The controversial events surrounding the Tampa 10 years ago today gave many Australians a reason to help asylum seekers build a new life. ON AUGUST 26, 2001 the Norwegian freighter Tampa, en route to Singapore from Fremantle, responded to a May-Day call issued by Australia’s Rescue Coordination Centre. Changing course, the freighter made its way
Read moreby Pamela Curr, campaign co-ordinator at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre On the flight from Cairns to Weipa, a burly young bloke boarded wearing his “WE BUST OURS so WE CAN BUST YOURS” T-shirt with attitude. We were later to recognise him as a guard at Scherger Immigration Detention Centre in north Queensland. The drive
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They wept, they wrung their hands, they swore not over their dead bodies as they declared their mission to prevent further loss of life at sea. They then supported a solution which requires asylum seekers to get into dangerous, overloaded, fishing boats and to set off into the vast ocean with the hope that the
Read moreSarah* arrived at Tullamarine with her 10-month-old baby late on a Sunday night. She had a valid passport and a valid visa. She came from one of the North African countries where people are protesting for western style democracy against a dictatorship. A house raid and threats to her safety forced the decision to leave
Read moreOn October 18, 2010, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that the majority of asylum seeker children and their families would be released by June 30, 2011, prioritising unaccompanied minors and vulnerable children. At the time of the announcement, there were 738 children in detention. Of these 276 were unaccompanied minors. In the months after the
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