Weekly media wrap - 6 June 2016

Immigration minister Peter Dutton said the government was not negotiating with Canadian officials, following media claims that a plan to resettle some refugees detained in Papua New Guinea and Nauru in Canada was being considered. Mr Dutton said talks had been held with many third countries in the hope of reaching an agreement quickly.

The Nauruan government decriminalised suicide and homosexuality to comply with international treaty obligations, following criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups. An Iranian asylum seeker was charged and sentenced for attempting suicide in Nauru last month.

On Manus Island, media reported that conflict had emerged between residents and newly released asylum seekers and refugees, with both locals and those newly arrived concerned for their safety.

A worker at Yonga Hill detention facility in Western Australia was suspended pending an investigation into claims he assaulted an asylum seeker. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection did not deny the claims, but would not reveal the number of other detention incidents referred to police in Australia.

The bodies of more than 100 asylum seekers washed up on the coast of Libya, likely from a boat that capsized on Wednesday. Hundreds more are believed to be missing from a separate capsizing off Crete. Italian authorities said 13,000 people were saved in the Mediterranean Sea in one week. Medecins San Frontieres reported that many of those who had reached Italy from Libya said smugglers had beaten or raped them. Warmer weather and the blocking of safer routes have been cited for the increase in crossing attempts and increase in tragedies.

Elsewhere in Europe, Dutch authorities reported an increase in people smuggler arrests, and the mayor of revealed plans to build an asylum seeker camp in the French capital. In Greece, two separate riots erupted between asylum seekers at detention camps on the islands of Lesbos and Samos.

Weekly media wrap - 25 April 2016

In Papua New Guinea, a judge sentenced two men to five years in prison for the murder of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati. The judge said that the men received short sentences because there were others involved in Barati’s murder, who are yet to be charged.

Also in Papua New Guinea, 45 asylum seekers on Manus Island were told they are not entitled to refugee status, despite never applying for asylum. Elsewhere, authorities arrested an Iraqi refugee who was attempting to return to the detention centre. The man reportedly said he felt unsafe after being resettled in the community.

The Sri Lankan Navy intercepted an asylum seeker boat bound for Australia on Tuesday and returned the six adults and three children on board.

An asylum seeker boat sunk in the Mediterranean. Survivors reported that up to 500 drowned in the incident. The United Nations said that this would constitute the biggest loss of life on the Mediterranean in the past year.

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 - 27 January 2016

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said 72 children in mandatory detention on the mainland would be transferred to offshore detention.  A group of 930 academics wrote an open letter to the Australian government urging the immediate release of children from detention.

An investigation by Fairfax media revealed that the Maribyrnong Detention Centre in Melbourne has the highest rate of detainee restraint and use of force by staff. The Villawood detention centre recorded the second highest rate of use of force.

In Papua New Guinea, Manus Island residents met to discuss the lack of benefit arising from the island’s detention centre. A spokesperson stated that too little of the $420 million of Australian Government aid given to PNG for hosting the centre has flowed to the Manus Island community.

The Danish parliament passed laws that delay family reunification for three years for people fleeing indiscriminate violence, and allow police to seize assets of asylum seekers over a certain value. 

Weekly media wrap - 18 January 2016

The crew of an asylum seeker boat who were allegedly paid by an Australian official to return to Indonesia were jailed on people smuggling charges.  The six crew members were each sentenced to over five years in prison and ordered to pay fines between $50,000 and $70,000.  The sentencing followed an Indonesian police investigation which found that the Australian Navy had paid the crew $US32,000 to return the asylum seekers to Indonesia.  An Australian Senate inquiry, due to report in March, will assess the legality of payments made to the crew members.

An independent report found that Save the Children workers sacked on Nauru in 2014 are entitled to compensation from the Australian government.  The dismissals were found to be politically motivated and based on ‘no evidence or reliable information’.  Save the Children CEO Paul Ronalds welcomed the report and urged the Australian government to end the practice of mandatory detention of children.

