Category Archives: Australian immigration and asylum

Australia news live: Hastie warns ADF is ‘going to get weaker’ as China tests US allies with ‘gunboat diplomacy’

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Shadow defence minister told ABC RN China is testing US allies as Trump ‘resets relationships in Europe’. Follow today’s news live

ABC pays tribute to Antony Green as he announces upcoming election will be his last on-air

Continuing from our last post: the ABC’s director of news, Justin Stevens, has paid tribute to Antony Green as he announces the upcoming election would be his last on-air with the national broadcaster.

For more than three decades he has performed one of the ABC’s most important roles with precision, impartiality, dedication and unprecedented expertise.

He has the ABC’s immense gratitude and respect. I’m sure our audience joins me in thanking him and wishing him well as he prepares for his final federal election broadcast.

It’s time to retire. I turn 65 this coming weekend. I work on a three-year election cycle with federal elections, I won’t be presenting elections in three years’ time when I’m 68, so this will be my last on-camera election for the ABC.

I’ll stay on for a couple of years, handing over work and doing other things, but essentially I’m deciding to retire and work less.

There are 80 or 90 of them, a book on every election since 1990, state and federal … I [also] redesigned computer system. When I first started this, you had to be in the tally room to get the numbers. It was the only way to get data from the Electoral Commission to the ABC computer, so you had to be there. It’s a completely different world now.

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Australia news live: Woodside doubles profits thanks to record production of oil; funnel-web spider shortage threatens antivenom program

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Australia’s largest oil and gas producer has doubled its profits to $5.6bn. Follow today’s news live

Senate estimates will be back under way today, and AAP has flagged a little of what we can expect:

Creative Australia bosses, including the chief executive, Adrian Collette, will front an estimates hearing and it’s expected they’ll be questioned about the selection body’s shock decision to ditch the Venice Biennale team.

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Eleventh-hour high court bid to stop Australia’s secretive deal to resettle NZYQ cohort in Nauru

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Proceedings filed Friday for man scheduled to be deported Monday as Human Rights Law Centre makes case for ‘dangerous precedent’

Australia’s secretive deal to deport people among the NZYQ cohort to Nauru has been challenged in the high court in a move that could block the first removal from the country.

Legal proceedings filed Friday for a man scheduled to be deported to Nauru on Monday argued that the decision to cancel the man’s protection visa was unlawful and that he should be allowed to stay in Australia while a review of his visa continued.

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Australia news live: embattled casino operator Star offered $650m lifeline; name of next cyclone changed from Anthony to avoid using PM’s name

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Hume rules out working with teals if Coalition wins 70-72 seats

Jane Hume was asked whether the Coalition was in a position to form any alliances with the crossbench, amid new polling from YouGov showing neither party looks to be coming out with a clear majority.

That would cause chaos, and would cause chaos politically and economically as well.

On average, the teals have voted with the Greens around 78% of the time, with Labor around 75% of the time, and with the Coalition around 18% of the time.

I think it’s really important to look at what people do rather than what people say. We’re planning on going to this election to win the election, because Australians deserve better than what they’ve had for the last three years.

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Convicted murderer among three members of NZYQ cohort to be resettled in Nauru under deal struck by Labor

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Three non-citizens with criminal histories taken into immigration detention in preparation for removal from Australia, home affairs minister says

Three members of the NZYQ cohort of non-citizens, including a convicted murderer, will be resettled in Nauru after the Albanese government struck a deal with the tiny Pacific nation for an undisclosed sum.

The trio were placed into immigration detention in preparation for their removal from Australia after being granted 30-year resettlement visas by Nauru on Saturday, the home affairs minster, Tony Burke, announced on Sunday.

The NZYQ cohort includes non-citizens released into the community in Australia as a result of a landmark 2023 high court decision, where the court ruled in favour of “NZYQ”, a stateless Rohingya man, who faced the prospect of detention for life because no country had agreed to resettle him, due to a criminal conviction for raping a 10-year-old in Australia.

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Australia news live: ‘we have got your back’, Albanese tells steel workers amid speculation over Trump tariffs

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Australia prime minister says Trump giving ‘great consideration’ for an exemption. Follow the latest news headlines live

Dutton calls for more details on interaction between Australia and China in South China Sea

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has also weighed in on that interaction between Australian and Chinese aircraft in the South China Sea on Tuesday.

