Weekly media wrap - 21 March 2016

The Australian Parliamentary Budget Office found the government would save 2.9 billion dollars over four years if it adopted the Greens’ policy to shut down detention centres and bring asylum seekers to the mainland for processing in the community. It warned, however, that the policy change could alter numbers of asylum seekers arriving by boat, and therefore the potential savings.

Indonesian foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, expressed the hope that Australia and other countries would assist in resettling refugees in Indonesia. There are currently around 14,000 asylum seekers and refugees in transit in the country, but Indonesia says it lacks the capacity to provide long-term solutions. The statement came in the leadup to this week’s Bali Process Ministerial Conference, a regional forum co-chaired by Indonesia and Australia.

In a visit to Australia, Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to negotiate a deal which would see Iranian asylum seekers whose refugee claims are rejected repatriated to Iran. The opposition insisted that safeguards be in place to ensure the safety of those returned.

Asylum seekers arriving in Greece will be sent back to Turkey in a deal agreed upon by EU leaders. In return for taking refugees, Turkey can expect ‘reenergised’ talks on its EU membership and 3 billion euros to aid resettlement. UNHCR stated the deal breaches the rights of asylum seekers under European and international law.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Flippo Grandi announced he will chair a meeting on March 30 to ask the international community to take 10 per cent of all Syrian Refugees. He stated that this did not require full resettlement for the 400,000 refugees, but that some countries could offer temporary jobs, scholarships or humanitarian visas to ease the pressure on neighbouring countries. Four million Syrians have fled the country since the civil war began five years ago.

Weekly media wrap - 7 March 2016

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill called Manus Island detention centre a ‘problem’ that has done damage to his country’s international reputation. According to Mr O’Neill, the centre should eventually be shut down. Mr O’Neill added that the PNG government does not have the resources to resettle the refugees already on Manus Island, leaving their future uncertain.

In Australia, immigration minister Peter Dutton refused to release a 70 year-old Iranian woman from immigration detention who has been held for three years. According to doctors, she is experiencing both physical and psychological problems. Under the Migration Act, Mr Dutton has discretionary powers to grant or deny Bridging Visas and his decision is not subject to judicial review.

The Greens introduced a bill to the Senate that would require the government to house families with children in the community rather than an immigration detention facility. The bill seeks to amend the Migration Act 1958 and would apply retrospectively.

The United Nations refugee agency warned of an imminent humanitarian crisis as refugees and migrants continue to gather on the Greek-Macedonian border. Balkan countries and Austria have capped daily refugee intakes, as crowded conditions in first ports of call, such as Greece, have led to shortages of food, water and sanitation. 

Weekly media wrap 10 August 2015

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton announced 20 boats carrying more than 630 asylum seekers have been turned back since December 2013, with the most recent incident being the confirmed return of 46 asylum seekers to Vietnam last month.

A statement from the commander of Operation Sovereign Borders indicated that border officials had assisted asylum seekers in May 2015 when they had turned back a distressed boat whose crew was allegedly paid to return to Indonesia.  The statement was provided to a parliamentary committee investigating whether cash or other inducements were paid for boat turn-backs.

The Australian government has reportedly removed an undisclosed number of Iranian asylum seekers on bridging visas from their communities and returned them to detention facilities. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection said it was working to resolve cases of ‘failed asylum seekers’ currently living in communities.

The Papua New Guinea government has ordered a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to alcohol and drugs among staff at the Manus Island immigration detention centre, including regular substance testing. This comes after the alleged rape of a local woman who worked at the centre. The Australian immigration department has maintained that the Australian operator of the centre upholds strict drug and alcohol policy.

The Australian Government is expected to soon make a decision on a five-year contract for running detention centres on both Nauru and Manus Island, the ABC reports Transfield and Serco are being considered.

In an interim report released this week, the Australian Law Reform Commission suggested that a range of federal laws be reviewed in light of their potential interference with “traditional freedoms”. This has included law that extend the Australian government’s powers over asylum seekers who arrive by boat. 

UNHCR officials visited Greece this week to assess the refugee crisis. The number of refugees and migrants arriving by sea has risen by 750% in one year in this country, with 50,000 new arrivals having been reported in the month of July 2015. 

Read the Kaldor Centre's Weekly News Roundup.

Weekly media wrap 1 June

Asylum seekers on bridging visas, who arrived to Australia by boat after August 2012, began receiving letters this week offering them to apply for temporary protection visas. The Australian government has lifted a freeze on processing the claims of 'unauthorised maritime arrivals' who arrived from mid-2012, and has begun the use of fast-track processing.

A Senate committee heard that the Australian government spent $2.4 billion over two years maintaining offshore detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island, Papua New Guinea.

The family of a five-year-old Iranian girl is suing the Commonwealth of Australia and minister for immigration for negligence, which allegedly led to the child's severe psychiatric symptoms. The family is seeking financial damages and an injunction preventing their return to Nauru. This week the immigration department decided to transfer the family to community detention in Brisbane. Nauruan police are investigating the sexual assault of an Iranian asylum seeker last week.

Five detainees were removed from the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre or placed in solitary arrangements after confronting facility guards. Another group of 23 detainees, including some asylum seekers, have been transferred to Christmas Island from the Maribyrnong centre in Melbourne.

 Victorian Supreme Court Justice Stephen Kaye criticised immigration officials for blocking court ordered access for lawyers representing asylum seekers on Christmas Island. The lawyers were denied access to a group of asylum seekers who are suing the Australian government for neglecting to provide them appropriate medical care. 

The European Union sought a commitment from its member states to admit 40,000 asylum seekers from Syria and Eritrea landing in Italy and Greece. 

