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Keywords: Protection Visa

  • AUSTRALIA

    Dodgy brothers lawmaking

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 04 April 2024

    This week, the Federal Government quickly introduced a new policy in response to a recent High Court decision that prevents them from indefinitely detaining a small number of individuals they wish to remove from Australia. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2023: How Australia's asylum seeker policy has evolved over thirty years

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 04 January 2024

    Throughout recent decades of Australian history, the stance every government has taken on asylum seekers has reflected the shifting political landscapes and challenging humanitarian issues that have continually shaped Australia's response to those seeking refuge. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    How a High Court verdict upended indefinite detention

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 08 December 2023
    4 Comments

    On 8 November, the High Court ordered a stateless Rohingya refugee known only as NZYQ to be released from detention. He could not be granted a visa because he was found gulity of sexually assaulting a minor, and he could not be sent anywhere because he is stateless. Until 8 November, he was stuck in indefinite mandatory detention.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The High Court and the detention of asylum seekers

    • Frank Brennan
    • 04 December 2023
    8 Comments

    Last month, the High Court overturned a controversial 2004 decision, reaffirming the principle that asylum seekers cannot be detained indefinitely without prospects of deportation. This ruling not only corrects a historical misstep but also reasserts the High Court's commitment to limiting executive overreach.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Hardened criminals and hardened hearts

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 21 September 2023

    In a better world, people who seek protection in Australia and people removed from prison would not be detained in the same detention centres. But the grounds for differential treatment are not based on the difference between guilty and innocent people; between asylum seekers and 'hardened criminals'. Both groups are worthy of respect and compassion. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Three steps back and one step forward: Three decades of asylum seekers in Australia

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 28 July 2023

    How has Australia's asylum seeker policy changed over the past thirty years? The approach of every government has reflected the shifting political landscapes and challenging humanitarian issues that have continually shaped Australia's response to those seeking refuge. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Slavery is a growing problem. How should Australia respond?

    • Melissa Halliday
    • 13 July 2023
    4 Comments

    A Global Slavery Index report found the number of people living in modern slavery in Australia had more than doubled in the past four years. As incidents rise, so too does the nation's response, evidenced by an increase in reported cases and government funding. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Farewell the unlamented TPVs

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 16 February 2023

    After years of intense debate, Australia has now offered permanent residence to people with Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs), which caused great suffering and were part of a deterrence policy. However, this decision is just an incremental step towards a more humane refugee program that respects secure borders and the humanity of people seeking protection.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Australia ends decades-long uncertainty for thousands of refugees

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 16 February 2023
    1 Comment

    A Valentine’s Day present from the Minister for Immigration for those on temporary protection visas is a much-anticipated relief for approximately 19,000 refugees in Australia. And while a solution is welcome for these refugees, there remains around a further 10,000 whose status and future is uncertain.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    And so this is Christmas Island

    • Farhad Bandesh
    • 14 December 2022
    3 Comments

    My name is Farhad Bandesh. For seven-and-a-half years I was not called by my name. The Australian Federal Government took it away and changed my identity to a number. I was COA 060. I am Kurdish and we are a persecuted people.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The Albanese reset: Stopping boats while treating onshore asylum seekers decently

    • Frank Brennan
    • 28 October 2022
    6 Comments

    In recent years, Australian policies in relation to asylum seekers and refugees have been unnecessarily mean, cruel and disorganised. The election of the Albanese government provides the opportunity for a reset, putting behind us the past mistakes of both Coalition and Labor Governments in the last 20 years.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The grace of courtesy

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 23 June 2022
    4 Comments

    Since the Federal Election one of the most refreshing features has been the new Prime Minister’s connection with people. Whether it is shown by riding a bamboo bicycle with the Indonesian President, expressing sympathy for the Nadesilingam family for their prolonged ordeal before returning to Biloela or agreeing with Jacinda Ardern, herself a model of public empathy, about the unreasonableness of expelling to New Zealand people who had never lived there, his actions displayed a readiness to listen and to enter the experience of other people.

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