Twenty-eight refugees living in Nauru wrote to New Zealand’s Prime Minister, John Key, requesting permanent resettlement.  Despite a deal negotiated between Australia and New Zealand in 2013, in which New Zealand agreed to accept 150 refugees per year from Australia’s offshore detention facilities, no resettlements have been granted.  New Zealand’s immigration minister, Michael Woodhouse, responded to the letter, stating that ‘it is for Australia to take up the offer to utilise the… 150 places’.  Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull argued that resettlement in New Zealand could ‘result in creating incentives for people smugglers to get back into business’. 

In Papua New Guinea, Benham Satah, the key witness in Reza Barati’s murder trial, requested to be transferred to a different compound at the Manus Island detention centre, where he has been detained for over two years.  Satah, who was offered protection before giving evidence against two local men accused of killing Barati, said he is being targeted by guards and fears for his life at the centre.  A public petition requesting that Satah “be brought immediately to Australia and settled in the community” drew more than 16,000 signatures.

The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) called for greater government investment in organisations supporting asylum seekers.  RCOA toured Australia gathering information about the challenges facing these support centres, and will make recommendations to the Australian Government in February.

Weekly media wrap - 11 January 2016

Nauru police launched an investigation into claims that a six year-old refugee was sexually assaulted. The father of the alleged victim, an Iranian refugee, said that the alleged perpetrator remains on Nauru and has not been taken into custody.

Documents obtained under freedom of information laws revealed that the 23 year-old asylum seeker known as Abyan, who was transferred from Nauru to Australia for an abortion, had not ruled out terminating her pregnancy before being sent back to Nauru, still pregnant. Abyan was flown back to Australia several weeks after her return to Nauru and remains in detention in Brisbane where she is receiving medical treatment.

In Papua New Guinea, the managers of the Manus Island detention centre were accused of flying an employee who allegedly robbed a local bar out of PNG to avoid the country's justice system.

In Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she wants to stem the flow of refugees into the European Union, while preserving freedom of movement. Mrs Merkel's statement comes as Sweden moved to drastically reduce its refugee intakes. Sweden has introduced a requirement that all arrivals from Denmark show photo ID. Meanwhile, Denmark has imposed ID checks on its southern border with Germany.

Turkish authorities found the bodies of 34 migrants on the Aegean coast after the migrants tried to cross to the Greek island of Lesbos.

Weekly media wrap - 31 August 2015

The Senate inquiry examining abuse at the Nauru detention centre released its final report. The report’s recommendations include the removal of children from the Nauru detention centre as soon as possible (Recommendation 11); greater transparency and accountability mechanisms; and new laws on requiring reporting of sexual and violent allegations (Recommendation 15). The committee's findings were supported by Labor and the Greens, but opposed by government senators who put forward a dissenting report (Chapter 5).

On the same day as the Senate inquiry report was released, reports emerged that Transfield received a new five-year contract to provide expanded services on Nauru and Manus Island from November 2015. Transfield will replace Save the Children in providing welfare services in the offshore centres.

The Australian government's plan to resettle asylum seekers from Nauru to Cambodia is in doubt.  With four refugees resettled so far, Cambodian Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak stated ‘we don't have any plans to import more refugees from Nauru to Cambodia’.

The Australian Border Force (ABF) announced a joint operation with Victoria Police to conduct random visa checks in Melbourne's CBD.  Don Smith, Victorian and Tasmanian commander of ABF, said "ABF officers will be positioned at various locations around the CBD speaking with any individual we cross paths with".  The operation, codenamed "Operation Fortitude", received widespread public condemnation and, following protests in central Melbourne, was cancelled the same day it was announced. 

Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten, criticised the operation as "catastrophically silly", while Greens Senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, called for the powers of the ABF to be clarified.  Hugh de Kretser, executive director of the Human Rights Law Centre, argued that the incident reinforced concerns around the militarisation of immigration officials.  The government confirmed that the office of immigration minister Peter Dutton received a copy of the media release, while Prime Minister Toby Abbott stated that he had no prior knowledge of the operation.

On Nauru, the convictions of two asylum seekers jailed over riots at the detention centre on Nauru were overruled by the Nauruan Court of Appeal.  The court identified flaws in both the original trial and initial investigation, conducted by Wilson Security.

In Papua New Guinea, the supreme court intervened to halt the forced removal of asylum seekers to their countries of origin. Following the deportation of two Iranian detainees from the Manus Island detention facility, the court ordered an interim injunction to stop forcible removals.

Read the Kaldor Centre’s Weekly News Roundup.

Weekly media wrap - 24 August 2015

Inquiries into the Nauru detention centre dominated the week. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton continued to dismiss as “nonsense” allegations by an Australian whistleblower and ex-guard that a detainee at the Nauru detention centre was waterboarded, stating that he was ‘aware that there is legal action between Wilson and... a disgruntled employee and all these matters need to be put into context’.  

At a Senate committee hearing into allegations of abuse on Nauru, the whistleblower conceded that he had never seen the torture taking place. UNHCR regional representative Thomas Albrecht said that it was difficult to verify the claims because of the secrecy surrounding the centre's operations.

The Wilson Security guard who ordered up to eight guards at the Nauru detention center to spy on Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young while she was visiting the island has been called to appear before the Senate inquiry.

An asylum seeker allegedly raped at the Nauru detention centre was sent to Australia for treatment, three months after the alleged incident. Separately, an investigation undertaken by The Saturday Paper revealed a number of unreported incidents on Nauru, including the alleged rape and assault of refugees who have been resettled on the island.

On Manus Island, an asylum seeker on was forcibly returned to Iran notwithstanding an ongoing case challenging his detention in the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court.

A New Zealand parliamentary committee called for an increase to the country's refugee intake. New Zealand's current quota is 750 refugees per year, accepted through the UNHCR resettlement program.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR reported that the number of refugees and migrants who arrived in Greece last month was greater than the number for the whole of 2014. The influx has led to a stalemate at the Greek-Macedonian border, where over 2000 refugees are stranded after being stopped by police.

Read the Kaldor Centre's Weekly News Roundup.

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 3 August 2015

A male Afghan asylum seeker died in a West Australian detention centre during the week. The circumstances of his death are unclear. A spokesperson for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said there was no indication of suspicious circumstances, though a fellow detainee said the man had been denied medical care.

A group of 46 Vietnamese asylum seekers were reportedly flown back to Vietnam. The asylum seekers reached the West Australian coast on 20 July 2015. The Australian Government refused to confirm the transfer or provide any information.

Asylum seekers on Manus Island whose claims have been rejected face imminent deportation according to documents obtained by the ABC. Australian authorities have not yet returned three former Manus Island Detention Centre workers to Papua New Guinea to face accusations of rape. Local police did not follow through on a threat to storm the detention centre and arrest its management if the men were not returned by Thursday evening.

Weekly media wrap 20 July 2015

Protests against the Border Force Act continued this week. In Sydney, doctors and other health professionals rallied on the steps of the Town Hall to protest against the secrecy provisions contained in the Act.

Information released by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection to a Senate inquiry shows that asylum seekers are being held in Australian detention centres alongside non-asylum seeker detainees who have been convicted of serious criminal offences. Refugee advocates called for such detainees to be separated from those without convictions.

A report into conditions at the Manus Island detention centre released by Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Law Centre said that "Australia's experiment in offshore detention has been a disaster." The report found that since the former Labor government announced that asylum seekers who arrived by boat would be resettled in Papua New Guinea after refugee status assessment on Manus Island in 2013, no asylum seekers have been resettled. However, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said that Papua New Guinea is "on track" to resettle asylum seekers whose refugee status has been confirmed.

