Weekly media wrap - 23 May 2016

Immigration minister Peter Dutton said Australia faced the prospect of “illiterate and innumerate” refugees if it significantly increased its humanitarian intake. Mr. Dutton also said unemployment would rise in response to the Greens’ proposal to increase Australia’s intake to 50,000. The Labor Party has pledged to increase the intake from 13,750 to 27,000.

Mr Dutton’s comments were met with widespread criticism. High profile Today co-host Karl Stefanovic called on Mr Dutton to apologise, before espousing the historic contribution of previous waves of refugees to Australian society. Former Immigration Minister Chris Bowen also demanded an apology, however Prime Minister Turnbull and Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop have defended Mr. Dutton and the Coalition’s record.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale outlined the Greens policy priorities under a post-election scenario where the Labor Party is forced to enter a power sharing arrangement to form government. “More decent and compassionate treatment of those people legitimately seeking asylum” is a key focus for the Greens. Election analysis suggests that increased focus on immigration is a potential weakness for the Labor party – ceding voters to the Greens in the inner city and the Coalition elsewhere.

Fairfax reported that Department of Immigration and Border Protection officials are under investigation for alleged assisting drug and tobacco smugglers with illegal importation. The Department has said they are ‘working actively with law enforcement partners to investigate allegations of serious criminality by its officers at the border’.

The Greek asylum service found that returning an asylum seeker to Turkey under the EU-Turkey deal was inconsistent with the Refugee Convention. Under the deal, asylum seekers who arrive by boat to Greece are returned to Turkey. The deal is controversial as Turkey has not lifted the geographical limits to the Convention and NGOs have reported that Turkey has returned Syrians in breach of the principle of non-refoulement.

At least 10,000 unaccompanied children are unaccounted for by European migration authorities according to a report published by the European Commission. The report suggests that increased irregular migrant flows raises the risk of children being sold in to sex slavery and otherwise exploited. 

Weekly media wrap - 2 May 2016

Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court ruled the detention of 850 asylum seekers on Manus Island unconstitutional, however the PNG government will not shut down the detention centre immediately. Following the decision, lawyer Ben Lomai outlined his intention to ask for compensation from the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments on behalf of men illegally detained.

Immigration minister Peter Dutton said the men are PNG’s responsibility and that Australia will help resolve the issue, suggesting an open centre arrangement or transfer to Nauru. Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull restated the Government’s position that the approximately 900 men there will not be resettled in Australia. New Zealand Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse reiterated New Zealand’s offer to take 150 refugees from offshore detention centres.

Omid, an Iranian refugee on Nauru self-immolated in protest in front of visiting United Nations representatives. He suffered third degree burns to 80% of his body, was transferred to Brisbane and later passed away.

Four Labor MPs called for the asylum seekers on Manus Island to be processed and settled in Australia. Labor’s policy to support offshore processing was agreed upon at the party’s annual conference in 2015.

Young Liberty for Law Reform released a report recommending that section 6 of the Australian Border Force Act – the secrecy provisions – be repealed. The report included testimony from detention centre workers whose careers and personal lives had been damaged through speaking out about the centres’ conditions. 

Weekly media wrap – 16 November 2015

Detainees rioted for three days at the Christmas Island Detention Centre after the body of refugee Fazel Chegeni was discovered on the island. Mr Chegeni’s body was found at the base of a cliff two days after he escaped from the centre. Detainees took control of the facility. The episode ended after the Australian Government sent Federal Police to forcibly regain control of the centre.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton suggested that foreign nationals whose visas had been cancelled led the riot. This allegedly included several New Zealand citizens. The minister stated that the coroner would investigate the cause of Mr Chegeni’s death. An investigation into the riot is also underway. The New Zealand Minister of Internal Affairs responded by comparing Australia’s offshore detention facilities to Guantanamo Bay.

At a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council more than 100 countries criticised Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers. Australia was participating in a Universal Periodic Review of its human rights record.

On a visit to Germany, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull distanced himself from Tony Abbott’s recent speech urging Europe to adopt Australia’s asylum seeker policy.

Italian diplomat Filippo Grandi was nominated as the next High Commissioner for Refugees to replace outgoing Antonio Guterres. Mr Grandi is a former head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA.

Read the Kaldor Centre's weekly news roundup.

