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 - 11 May

Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced there would be a $504 million saving in the coming financial year from Operation Sovereign Borders, which will include the closure of detention centres, reduction in charter flights and logistical and service changes.

Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, confirmed that Australia had worked with the Vietnamese government to return 46 asylum seekers intercepted at sea. Minister Dutton said that the asylum seekers were ‘safely returned to Vietnam after we were assured that they did not have a claim to protection and that we had met our international obligations’. Human rights groups criticised the process of assessing the claims.

Minister Dutton announced that the arrival of refugees from Nauru to Phnom Penh, Cambodia was imminent.

A United Nations Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture completed a three-day visit to Nauru, where they inspected the processing centre and local detention facilities. The Subcommittee called for greater transparency on conditions and systems governing the centre.

Prime Minister Abbott suggested that Australia was in talks with European Union officials, who were interested in the country’s asylum policy. However a European Commission spokeswoman, Natasha Bertaud, denied seeking Australia’s advice, stating that the Australian model was not of interest because of its refoulement principle.

Weekly media wrap - 6 April

Tens of thousands of people marched in capital cities across on Australia on Palm Sunday to protest Australia’s asylum seeker policies and treatment of asylum seekers. The rally in Melbourne drew an estimated 15,000 people.

Immigration detention centres across Australia are on heightened alert in response to a rise in self-harm incidents. Up to eight detainees at Darwin’s Wickham Point immigration detention centre self-harmed in the past two weeks, while an Iranian asylum is reported to be in a critical condition at the Royal Perth hospital after refusing food for 38 days in protest against the rejection of his claim for asylum.

Immigration minister Peter Dutton announced that Major General Andrew Bottrell has been appointed to head Operation Sovereign Borders. Minister Dutton and Major General Bottrell visited the Manus Island detention centre on Monday.

Fawad Ahmed, a Pakistani-born legspinner became the first asylum seeker to be named in the Australian test cricket squad.

Weekly media wrap - 22 September 2014

The Australian Government released a report one year after the launch of Operation Sovereign Borders, confirming that 12 asylum seeker boats have been turned back under the policy. These boats carried a total of 383 asylum seekers. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison referenced the release to reaffirm the success of the policy.

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney renewed calls to increase the humanitarian refugee intake from 13,750 to 20,000, given the lower number of boat arrivals to Australia. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said that the Labor party would consider the policy.

The United Nations called upon Egypt and other North African and European nations to investigate the allegations that people smugglers deliberately sank an asylum seeker boat in the Mediterranean. It emerged that two other asylum seeker vessels also sank during the week while attempting to cross the Mediterranean. The International Organization for Migration estimated that 700 people died in these incidents. 

Weekly media round-up No. 48

The 157 Tamils held for almost a month on board an Australian Navy vessel travelled to the Cocos Islands and from there to the Curtin detention centre in Western Australia, making them the first asylum seekers to reach the Australian mainland in six months. Human rights lawyers questioned the legality of the Australian government’s decision to allow officials from India, where the boat originated, to interview the asylum seekers.

 Documents filed in the High Court showed that the National Security Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, decided that the boat’s passengers should not be taken to Australia two days after it was intercepted.

Police in Puducherry, India, arrested two men on charges of renting out the boat they own to Tamils trying to reach Australia.

Meanwhile, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison granted a permanent protection visa to a 15-year-old Ethiopian boy, after previously insisting the boy, who reached Australia by stowing away on a ship, would have his application rejected under a new ‘national interest’ test. 

Weekly media round-up No. 44

The Abbott Government introduced a Bill which would toughen Australia’s approach to processing asylum seekers, including: changing the threshold for those seeking protection from a ‘real chance’ of significant harm should they be returned to ‘more likely than not’; requiring applicants to provide documentary evidence of their identity and nationality; and refusing visas unless the minister determines ‘ it is in the public interest'.

The Bill comes after the government offered Iraqi asylum seekers voluntary return packages valued at $6000, in a deal which Fairfax Media reported was taken up by fewer than 10 asylum seekers this month.