UNHCR reported that over 10,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Yemen since March 2015. A representative from UNHCR Yemen said that many of these asylum seekers "are tricked into making the journey by people smugglers who tell them that the conflict is over and all is safe in Yemen."

Weekly media wrap 29 June

The Australian government amended the Migration Act to fortify the legislation against an upcoming High Court challenge to offshore detention. The amendments passed with the support of the Labor Party.

Opposition MP Joel Fitzgibbon suggested the Labor Party should consider support for boat turn-backs. Following the suggestion, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton urged opposition leader Bill Shorten to clarify the Labor Party’s position. Asylum seeker policy is anticipated to be a significant discussion point at the Labor Party’s national conference in July. 

NSW Premier Mike Baird announced public transport travel concessions for asylum seekers, referring to them as ‘the most vulnerable (group) in our society.’

Several parties challenged the legitimacy of offshore detention during the week. The United Nations said that Papua New Guinea is breaking international law by restricting individuals’ freedom of movement. In a separate matter, several hundred detainees joined an existing legal challenge to their detention under the Papuan constitution. The Australian government reportedly transferred an infant from mainland detention to Nauru. If accurate, this would be the second infant transferred to Nauru this year. 

European Union leaders agreed to resettle 40,000 North African and Middle Eastern refugees. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi criticised fellow leaders for a lack of regional solidarity. Over 100,000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year.

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 - 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 – 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.

Weekly media wrap - 26 January

Unrest on Manus Island ended last Tuesday. Staff at the centre reportedly prepared 14 men, who were thought to be leaders of the protest, to be sent to prison in Port Moresby. Australian and Papua New Guinean officials described the force used against protestors as minimal, although a video obtained by The Guardian suggests otherwise. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has rejected claims asylum seekers were denied food and water

Australia’s resettlement program in Cambodia is uncertain, as all but three of 200 refugees on Nauru refused to meet with Cambodian officials. Mr Dutton will travel to Cambodia to meet with officials for further talks on the resettlement program.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten criticised the culture of secrecy regarding the government’s release of information surrounding Manus Island. NSW Premier Mike Baird called on Prime Minister Abbott to “do more” to help refugees.

The UNHCR has announced plans to settle a number of Rohingya refugees in Thailand to the United States.

Weekly media wrap - 19 January

A week of protest and hunger strikes on Manus Island culminated in the storming of two compounds of the detention centre by Wilson guards.

On Tuesday 13 January, 100 asylum seekers went on hunger strike, protesting resettlement in Papua New Guinea (PNG) enabled by a bilateral with Australia.

By Wednesday 14 January, 500 asylum seekers were on hunger strike. On the same day, running water became unavailable  at the centre. 

On Friday 16 January the entire centre was placed in lockdown, preventing staff from entering the compounds. Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton stated it was his ‘absolute resolve’ to prevent asylum seekers arriving in Australia and accused advocates of coaching self-harm, a claim that was strongly denied. 

By Saturday 17 January, more than 100 asylum seekers were under medical care, most from dehydration. PNG’s immigration minister Rimbink Pato reported asylum seekers sewing their lips and swallowing razor blades and washing powder.

On Sunday 18 January, four asylum seekers were placed in solitary confinement as asylum seekers barricaded themselves inside Delta compound. Amid conflicting claims over conditions at the detention centre, opposition leader Bill Shorten called for transparency from the government. Mr Dutton said asylum seekers had engaged in ‘aggressive’ and ‘irresponsible behaviour’.

Meanwhile, Australian and Cambodian officials visited Nauru, to discuss the deal to resettle refugees in Cambodia.

In Australia, advocates for 15 Iranian asylum seekers detained indefinitely in Darwin wrote to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants requesting an investigation into their detention. 

Weekly media wrap - 11 January 2015

The group of 50 men on Manus Island with approved refugee applications are being prepared to move from detention to temporary accommodation at the Lorengau transit centre and then into the PNG community. They were told they would be treated like the local Papua New Guineans, but detainees are resisting this move for fear of violence from locals.