Weekly media wrap - 2 November 2015

Pregnant 23 year-old Somali refugee, Abyan (pseudonym), will return to Australia for expert treatment, although the dates for her travel are unconfirmed. UNHCR spokesman Rupert Colville said that Abyan had refused to give information to the Nauru police because she is afraid of reprisals and that Australian and Nauru must enable Abyan to obtain mental and physical care and to terminate her pregnancy if she desires.

The Nauruan Government responded to the Australian media's coverage of Abyan's case, labelling questions put to the Government "ridiculous".  Nauruan Justice Minister David Adeang said in a statement that "Nauru has no obligation to answer the Australian media" and that the "media approaches us with great arrogance and an air of racial superiority, which is highly offensive to us".

Amnesty International released a report, entitled By Hook or by Crook, into claims that Australian officials paid people smugglers to return a boat of asylum seekers to Indonesia in May. The report includes photos, videos and interviews with 65 asylum seekers, the boat crew and Indonesian police.

A spokesperson for Amnesty International said that "from the evidence we gathered, the asylum seekers were arbitrarily and unlawfully detained. That is a human rights violation”. Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Peter Dutton, criticised the report, describing the investigation into boat turnbacks as an "ideological attack". Minister Dutton vowed that the government was "not going to take a backwards step" nor "water down [its] policies".

Meanwhile, Australian doctors and other medical professionals gathered in cities across the country to call on the government to remove all children and their families from immigration detention.

Internationally, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott delivered the Margaret Thatcher Lecture in London, using the opportunity to call for Europe to adopt the Coalition Government's asylum seeker policies to address the current migrant crisis. Mr Abbott told an audience of British conservatives that Europe's compassion for refugees was leading it into "catastrophic error".

Read the Kaldor Centre's weekly news roundup.

Weekly media wrap - 19 October 2015

A pregnant Somali refugee, who was brought to Australia earlier in the week to have an abortion, has been returned to immigration detention on Nauru. The 23-year-old was allegedly raped on Nauru. Asylum seeker advocates stated that the woman was flown out of Australia because of an injunction being prepared to prevent her return to Nauru.

However, the Australian Government stated that the asylum seeker no longer wanted the termination. The minister for immigration said that pregnant asylum seekers on Nauru would not be permitted to come to Australia. Nauruan police closed a second case of the alleged rape of another Somali refugee. The Nauruan justice minister said police may consider charging the woman with making a false complaint.

Having executed a search warrant, Nauruan police seized a number of phones and laptops that belonged to Save the Children staff and other contractors, allegedly in an effort to crack down on whistleblowers at the Nauru detention facility.

In Australia, legislation was introduced to parliament that tightens requirements for people seeking complementary protection visas in Australia. The new legislation means that protection could be denied and people returned to home if they face a ‘generalised’ risk, can change their behaviour or can relocate to a safer part of their home country.

Two welfare and overseas aid groups, ACOSS and ACFID, called for an independent guardian for children in detention, with concern around the conflict of interest the minister for immigration holds as a guardian for children in detention. These concerns have come as a new parliamentary inquiry is being established into the treatment of asylum seekers in the Nauru and Manus Island offshore detention centres.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed that one of the four refugees transferred to Cambodia under the $55 million pact has now returned to Myanmar.

Read the Kaldor Centre’s weekly news roundup.

Weekly media wrap - 28 September 2015

New Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that he was ‘concerned’ about Australia’s offshore immigration program, but the Immigration Minister Peter Dutton maintained that there would be no changes to the government’s asylum seeker policies.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Francois Crépeau, cancelled his visit to Australia. The official visit was cancelled due to concerns around access to offshore detention centres and the protection of informants under the Border Force Act.

Meanwhile, in a move understood to reflect a demilitarisation of the immigration portfolio, Mr Dutton will no longer sit on the National Security Committee, Australia’s peak security council. In response to the change, Labor’s immigration spokesman Richard Marles said that the ‘notion that the minister responsible for the integrity of our borders doesn’t form part of NSC [National Security Committee] is naive and displays an alarming lack of judgment’.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young announced that she would tour the country, speaking to corporate clients and shareholders of Transfield Services, the company that runs detention centre on Nauru and Manus Island. Senator Hanson-Young said that the goal of the tour is to raise awareness of the human rights abuses occurring in the detention centres.

