MEDIA STATEMENT Thursday 17 September 2026 Statement from Kon Karapanagiotidis, CEO and Founder, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre: Today is a dark day for multicultural Australia. Today our Government chose to turn on migrants, international students and people seeking asylum who have built lives here, contributed to this country and asked for nothing more than the
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Media Release, Friday 11 September 2026 The Albanese Government is reportedly considering preventing people from applying for protection unless they do so within the first months of arriving in Australia, potentially within as little as 30 days. The proposal, reportedly part of a broader migration package currently being negotiated with the Coalition, could lock people
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Media Statement, Friday 28 August 2026 The ASRC welcomes the Prime Minister’s intervention to maintain Australia’s humanitarian and refugee intake program at 20,000 places. We were shocked and deeply concerned when we saw the reports yesterday morning that the humanitarian intake would be cut by 30%. We have always advocated for a fair program. Yesterday
Read moreMedia Release, Thursday 27 August 2026 The Albanese Government is reportedly considering walking away from Labor’s commitment to maintain Australia’s humanitarian intake at 20,000 places a year, just one month after this was endorsed at Labor’s National Conference. The cut would reduce opportunities for people fleeing conflict and persecution to find safety in Australia, while
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Media Release, Wednesday 26 August 2026 Today marks 25 years since Tampa, a defining moment that changed Australia’s treatment of refugees and our politics for a generation. On 26 August 2001, the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa rescued 433 people, predominantly refugees from Afghanistan, from a fishing boat north of Christmas Island. Instead of offering safe
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Media Release, Monday 17 August 2026 Over 160 community, charity, multicultural and migrant organisations have written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warning that reported plans to remove work rights from people seeking asylum would force thousands of people into destitution and place enormous new pressure on already overstretched charities and community organisations. Media reports have
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