberals have ‘a lot of work to do’ after SA wipeout, Anne Ruston says – As it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Australia not ‘contemplating’ fuel rationing but state and federal governments have powers, Bowen says

State governments also had fuel rationing powers, Chris Bowen said.

When I was a kid … in the 80s in Sydney, I remember petrol rationing was done by state governments – the state governments do have powers there.

Yes, the Commonwealth government, under the fuel emergency act, has powers.

It’s not designed to be invoked lightly. It really has powers primarily around defence and health, in the first instance, to ensure that those key areas are getting diesel that they need, but also other forms of fuel.

I would need to be satisfied that there’s a real shortage and that the powers under that act are useful.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Tropical Cyclone Narelle poised to hit Queensland coast within hours with wind gusts up to 250km/h

Posted on by

Tropical cyclone expected to make landfall in far north Queensland within hours. Follow today’s news live

Waves of near-record heights smash Cairns coastline

One of the challenges posed by Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is the lack of weather monitoring infrastructure in remote parts of Cape York.

Winds of that speed are pretty hard to imagine if you haven’t experienced them before. They are just so, so strong, capable of uprooting really large trees or completely stripping them of their branches …

It can also cause extensive damage to properties in the path of those very strong wind gusts as well as power outages.

Continue reading...

Australia’s high court orders ankle bracelets be removed and curfews end for 43 former immigration detainees

Posted on by

Labor’s preventative detention regime suffers blow as court finds tough laws for NZYQ group are unconstitutional

Dozens of former immigration detainees who have already served prison sentences will have ankle bracelets removed and curfews scrapped, with the high court again striking down laws targeting the group.

On Wednesday, the Albanese government’s preventative detention regime suffered another blow as the court ruled the tough laws to deal with the NZYQ cohort were unconstitutional.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: luxury car tax change could seal EU trade deal; far north Queensland braces for severe weather

Posted on by

Jim Chalmers hints concession on threshold for imports could finally lead to an agreement. Follow the latest updates live

Two flights from Dubai land in Sydney and Melbourne

A second commercial flight landed in Sydney last night from Dubai and the first made its way to Melbourne from the Middle Eastern hub.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: SA Labor pledges $100k stamp duty waiver for ‘empty nesters’; Burke says Hanson’s Lakemba comments a national security risk

Posted on by

The home affairs minister says the One Nation leader was frustrated with the Muslim community because it ‘didn’t give her what she wanted’. Follow live updates

Police investigating the mistaken kidnapping of grandfather Chris Baghsarian are appealing for information about suspicious car fires that could be related to the case, AAP reports.

Hopes are fading of finding the 85-year-old alive, who was taken captive more than a week ago when three men stormed his Sydney home and bundled him into an SUV.

Continue reading...

Tony Burke says Australia has few options to block return of 34 women and children from Syrian camp

Posted on by

One woman is subject to temporary exclusion order over security concerns, but home affairs minister says group is ‘not consistent’ in their beliefs

Tony Burke says authorities “know the state of mind” of each of the 34 Australian women and children stuck in a Syrian detention camp, but says his options to prevent them returning to Australia are limited.

The home affairs minister, who represents a south-western Sydney electorate with a high Muslim population, also warned Pauline Hanson’s recent derogatory comments against Muslims in Australia could incite violence.

Continue reading...

Nightly raids and violent beatings: Australia urged to accept citizens trapped in Syria as conditions in Roj camp deteriorate

Posted on by

Aid workers say the camp where 34 women and children are being held are ‘dire’ and present more risk than if they were repatriated

Conditions in the north-eastern Syrian camp where 34 Australians have been forcibly returned are deteriorating dramatically, with reports of near-nightly raids, and increasingly violent beatings, amid worsening uncertainty over their futures.

The 11 women and 23 Australian children forced back to Roj camp on Monday returned to find their tents – formerly huddled collectively in a row known as Australia Street – demolished and their possessions seized.

Continue reading...

Tony Burke ‘taking advice’ from security agencies about Australian women and children in Syria seeking to return

Posted on by

Temporary Exclusion Orders allow the home affairs minister to stop a person entering for up to two years, but there is a high bar for the powers

Home affairs minister Tony Burke is “taking advice” from security agencies on whether Australian women and children in a Syrian detention camp should be temporarily banned from returning, but it is unclear how many in the cohort such an order would apply to.

On Monday night, 34 Australian women and children – the wives, widows and children of dead or jailed Islamic State fighters – left from the al-Roj camp, in north-eastern Syria, after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia.

Continue reading...

A translation of the Nauruan president’s remarks will stay suppressed for a decade – but secrecy in Australia’s offshore policy is nothing new

Posted on by

From Scott Morrison’s ‘on-water matters’ to the Albanese government’s MOU with Nauru, successive governments’ attitude to legitimate scrutiny has been one of hostility

Offshore, secrecy dominates. But it doesn’t stop at the water’s edge.

In February, Australia brokered a new offshore arrangement with Nauru, striking a deal to send members of the so-called NZYQ cohort – non-citizens with criminal histories – to the Pacific island. Australia would give Nauru more than $400m in exchange.

Continue reading...

Coalition announce emissions policy after joint party room; more magic sand products recalled over asbestos contamination – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Total fire ban in parts of New South Wales

While a storm system continues to affect parts of New South Wales’ east, the state’s west faces extreme fire danger.

I expect it will be pretty much what the Nationals have wanted all along because it’s been really clear that they have set the agenda in terms of the energy and climate policy of the Liberal Party.

