In the media
In PNG and Nauru
The government awarded a $218 million contract extension to Canstruct for detention operations in Nauru over the next 6 months. It is the eighth non-competitive contract awarded to the company. Canstruct’s parent company was issued a warning by ASIC for failing to lodge financial reports on time. After extensive pandemic-related delays the resettlement of refugees to Canada commenced.
In court
The Federal Circuit Court ruled that the Immigration Minister’s decision to deny Priya, Nades and Kopika Murugappan the right to apply for further bridging visas was procedurally unfair.
In detention
Hobart City Council passed a resolution calling for the refugees in hotel detention to be resettled there. This follows Novak Djokovic’s detention which brought worldwide attention to their plight. The Prime Minister was accused of lying when he said the men in the detention hotel were not refugees. Recently the men detained there claimed they were given mouldy bread and food with maggots. Religious leaders across all faiths called for the immediate release of refugees and asylum seekers from detention.
International
The EU established a new agency to ensure a consistent application of common standards governing the treatment of asylum seekers. A cyberattack on the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters exposed the data of more than 500,000 displaced people. Hazara refugees in Indonesia engaged in serious self-harm to bring attention to their plight on the tenth anniversary of their wait for resettlement. Albania was acknowledged as one of the most generous EU countries, on per capita terms, in its response to people fleeing the 2021 Taliban takeover. A former Danish Immigration Minister was given a prison sentence for separating couples where the female was a minor at the time they sought asylum. A judge in the UK High Court ruled that the age assessment procedures, used on young asylum seekers in the UK, are unlawful.
In policy
The release of the 2001 cabinet papers showed the government was worried about the arrival of asylum seekers by boat some months before the so-called Tampa incident. At the Royal Commission into veteran suicides, a naval officer recounted the ongoing impact of trauma stemming from their efforts to save people on sinking boats. The UNSW Kaldor Centre published a policy brief that recommends strategies to ensure that pandemic-related airport procedures do not inhibit people’s legal right to seek asylum. The Australian government was condemned for creating a film-making competition in Sri Lanka for short films to deter Sri Lankans from seeking asylum in Australia. A former Senior Medical Officer in the detention camp in Nauru spoke about his time there.
In research
A new study details how the protracted nature of refugee status determination in Australia adds to people’s housing, financial and health vulnerability.
New releases
The Manus Story: Rebecca Lim in conversation with Dr Fotina Hardy; a podcast.