Capability, decency … and the Abbott government
Traditional media reviews the performance of a new government at the hundred-day mark, and at the first anniversary of its taking office. The hundred-day reviews of the Abbott government catalogued how...
View ArticleWhy is the UN reviewing Australia’s record on torture?
The Australian government is being examined on Monday evening by the United Nations Committee against Torture. Before the independent committee of experts, an Australian government delegation has to...
View ArticleA Minor Footnote To Our Shameless Persecution Of Asylum Seekers
The ‘code of behaviour’ asylum seekers are expected to adhere to says a great deal about our nation, and our political parties. Michael Brull explains.
View ArticleNaming the enemy: Why Abbott has switched to saying ISIL
The Australian government has decided that Australian taxpayers should spend half a billion dollars per year fighting a war against someone.
View ArticleAsylum seekers’ healthcare comparable to that in Australia says government
The Australian government says asylum seekers in offshore detention receive healthcare comparable to that in Australia but that Papua New Guinea and Nauru are legally responsible for their welfare. And...
View ArticleImmigration unlawfully disclosed personal details
Privacy commissioner finds sensitive data on almost 10,000 asylum seekers was left publicly exposed for 16 days after the breach was reported
View ArticleImmigration Slammed For Privacy Breach Which Saw Asylum Seeker Records Released
The Australian Privacy Commissioner has handed down a report into the release of the private details of almost 10,000 asylum seekers.
View ArticleImmigration Department broke law by publishing asylum seekers’ private details
Privacy Commissioner report concludes the Department broke the law exposing private details of ‘vulnerable’ people, but imposes no penalties.
View ArticleAsylum seekers could win millions in damages over data breach
The privacy watchdog has the power to award compensation to the 1,600 asylum seekers who have complained
View ArticleDefining deviance: four steps in constructing a threat to security
In matters of national security, who is deviant and poses a threat to our safety depends on the claims made by those in positions of power and the sociopolitical climate. The news media are crucial in...
View ArticleQuestioning the queue: blocking protection to asylum seekers in Indonesia
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has announced that asylum seekers residing in Indonesia while awaiting protection will no longer obtain resettlement in Australia. This move puts into serious...
View ArticleScott Morrison: barring resettlement from Indonesia is ‘taking the sugar off...
Australia is “taking the sugar off the table” by announcing that asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR in Indonesia will no longer be eligible for resettlement, Scott Morrison has said. The...
View ArticleScott Morrison thumbs his nose at Indonesia, and sets back the only humane...
Australia has traditionally couched its rhetoric about our humanitarian refugee intake in terms of “orderly queues”. Those are the people who are in camps around the world waiting to be processed by...
View ArticleManifesto for a pogrom: hostility to resettled refugees grows on Nauru
Refugees settled on Nauru woke on Monday to find an ominous letter, signed “Youth of Republic of Nauru”, had been delivered overnight. Copies had been left at shops, homes, workplaces employing...
View ArticleThe Gospel According to Bolt
The Abbott Government must now change or die. Following on from the grilling Alan Jones gave Tony Abbott on his talkback program. Andrew Bolt decided on Tuesday to weigh into the discussion about the...
View ArticleNew Stats Confirm Majority Of Asylum Seekers Forced Offshore Are Genuine...
Over seven out of ten asylum seekers processed on Manus and Nauru have been found to be legitimate refugees.
View ArticleAbbott government ministers hate their ministries and everyone in them
In a sort of political version of Opposite Day, an idea has been kicking around social media for a few weeks on how to best understand the mystery that is the awfulness of the Abbott government. The...
View ArticleOne step forward, many steps back for refugees
The Federal Government is trying to put a positive spin on the fact that it wants to make it even harder for asylum seekers to find protection in accordance with international law.
View ArticleSenate gives Scott Morrison unchecked control over asylum seekers’ lives
The Senate crossbench has supported the passing of broad new migration and maritime powers – but what exactly do they mean for the minister, asylum seekers and Australia’s obligations under...
View ArticleRicky Muir vote reinstates TPVs and hands Coalition hollow asylum victory
The fate of thousands of asylum seekers held in Australian detention centres and thousands more who may seek protection was finally decided by the vote of a single senator from the Australian Motoring...
View ArticleOn Nauru the scarcest commodity is freedom, for refugees and residents alike
On Nauru, there are many shades of imprisonment. The asylum seekers kept in detention in the centre of the island at Australia’s behest are unequivocally deprived of freedom.
View ArticleReal letters from Manus asylum seekers
Asylum seekers on Manus Island keep writing about the horrific conditions in the camp. Is anybody listening?
View ArticleThe Dangerous Despotism of Scott Morrison MP
It has been another one of those weeks. A week where the Australian government surpasses itself in its three top capacities: deceit, cruelty and incompetence. I intended to document the depths of...
View Article‘Stopping the boats’ a fiction as Australia grows ever more isolationist on...
‘The boats have not stopped. They have stopped reaching Australia but people are still drowning in seas in our region and across the world. More than 350,000 asylum seekers boarded boats in 2014, the...
View ArticleThe new laws that take effect on New Year’s Day
The new year heralds the start of legislation in several important policy areas. But not all the government’s hoped-for changes will begin on 1 January as key pieces of legislation have been stalled or...
View ArticleLike it or not health and human rights are inexorably linked
There was so much in this quote for me, the day before Human Rights Day on the 10th of December, as I considered the current state of Australia. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was a product...
View ArticleManus Island detainees being put in medical isolation at rate of one a day
Manus Island detainees are being placed in medical isolation at a rate of nearly one a day, and almost a quarter have required quarantine, hospitalisation or other medical treatment over the past eight...
View ArticleSome pithy advice for Minister Ley, and sharp assessments of Minister Dutton
Now that we have a new Federal Health Minister, Sussan Ley, (who stands out in this picture for all the wrong reasons), what advice can we offer?
View ArticleAnother step towards authoritarian rule
In doing so, it’s trashed any lingering hope we might have had that asylum seekers have human rights in the eyes of Australian law, and left some disturbing implications for the future. It’s a shame...
View ArticleThe AMA and Medicare: a love-hate relationship
Medicare changes that were due to come into effect this week would have imposed a ten-minute minimum for regular (Level B) GP consultations which currently attract a A$37.05 rebate. Consultations under...
View Article