I’m genuinely concerned and genuinely disappointed that this has happened because we do need to take action on climate change.

I think my a lot of my community will be going ‘Why on earth has the Coalition done this if they are seeking to ever take back seats’ like mine?

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Greens say secret Nauru deportations ‘not how any democracy should behave’

Posted on by

Shoebridge accuses Labor of being ‘addicted to secrecy’. Follow today’s news live

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the best overnight stories before Krishani Dhanji takes the controls.

Asio chief Mike Burgess gave a speech at the Lowy Institute in Sydney last night in which he said there were “at least” three countries whose governments were prepared to carry out assassinations on Australian soil. Asked whether it was too alarming, Burgess said that it was “incredibly important” for Australians to understand the dangers the country faced.

Continue reading...

Albanese government deports two more men to Nauru in secret, infuriating human rights advocates

Posted on by

Exclusive: Sources say a Sudanese national and another man were chartered to the former regional processing centre last week, joining one other person

Another two men from the NZYQ-affected cohort have been deported to Nauru in a process human rights advocates say is shrouded in secrecy.

Sources told Guardian Australia a Sudanese national, who was detained in the Yongah Hill centre just outside of Perth, and another man held in a different centre were chartered to Nauru last week.

Continue reading...

First person arrives on Nauru triggering Australia’s $2.5bn deal with island nation

Posted on by

Deal between federal government and Nauru expected to last 30 years and apply to around 350 people released under high court’s NZYQ ruling

Australia has commenced its $2.5bn deal with Nauru to offload more than 350 people from the NZYQ cohort after the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed the first arrival had landed on the tiny Pacific island last week.

Burke said Nauruan authorities had confirmed the arrival on Friday, as reported by the ABC, triggering the first yearly instalment of $408m.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Ley challenges Albanese over Trump meeting; storm warning for Sydney

Posted on by

The Liberal leader says the prime minister must extract ‘concrete’ results on Aukus and trade. Follow today’s news live

Hume: Ley describing Melbourne as Australia’s ‘crime capital’ just ‘explaining what every Victorian already knows’

The federal Liberal senator for Victoria, Jane Hume, was on ABC Radio National a short time ago speaking about crime in the state.

Sussan and the shadow ministry team are putting together our policy agenda as we speak. It is only five months since the last election, but I don’t agree that there is nothing that a federal government cannot do. In fact, there are plenty of things that a federal government can get involved in to help states tackle crime, whether it be working for consistent bail laws across the country.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Chalmers reveals Keating influence on super tax backdown; cost of cybercrime revealed

Posted on by

Treasurer says he spoke to former PM ‘half a dozen’ times before unveiling changes to his plans for superannuation tax concessions. Follow today’s news live

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Nick Visser will take over.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says he spoke to former Labor prime minister Paul Keating ‘half a dozen times’ last week as he finalised the federal government’s watered-down superannuation tax plan. More coming up.

Continue reading...

Liberal frontbencher backs Hastie on immigration – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed.

James Paterson says Hastie move to backbench part of Liberals’ ‘debate and contest about ideas’

The sooner the Liberal party can sort out its differences the better but it may take a while after Andrew Hastie’s departure to the back bench, according to one of the rogue MP’s closest colleagues.

But we do have to make sure we go through our processes. We have to make sure we have those debates.

One of the reflections we’ve all had about the last parliamentary term is that there wasn’t enough debate and contest about ideas, that we need to robustly contest policy before we settle on it.

On the back bench, I’ll continue to advocate for things I believe in.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: retired admiral criticises Aukus deal; decision expected in NSW psychiatrists pay dispute

Posted on by

Peter Briggs says relying on overseas construction is ‘folly’; industrial relations commission to rule this morning on government’s stoush with doctors. Follow the latest news live

The former head of Australia’s submarine squadron has urged Australia against outsourcing boat construction overseas, as bureaucrats express confidence the US won’t scuttle Aukus, Australian Associated Press reports.

A parliamentary inquiry yesterday ran the rule over the Geelong treaty, a 50-year Aukus cooperation agreement between Australia and the UK signed in July.

There is no minimum protection in the treaty for a guaranteed work share for genuine Australian industry.

The Collins project has established a viable submarine supply chain within Australia.

Continue reading...

Lions coach hails AFL grand final win as ‘better than last year’ – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

PM brushes off Coalition criticism for attending UK Labour party’s national conference

Returning to Albanese’s appearance on Sky News this morning, the PM has shrugged off criticism from the Coalition that he is spending too much time engaging in international diplomacy after he attended the UK Labour party’s national conference.

What I do is work very hard representing Australia.

In Liverpool, I’ll be having discussions with ministers, not just with prime minister Starmer, about Aukus and about that progress, taking the opportunity to sit down with government ministers.

I think you can be strong on borders without being weak on humanity, and that’s what drives my government.

Continue reading...

News live: Marles ‘confident’ about future of US relationship; Australian doctor joins Gaza flotilla

Posted on by

Follow the latest updates live

Parents need boost to lift flagging vaccination rate

Parents need practical strategies such as easier access to appointments and bulk-billing to help reverse a concerning decline in childhood vaccination rates, research has found.

The top barriers were mostly around ability to get appointments easily, being able to prioritise their child’s vaccination over all of the other things that they have to get done, the cost of getting their child vaccinated.

We now know that that will be on the 20th of October. The point here is that they had spoken a number of times by phone. The relationship is conducted at many, many levels. It is going well.

We’ve got the lowest tariff rate. Aukus is happening at a pace. And so we’re really confident … about the progress of our relationship with the US.

Continue reading...