Following a week in which yet another of Timor-Leste’s senior political leaders spoke out against the proposed regional assessment centre to be built in his country, a confidential 23-page concept document for the centre was leaked to the press. The report raises serious questions as to the desirability and sustainability of such a centre. The
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On October 18th last year Immigration Minister Chris Bowen announced that the government had decided to expand its existing residence determination program and would seek to transition several hundred children and vulnerable family groups out of immigration detention facilities and into community-based accommodation. Prime Minister Julia Gillard later offered quantification of this announcement, pledging that
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At the start of this week The Australian published an opinion piece by former Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock reflecting on the boat wreck that occurred just off the coast of Christmas Island on December 15, 2010. These essence of his argument was that a more humane refugee policy would be one that deterred people from
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Last week a rickety wooden boat carrying somewhere in the vicinity of 100 asylum seekers crashed onto the cliffs off Christmas Island resulting in anywhere up to 50 deaths. Many of these bodies will never be recovered. Forty-two people were pulled from the ocean mere metres off Christmas Island and are now in detention mourning
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It was reported in last week’s online edition of The Australian newspaper that Australia and Afghanistan have finalised an agreement for the return of failed Afghan asylum-seekers. The article goes on to cite a source familiar with the negotiations who states that a memorandum of understanding outlining the deportation process could be signed as early
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