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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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