And then Richard Marles did a press conference to provide details. So we haven’t had a briefing on it as yet, but on what the deputy prime minister says it is deeply concerning because it puts that safety at risk, the safety of our personnel. And that is not something that Australia can tolerate.

[It] needs to be transparent in terms of what’s happened, and I just don’t think we’ve seen all of the detail yet from Richard Marles.

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Referendum needed for Dutton’s call to toughen citizenship-stripping laws, expert says

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Constitutional law expert Helen Irving says such a change appears to be a distraction from serious nature of anti-Israeli comments from NSW nurses

Peter Dutton’s proposal to toughen citizenship-stripping laws in response to comments made by two New South Wales nurses would probably require a referendum, a constitutional lawyer says.

Both major party leaders have been accused of a “bidding war” on who can look tougher on the issue, with Abul Rizvi, a former senior immigration official, urging politicians not to throw more petrol on the fire amid social tensions.

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Australia news live: BoM warns of life-threatening flash floods in Queensland and severe storms in north-east Victoria

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Flood-hit Townsville, Cardwell and Ingham could face more dangerous flooding. Follow the latest news live

O’Neil makes housing announcements in lead-up to election

The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, is in Parramatta today and will travel to Bennelong later, announcing 28 new social and affordable homes

Funding is incredibly important here. I know all of our Australians at home who are watching are really deeply concerned about those devastating differences we see between health outcomes, even important things like infant mortality.

All of the indicators that we use to determine equality of life are very different between our First Nations communities, particularly in remote areas.

I think our prime minister has been quite sober and rational about this, but it is not a reasonable idea, and it’s not shrewd as described by Peter Dutton.

So I think the prime minister has done the right thing. And Peter Dutton is out there playing politics.

But the issue, I think, here that we’re missing is that Gaza has completely been destroyed … It’s devastating to see those kind of images. So there needs to be a rebuild. There needs to be a place that people can come back to in a safe haven for them to call home.

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Peter Dutton and home affairs department cleared of wrongdoing in case involving Melbourne terrorist

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No potential breaches found by independent inquiry into former Coalition government’s handling of Abdul Nacer Benbrika case

Peter Dutton and the home affairs department have been cleared of wrongdoing over what a judge described as “a serious interference with the administration of justice” in a court case involving Melbourne terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika.

But the independent review clearing Dutton and his former department will not be released publicly, Guardian Australia has confirmed.

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Australia news live: youth vaping rates plummet after law reform; police alert 5000 Australians targeted by overseas romance scam

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The federal health minister cited data showing vape use among young Australians has significantly reduced meaning new laws are working. Follow today’s news live

Cyclone threat looms in northern Australia as drenched region braces for yet more rain

North Queensland is on cyclone watch with three tropical lows given a chance of developing in the coming days, bringing heavy rain that has flooded roads and homes.

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Australia news live: Angus Taylor says cost-of-living pain ‘far from over’ despite inflation falling to three-year low

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Labor adds homelessness focus to disability strategy

Australians with disabilities experiencing homelessness will be prioritised as the government commits to disability reforms, months after a scathing royal commission into the sector, AAP reports.

For the first time, they also include a number of national actions that all governments will work on together, with the disability community, to ensure people with disability right across Australia experience the benefits.

Some students, especially those in our cities, can see a career in agriculture as something that’s only for those who live in the regions or for those whose family own land that can be used to operate an agribusiness.

AgConnections aims to break down these misconceptions and build on the diversity of the industry, by highlighting and encouraging women and Indigenous Australians wanting to pursue a career in agriculture.

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Australia news live: Bruce Lehrmann seeks judge-only trial on rape charges; off-duty police officer in hospital after Sydney attack

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Asked about the future of the weekly pro-Palestinian protests across Australia, Malarndirri McCarthy said as long as they are respectful and peaceful, “they are part of our democratic way”.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? I mean, we are a democracy. Whatever the rally or protest is, we enable that. We allow that so long as it’s peaceful and respectful.

Police across every jurisdiction in the country know they have to be prepared. Rally organisers, whoever they may be, also know they need to consult to be able to have access to those streets. Come on, let’s be mindful that these rallies, so long as they are held in a respectful manner, in a peaceful manner, they are part of our democratic way.

I think when I look at the polls, Karl – and I think I’ve talked to you about this over the years, you know, when we went into the 2019 election – every poll said we were going to win. The reality is, you have to work every single day right up – and the only poll that does really count, and I believe that especially after that loss, is the one on election day.