An Iranian asylum seeker who went without food for 51 days in the Wickham Point Immigration Detention Centre in Northern Territory during late 2014 has resumed his hunger strike. 

A teenage boy who was crew on an asylum seeker boat that arrived nearly two years ago will return home to Indonesia next week. He and another teenage boy have been kept in detention since their arrival, despite a government policy not to prosecute Indonesian children found on the boats. The second boy has also been released on parole and put in immigration detention.

Figures provided to Fairfax Media indicate that ten refugees have been released into the community since August 2014, after ASIO reversed their decisions that the refugees were threats to national security.

Prime Minister Abbott congratulated the new Sri Lankan president-elect Maithripala Sirisena and emphasised the two countries’ cooperation on addressing people smuggling and other issues.

Lebanon turned back Syrians attempting to cross the border under new visa regulations, which limit the amount of time they can stay in Lebanon. Lebanon is concerned about its capacity to accommodate more people displaced by the Syrian civil war.

UNHCR released its Mid-Year Trends 2014 report, which indicate that an estimated 5.5 million people became newly displaced during the first half of 2014. Of these, 1.4 million fled across international borders, with the remaining displaced within their own countries. Syrians have become the largest refugee population under UNHCR's mandate.

Weekly media wrap - 15 December 2014

The Senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee released an inquiry report into the February 2014 incidents on Manus Island, which led to the death of Iranian man Reza Barati. The Senate inquiry found that the government 'failed in its duty' to protect the asylum seekers. It also found that there were violations of human rights that warranted compensation for those who were injured. Coalition MPs who sat on this committee rejected some recommendations, arguing that the underlying issues that led to the riots were the responsibility of the previous Labor government. 

Asylum seekers on Manus Island wrote to Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to be taken off the island, as they fear they will be killed if released.

Documents obtained by The Australian regarding ill asylum seeker Hamid Kehazaei’s transfer from Manus Island in August reveal that the transfer was delayed by bureaucratic obstacles.

Guardian Australia data showed that asylum seekers were put in solitary confinement on Manus Island 74 times during the 25 weeks between 23 May and 17 November.

Asylum seeker families held in the Inverbrackie Immigration Detention Centre in Adelaide were released into the community on bridging visas.

Weekly media wrap - 8 December 2014

The government reintroduced temporary protection visas after it received support from the Palmer United Party (PUP) and Ricky Muir of the Motoring Enthusiast Party. Immigration minister Scott Morrison announced a number of concessions to bring crossbenchers across the line.

These concessions include the increase of refugee and humanitarian intake by 7500 places to 20,000, subject to Senate approval. The package also includes further details about the safe haven enterprise visa, which would allow asylum seekers to work or study in certain regional areas. The visa aims to provide a “pathway” to permanent residency. Critics claim the bill strips the right of appeal and gives the government greater powers to detain and remove asylum seekers at sea.  

Mr Morrison also announced the removal of all children from Christmas Island detention centre before Christmas. However, the release of these children will be under new ‘fast-track’ assessments, which remove appeal rights. The United Nations Committee Against Torture warned the bill could mean asylum seekers, including children, would be forced back to the countries they’d fled to face torture.

Four asylum seekers on Manus Island sewed their lips together in protest at being held on the island for more than a year. A letter obtained by Guardian Australia says that protesters claim they suffer catastrophic conditions and are treated like slaves. Two hundred and fifty asylum seekers are undertaking a hunger strike about being held in detention without any guarantee about their futures.

A three-day standoff by two pregnant refugees who refused to get off a bus ended with the women being taken inside a Northern Territory detention centre.

Police intervened in the deportation of an Iranian asylum seeker accused of rape to obtain a criminal justice visa. The man’s lawyer says he deserves the opportunity to clear his name in court and will contest the charge.