This past week the Immigration Department released new refugee selection criteria, applicable only to Afghan asylum-seekers. Under the new guidelines it is set to be significantly more difficult for Afghan nationals to be recognised as refugees, having to prove they face a ‘real chance’ of persecution, rather than one that is not ‘remote or far-fetched’.
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“Come by boat and get a visa.” That was the headline in an article published in last weekend’s Sunday Telegraph (31 Oct 2010). To reinforce the message is a picture of an intercepted vessel headed for Christmas Island. Accompanied by a couple of uniformed Australian officials are a dozen huddled asylum seekers seated next to
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The revised Budget Estimates just released by the Gillard Government show that the Government continues its wasteful spending on it’s failed policy of mandatory detention. The amount of tax payers money committed to expanding Australia’s detention centres and the inhumane Christmas Island is staggering. The money to be spent next year on Christmas Island alone
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A recent report in the Sydney Morning Herald sheds some light on the human cost of Australia’s policy of mandatory detention for asylum seekers arriving by boat. In the year up to June 30 there were 39 instances of self-harm recorded in detention – a fourfold increase on the 10 cases recorded in the previous
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On Tuesday the Salvation Army released its latest report on poverty in Australia: Perceptions of Poverty, an Insight into the Nature and Impact of Poverty in Australia. The statistics are alarming. – Over two million Australians, or 1 in 10, do not have an acceptable standard of living and go without the bare necessities. –
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