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Australia grants nearly 1,000 humanitarian visas in three months to those fleeing Israel-Hamas conflict

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Figures reveal number of beneficiaries of temporary three-year visa since it was introduced by Labor in October

Almost 1,000 Palestinian and Israeli nationals have been offered temporary humanitarian visas in Australia since last October, new data shows, as the six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza begins.

The humanitarian pathway for those affected by the conflict was introduced in October 2024 for the more than 1,300 Palestinians in Australia on visitor visas but prevents them from applying for permanent protection.

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Human rights report lashes Australia’s ‘diabolical’ asylum seeker treatment and ‘appalling’ youth crime laws

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Latest world report by Human Rights Watch describes Australia as a ‘vibrant democracy … marred by some key human rights concerns’

Australia’s “diabolical” treatment of asylum seekers and youth crime has worsened, a global human rights advocacy body has warned, urging voters to push back on leaders politicising the issue for gain.

Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) latest world report has lashed Australia for going backwards on children in the criminal justice system in 2024, referencing the Northern Territory’s decision to reintroduce spit hoods for youth detainees and the continued use of watch houses to detain children in Queensland.

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Australia news live: SpaceX debris disrupts Qantas flights from Sydney to South Africa

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Rowland reacts to number of women preselected by Liberal party to replace retiring MPs

Michelle Rowland was also asked about the fact just one woman has been preselected to replace eight Liberal MPs who are retiring at the next election. Is she disappointed by this?

Clearly, Peter Dutton talks a big game when it comes to these issues, but the reality is borne out by the fact that they continue to overlook women for public office … For my mind, that says everything about Peter Dutton being stuck in the past, just as he’s stuck in the past around the national broadband network, his response to this announcement is to call it a joke, which is an insult to regional communities.

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‘I felt less human, not human at all’: Australia faces moral crossroads over Nauru

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Who is accountable for what happens in an offshore processing centre? It’s remarkable this is still a question in Australia

Aarash lost his youth to offshore processing. Sixteen when he was sent to Nauru, he says he cannot remember a single birthday in more than a decade.

“When I see younger ones that age, having fun, playing, going to school, it reminds me of everything I lost,” he says. “I felt less human, not human at all.”

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Peter Dutton would need to cap partner visas to make his migration cuts, expert warns

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Former immigration official Abul Rizvi believes the current planning level for partner visas is acting as an ‘illegal’ de facto cap

The Coalition’s proposed cuts to Australia’s permanent migration would require Peter Dutton to legislate to allow a cap on partner visas, a migration expert has warned.

Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary of immigration, believes the current planning level for partner visas, introduced by the Coalition and continued by Labor, is acting as an “illegal” de facto cap and would need to be removed.

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Nearly 2,300 applicants died waiting for a parent visa to Australia with processing times of up to 31 years

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‘Providing an opportunity for people to apply for a visa that will probably never come seems both cruel and unnecessary’, review says

Wait times for visas to bring parents to Australia are so long that nearly 2,300 applicants died before receiving a visa in the last three years, according to the home affairs department.

The department released the data to Senate estimates, revealing that 2,297 parent visa applicants and 87 other family members, such as aged dependent relatives or carers, had died while waiting for a visa.

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Senator calls social media ban a ‘sham’ – as it happened

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Canavan says under-16 social media ban has caused new generation to become passionate about democracy

Nationals senator Matt Canavan was loudly outspoken against the under-16 social media ban bill and voted against it – but as we know, the bill ultimately passed.

It has been great seeing people learn how the parliament works. And with that in mind, note that the social media bill is not yet law. Tomorrow morning it heads back to the House of Representatives because there were amendments passed in the Senate tonight. It then has to go to the governor general. But both these steps are almost certain to happen.

Thanks again for all of your help and support. We got some amendments on digital ID so it was not for nothing and the fight continues.

As it currently stands, underlying inflation is still too high to be considering lowering the cash rate target in the near term.

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Australia politics live: Thorpe says her suspension from Senate a ‘colonial action’ and stages pro-Palestine protest from gallery

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Nuclear costings coming ‘in coming weeks and months ahead of election’: Taylor

The shadow treasurer was also asked when the Coalition would release the costings of its nuclear plan.

We will not be announcing it on your program this morning, as much as you might like me to.

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