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Section: International

  • INTERNATIONAL

    Deportation dilemma

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 20 April 2011
    19 Comments

    A 46-year-old UK citizen who has lived in Australia for 40 years was removed to Britain this week due to a history of violence and other offences. It is problematic that someone who has already 'done the time' for their crimes can be punished a second time by migration law.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Asylum seekers testing Labor's conviction

    • Susan Metcalfe
    • 07 April 2011
    22 Comments

    Paul Keating said: 'Governments that wander along uncertain about where they are, looking over their shoulder, invariably get run over themselves.' If Labor doesn't stop looking over its shoulder on asylum seekers, it will miss another opportunity to stand up for what it says it believes in.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Why Tony Abbott is right about welfare

    • Frank Quinlan
    • 03 April 2011
    34 Comments

    In a recent interview on ABC radio, Abbott argued that work isn't just about the economy, it's also about individual welfare and the social fabric. He's right to point out that the Disability Support Pension focuses too much on what recipients can't do and not enough on what they can.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Rebuilding Japan

    • Jack de Groot
    • 23 March 2011
    2 Comments

    As airstrikes are launched against Libya, controversy grows around Australia's detention centres, and NSW prepares for its election, Japan will inevitably slip off our news radar. The rebuilding work of grassroots agencies will continue for years to come.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Riots and refugees

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 22 March 2011
    6 Comments

    The reintroduction of the Complementary Protection Bill to Parliament this week ought be welcomed. Given the protests in Christmas Island, it is clear that the mandatory detention policy is also overdue for reform.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Blame detention centres, not detainees

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 21 March 2011
    37 Comments

    Those who defend the humanity of asylum seekers are often dismissed as bleeding hearts. It is tempting to respond by referring to those who defend the existing regime of detention as bleeding minds. The recent events in remote detention centres are deplorable, but predictable.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    In defence of people-smuggling

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 24 February 2011
    33 Comments

    Asylum seekers have also always needed help to make their journey to safety. Our people smugglers may be seen as distinctive in that they charge high prices for their troubles. But asylum seekers have always relied on people who exploited them.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    A tale of two funerals

    • Arnold Zable
    • 22 February 2011
    6 Comments

    SIEV X survivor Amal Basry died of cancer in 2006. By then she had received her permanent visa and was able to return to see her children, grandchildren and father in the Middle East one more time. When she returned, she expressed a wish to be buried in Australian soil.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Beyond asylum seeker funerals

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 16 February 2011
    39 Comments

    Even in death asylum seekers open a faultline in Australian culture and society. The two Sydney funerals for the asylum seekers who died trying to reach Christmas Island raise larger questions that deserve comment. 

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Remember Sudan

    • Jack De Groot
    • 04 February 2011
    5 Comments

    Sudan's fate may appear sealed, and with tensions erupting in neighbouring Egypt it is easy to turn our gaze away. But with poverty and prosperity hanging precariously in the balance, there could not be a worse time to forget Sudan.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Egyptian people's vengeance

    • Ashlea Scicluna
    • 02 February 2011
    5 Comments

    The long-time political repression of the Egyptian people is now being avenged on the streets. Any step toward democracy that arises from the protests must involve the popular Muslim Brotherhood, or else it will be a wasted opportunity.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    China's 'incremental' democracy

    • Mark Chou
    • 27 January 2011
    8 Comments

    Last week's media coverage of Chinese President Hu Jintao's Washington visit focused on Senator Harry Reid's offhand remarks. Reid called Hu is a 'dictator', describing his government as 'different' to that of the US. But China is on a path towards a form of democracy that may be no less democratic than many western nations.

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