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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Last week, the ASRC revealed the inaccuracies in Morrison’s announcement of a radical shift in the Coalition’s refugee policy (see Part I). His major new proposal was to refuse Afghan asylum seekers who arrive “illegally” in Australia and subsequently exchange them for refugees in camps bordering Afghanistan. In last week’s blog, we debunked two of
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Opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison announced a radical shift in the Coalition’s refugee policy last week in response to the record number of boat arrivals and subsequent overcrowding of Australia’s detention centres. While presenting the long-standing coalition policy of turning back the boats and reintroducing offshore processing and TPVs as the “the first solution,” Morison
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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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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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