European Union home affairs ministers met in Brussels to adopt a plan to relocate 120,000 refugees from Greece and Italy for resettlement among the EU’s 28 member states. Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania voted against the plan, with all four states expressing their anger at perceived bullying by Western Europe.

Later in the week, European state and government leaders attended a summit to discuss the ongoing mass migration to Europe from the Middle East. President of the European Council Donald Tusk claimed the summit a success, announcing an additional 1 billion Euros in humanitarian aid to the UNHCR and World Food Programme to support refugees in the Middle East. While the aid commitment was welcomed, refugee advocates, including Amnesty International, expressed their disappointment in the leaders’ failure to reach agreement on how to ensure safe and legal routes for refugees into Europe.

Read the Kaldor Centre’s weekly news roundup.

Weekly media wrap 15 June

Allegations have emerged that Australian immigration and border protection officials paid people smugglers to turn back boats from Indonesia carrying asylum seekers. The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, and the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, denied the allegations, however Prime Minister Tony Abbott has refused to deny them.

A senate inquiry into conditions in immigration detention on Nauru heard from former International Health and Medical Services mental health director, Peter Young, that the immigration department regularly interfered with medical assessments of asylum seekers. The inquiry also received written submissions from former Save the Children employee, Viktoria Vibhakar, detailing cases of sexual and physical abuse of asylum seekers’ children as young as two.

Meanwhile, the immigration department has confirmed Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young was spied on during her visit to Nauru by at least one Wilson Security officer.

In international news, the UNHCR has reported that the number of refugee and migrant arrivals to Europe across the Mediterranean in 2015 has reached more than 100,000.

Weeky media wrap - 18 May

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed that the first group of refugees is in the process of being transferred from Nauru for resettlement in Cambodia. The transfers follow the announcement in September 2014 of a deal under which asylum seekers in detention on Nauru can volunteer to be resettled in Cambodia.

As part of the 2015 Federal Budget, the Abbott government allocated $400 million to the creation of a dedicated new border enforcement agency called Australian Border Force. Up to 6000 officers will be hired by the Australian Border Force within two years.

The Asylum Seeker Assistance Scheme will also receive $21 million over the coming financial year. The funding will be partially offset by not renewing the grant funding of $140,000 per year to the Refugee Council of Australia. The budget also allocated $39.9 million to ‘anti-people smuggling strategic communications campaigns’.

A three-member panel was established by the Australian government to provide advice on child protection inside Australian detention centres on both the mainland and in offshore facilities. The establishment of the panel follows the final report released by the Moss Review, which found evidence of rape and sexual assault of minors.

A group of ten asylum seekers initiated proceedings in the High Court of Australia, challenging the legality of offshore detention. The Human Rights Law Centre represents the group.

Around 6,000 Rohingya asylum seekers and Bangladeshi migrants are adrift in boats in the Andaman Sea. The Rohingya are a Muslim minority in Myanmar who face statelessness and discrimination. Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia refused to accept the boats, though some migrants have been rescued in  Aceh. The United Nations warned the situation may become a 'massive humanitarian crisis'. The United States urged regional countries to refrain from pushbacks. Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said he was 'in no way critical' of regional countries turning back boats.

Meanwhile in Europe, the European Commission unveiled a plan to bring 20,000 refugees to Europe in the next two years.

Weekly media wrap - 23 March

The Moss Review, established in October 2014 by the then Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, was released on Friday. The review, by former Integrity Commissioner Philip Moss, investigated two separate claims relating to the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru. The review heard evidence of rape and sexual assault, finding that many detainees on Nauru were concerned about their safety and privacy in the centre. The review also found no evidence to substantiate the allegations that Save the Children employees had encouraged protests or acts of self-harm.

The Moss Review published 19 recommendations, including a review of the dismissal of the Save the Children employees. The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton stated that the department had accepted and responded to all 19 recommendations. Save the Children CEO, Paul Ronalds, responded by agreeing to work with the government on a review of the dismissal.  He also called on the government to immediately end its practice of mandatory and prolonged detention.  Prime Minister Tony Abbott was criticised for his response to the Moss Review, following an interview on talkback radio station 2GB.