Read the Kaldor Centre's Weekly News Roundup

Weekly media wrap 20 April

At least 800 people died in the Mediterranean Sea when a boat capsized off the coast of Libya. More than 7000 people were rescued from boats in a four day period over last weekend. In response, UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants François Crépeau called for a global humanitarian plan to resettle refugees and regulate migrant mobility.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop invited Iranian officials to visit Australia to continue discussions about taking back failed asylum seekers, after being unable to reach agreement during her recent visit to Tehran.

The West Australian reported Australia is transferring almost 50 Vietnamese asylum seekers back to Vietnam from a vessel that was intercepted north of Australia earlier this month. A spokesperson for immigration minister Peter Dutton said no comment would be made on ‘operational matters’. Human rights groups have criticised the government for returning the asylum seekers Vietnam, where they may face persecution.

The ABC reported that a fact sheet about life in Cambodia was distributed to refugees in Nauru, with expectations that the first transfer of refugees between the two countries will happen next week.

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) put forward a submission disputing a migration amendment bill to allow immigration officers to use ‘reasonable force against any person’ if the officer believed it was exercised ‘in good faith’.

In Darwin, there was a disturbance at the Wickham Point detention centre, where a spokesperson from the Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network said he had been told there were 25 self-harm attempts. A spokesperson for Mr Dutton said reports from refugee advocacy groups were ‘wildly exaggerated and inaccurate’, but confirmed there had been a disturbance.

An Australian National Audit Office report has recommended that interpreters who are deployed to immigration detention centres should be given resilience training so that they can prepare for the “challenging and hazardous” conditions of the facilities.

Weekly media wrap - 13 April

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop will seek to persuade Iran to take back hundreds of failed asylum seekers held in Australian immigration detention when she visits Tehran next week. So far, Iran has refused to do so. Labor leader Bill Shorten said he will support the move, as long as Australia meets its obligations under international law. The Refugee Action Collective said Bishop was ‘playing with people’s lives’ by sending them back to Iran, where they may face persecution.

The Government announced it will make a telemovie designed to deter asylum seekers from coming to Australia by boat. The ABC’s Lateline reported that the drama is due to be broadcast later this year in countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. A spokesperson from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said the ‘telemovie will realistically portray the journeys of people… and the challenges they face’. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the movie was part of an intensive effort by the Federal Government to end the people smuggling trade. Critics have opposed the drama, objecting to its cost and saying it would be unlikely to deter people from fleeing.

In Nauru, an asylum seeker who reported being sexually assaulted as part of the Moss Review says those who have made allegations of assaults have faced threats of harm from the perpetrators.

Transfield Services told their staff on Manus Island and Nauru detention centres that they can be fired for interacting with asylum seekers on social media, or being affiliated with a political, advocacy or religious groups opposed to Australia’s refugee policy.

On the mainland, an Iranian asylum seeker who has been on hunger strike for 44 days in Perth has begun accepting fluids.

Weekly media round-up No. 35

Fairfax media reported that Papua New Guinean nationals employed as security guards entered the Manus Island detention centre the day before Reza Berati’s death in February, allegedly enraged by offensive chants from asylum seekers within the centre.

The UN said that Nauru is “breaching its international obligations” as it has failed to meet a February deadline set by the Committee Against Torture to establish an independent body to regularly inspect the detention centre. An unexploded wartime bomb was discovered at the centre, which detains children, pregnant women and families. Guardian Australia published a letter from Save the Children with allegations of “mistreatment and inappropriate behaviour” by guards employed by Wilson Security on Nauru.

At a UNHCR workshop on asylum seekers in Jakarta, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa called on the region to “share – not shift – responsibility” on asylum seekers, saying the issue “defies national solutions”.

UNHCR regional coordinator James Lynch said Australia’s policy of returning boats to Indonesia or ending boat arrivals to PNG or Nauru is against the Refugees Convention. Mr Lynch said Australia has not responded to questions about boat arrivals and questioned whether Australia was prepared to “honour [its] obligations”. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison dismissed suggestions Australia was breaching international law. He said the “policy is working” and the boats are stopping. Mr Morrison announced that no boats had reached Australia for over four months.

There is ongoing speculation on whether Australia will make a deal with Cambodia to resettle asylum seekers. In an interview with Fairfax, Mr Morrison said the government was encouraging countries that were willing to offer resettlement places to expand "permanent solutions" for people seeking asylum.

A federal circuit court judge reserved his decision on whether a case involving a group of asylum seekers who were named in the Immigration Department’s data-breach in February will continue to a full hearing. He said that the review process is still being developed and it is “premature for the asylum seekers to be seeking injunctions and declarations.”

Weekly media round-up No. 25

At 15 February 2014, there had been no asylum seeker boat arrivals in the previous 57 days.

A submission to a Senate Committee by the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce opposed a Bill granting discretionary power to the Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to determine approvals for Complementary Protection visas. According to the group, this legislation allows the minister to “play God”.

Minister Morrison dismissed concerns that differing accounts of alleged mistreatment of asylum seeker by Navy personnel may harm Australia-Indonesia relations. The minister played down Indonesia’s concern over the use of lifeboats to return asylum seekers that have entered Australia’s territorial zone. In spite of this tension, Indonesia’s policy to deny Iranians visas on arrival remains in place, which has seen a decrease over the past year in the number of Iranians attempting to enter Australia via the Indonesian archipelago.

In increasing efforts to assess the impact of the government’s immigration policies on public opinion, the Immigration Department commissioned Cubit Media Research to deliver “media positioning analysis”. In response to criticism of contracts worth $4.3m, a department spokesperson said the contracts were first approved and funded by the former Labor government. Professor Andre Markus argued refugee advocates are out of touch with public opinion on asylum seekers.

An Indian student committed suicide at a Maribyrnong immigration detention centre, after he was detained for overstaying his student visa.