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 - 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 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 - 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. 27

The Manus Island riot triggered significant social and political debate in Australia. Footage released depicts chaotic scenes at the temporary hospital established to treat those injured. Preliminary reports found Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati died from multiple head injuries, possibly inflicted by a heavy object.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison travelled to Papua New Guinea to discuss the Manus Island riot. Both the Australian and Papua New Guinean governments reiterated their intention to maintain the detention facility. Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also defended the policy in a speech given at Oxford University.

Frustration regarding the secrecy of Operation Sovereign Borders led to Labor Senator Stephen Conroy accusing military commander Angus Campbell of a ‘political cover-up’ during a Senate Estimates hearing. A group of asylum seekers claimed that the Australian navy had blown up their vessel after transferring them to a naval lifeboat for return to Indonesia.

A new website inviting Australians to apologise for the government’s treatment of asylum seekers received national and international coverage. Five artists withdrew from the upcoming Sydney Biennale due to the festival being sponsored by Transfield, a company contracted to provide services at the Manus Island and Nauru detention facilities.