Former Nauru Chief Justice Geoffrey Eames criticised the Nauruan government, expressing concern about the health and safety of asylum seekers and refugees on the island  

Refugees who have been settled on Nauru spoke out about their lives on the island.  In a series of covert interviews, the refugees, who have been settled on five year visas, reported mental health problems and sexual and physical violence.

 The Italian home affairs ministry released a planning paper, suggesting that Egyptian and Tunisian naval units play a role in rescuing asylum boats off the coast of Libya.  According to this plan, Egyptian and Tunisian operations should be supported, technically and financially, by the European Union.  

Weekly media wrap - 2 March

The Abbott Government continues to defend its criticism of Professor Gillian Triggs. Described by some as an 'attack', the Government accused Triggs, the President of the Human Rights Commission which produced The Forgotten Children report into children in detention, of harbouring political bias due to the timing of the report. The advocacy group Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children rallied in Melbourne in support of Professor Triggs.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed that the Bladin Alternative Place of Detention in Darwin will close in April 2015. The Coalition Government has attributed the closure to its ability to stop the arrival of asylum seeker carrying boats and the success of Operation Sovereign Borders.

According to reports in The Guardian, the trial of the two men accused of murdering asylum seeker Reza Barati in a riot on Manus Island on 17 February 2014 will soon begin. Asylum seekers on Manus Island have been asked to give evidence and are reportedly nervous about their safety if they testify.

Amnesty International has called on Australia to do more to help the millions of refugees fleeing violence in Syria and Afghanistan, including increasing Australia’s humanitarian intake. Amnesty also released its annual report in which it condemned the Australian Government for its offshore processing policies and the continuing detention.

 Meanwhile, the Obama administration is pushing to increase the number of Syrian refugees settled in the United States, but is facing resistance from Republicans concerned about security screening of refugees.

Weekly media wrap - 23 February

The Federal Government announced that four Sri Lankan asylum seekers were handed over to Sri Lankan authorities earlier this month. The men were determined not to be refugees after their boat was intercepted off the coast of the Cocos Islands. This interception is the first occurrence of on-water processing and transfer since the High Court ruled in January that offshore operations such as this are legal. Critics expressed concern about interceptions at sea and the quality of screening processes being undertaken when on water.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton visited Nauru to reaffirm the Australian Government’s bilateral agreement with the island nation to resettle Australian-bound refugees. Formal visit proceedings were disrupted by refugees protesting Australian asylum policy. Minister Dutton announced an open centre arrangement where selected asylum seekers would have more flexibility in coming and going from the Nauru detention centre within agreed times. Minister Dutton confirmed that 512 asylum seekers have been granted refugee status and 400 had been resettled in Nauru.

The anniversary of the death of Iranian Reza Barati was acknowledged and remembered on social media by thousands. Barati was killed one year ago on Manus Island during the rioting in the immigration detention centre.

An open letter to the Prime Minister Tony Abbott, signed by 50 prominent Australians, expressed support for the Human Rights Commission’s Forgotten Children report and concern about the personal attacks on the Commission's President Gillian Triggs.

More than 2,100 migrants were rescued 160kms off the coast of Italian island Lampedusa by Italian and Maltese rescue vessels. 

Weekly media wrap – 1 February

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton announced that a total of 15 boats containing 429 asylum seekers have been turned back since the commencement of Operation Sovereign Borders.

A group of eight former Australians of the Year used Australia Day celebrations to call for the immediate release of all refugee and asylum seeker children from immigration detention. On the same day, further arrests were made in detention compounds on Manus Island as protests continued.

The High Court handed down a judgment that Australian authorities acted legally when they intercepted a boat from India carrying 157 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers in June 2014. The asylum seekers were detained on an Australian customs vessel for 29 days until they were brought to the Australian mainland and then transferred to Nauru. The Court found that Australian authorities had acted within the bounds of the Maritime Powers Act.

Minister Dutton said that the ruling ‘has vindicated the Government's position’. However, others have written that the decision raises concerns about the rights of asylum seekers who are detained at sea.

In international news, Kuwaiti philanthropist Shaikha Rima Al Sabah has been appointed as the UNHCR’s newest Goodwill Ambassador, while Angelina Jolie, special envoy for the UNHCR, appealed for urgent funding to assist more than 3 million displaced Iraqis and Syrians living in northern Iraq.