Footage emerged of a never shown message recorded in September last year from Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to asylum seekers detained on Papua New Guinea and Nauru. The Minister is heard to state, ‘ There are new rules in place under this government so I urge you to think carefully about your next decision and to make a decision to get on with the rest of your life and to not remain here and take the option to go back to the country from which you’ve originally come. ’ The footage follows an announcement by Operation Sovereign Borders commander Angus Campbell, who claimed that Australia is a generous country in relation to treatment of refugees.

A Senate inquiry into the deadly violence at the Manus Island detention centre in February produced evidence that Papua New Guinean police were given responsibility for taking control of the compound, contrary to previous statements from security company, G4S.

A boat allegedly containing 153 asylum seekers en route to Australia from India made contact with Australian media over the weekend, following a two week journey, with those on board stating that the boat was leaking and in need of assistance. Mr Morrison failed to make comment on the boat, and a second alleged boat interception off the coast of Indonesia, reporting that there were no significant incidents at sea.

Inside Story commented on the legal rights of babies who are born in detention and the health effects of detention on their mothers.

Weekly media round-up No. 41

Tamil asylum seeker Leo Seemanpillai died after pouring petrol on himself and setting himself on fire in Geelong. Mr Seemanpillai lived in the community under a Temporary Protection Visa. Friends of Mr Seemanpillai linked his suicide to a fear of being deported to Sri Lanka. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said no one was in a position to speculate about Mr Seemanpillai’s reason for self-immolation.

Guards ended a week-long protest at the Christmas Island Detention Centre where four detainees were admitted to hospital. Detainees said guards used excessive force to break up the protest. Minister Morrison attributed the injuries to ‘non-compliant behaviour’.

An employee at the Nauru Detention Centre was dismissed for allegedly sexually assaulting a child asylum seeker, in an event that raises concerns for children in offshore detention. A Nauruan magistrate handed down a two year and five month jail term to an asylum seeker involved in a riot at the Nauru Detention Centre in July 2013. The magistrate said the sentence was intended to deter other asylum seekers in Nauru considering similar action.

The Australian Immigration Department sent a letter to asylum seekers facing deportation stating that they had 14 days to outline how the accidental online publication of personal details –  including names, nationality and dates of birth – could impact their safety in their home country. The letter further indicated that if the recipient does not respond within the given timeframe they will be ‘expected to depart Australia and removal planning will be progressed’.

An annual poll conducted by the Lowy Institute showed 71 per cent of Australians support the Australian Government’s boat turn-back policy.  Treasurer Joe Hockey said in Parliament, ‘As a result of all the action of this Government, there are no children floating in the ocean between Australia and East Timor’.

Weekly media round-up No. 34

Twenty-six families with children born in detention received written assurance from the Immigration Department that neither they nor their children would be sent to offshore detention centres on either Nauru or Manus Island until a case on their legal status is resolved.

The Royal Australian Navy announced that one commanding officer will be removed from command and another administratively sanctioned due to a series of incursions into Indonesian waters in December and January. The announcement came on the same day that Guardian Australia revealed one of the Australian customs vessels went further into Indonesian waters than had previously been disclosed, within 27 kilometres of the Indonesian shore.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ representative in Indonesia, Manuel Jordao, said the number of asylum seekers registering in Indonesia has fallen from around 100 a day to 100 a week since December. Mr Jordao said it was too soon to say whether the decrease was due to the Australian Government’s policy Operation Sovereign Borders, under which no one arriving in Australia by boat is eligible for resettlement in Australia.

Indonesia’s top military commander said Australia had agreed to stop turning back boats to Indonesia, but Immigration Minister Scott Morrison contradicted this, saying that the government’s policy had not changed. Military Commander General Moeldoko made the comments after speaking with Australia’s defence chief, David Hurley. However, Mr Morrison told Fairfax Media that details of the conversation had been “misreported”. Indonesia and Australia are expected to discuss the issue further at the Bali Process this week.