An open letter to the Attorney-General Nicola Rox, calling on here to implement legislative change to ensue adverse ASIO security assessments can be meaningfully challenged.
Asylum seekers
Iranian numbers swelling on asylum seeker list
Iranians have emerged as a rapidly rising category of asylum seekers arriving by boat since the middle of last year, writes Stuart Ranfurlie, a freelance journalist in Jakarta.
MEAA responds to Immigration’s detention centre blackout
There has been a dust-up in the past few months about an attempt by the Department of Immigration to force media organisations to give bureaucrats the right to edit their reports in return for access to detention centres.
The media and refugees: reflecting public concern or fuelling it?
The line between media reflecting public concern about asylum seekers and fuelling racist debate is one many media outlets struggle to define, writes Sarah Hunt, a writer and media advisor to the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: The butter v margarine fight continues
Crikey readers weigh in on the benefits of butter and the asylum seeker debate.
Crikey Says: Playing our part in a global dilemma
While Julia Gillard achieved her “year of decision and delivery” in relation to carbon pricing, health reform and the mining tax, her self-appointed task of resolving the issue of asylum seekers remains unfinished at year’s end.
Guy Rundle: Refugee debate dominated by compromise, not core promises
The anti-mandatory detention campaign, which came from the Left, has a simple demand — that the country live up to its freely taken-on treaty obligations. Why have commentators like Robert Manne lost sight of that?
Reflecting on SIEV 221, one year on: getting the message
What is the message of border security, and who is its intended recipient? This is is the final in a three-part series of three related reflections on the anniversary of SIEV 221, the Christmas Island Boat Tragedy.
A year on, what has changed in asylum-seeker policy?
We’ve gone nowhere on asylum seekers in the past 12 months and they continue to die trying to reach Australia.
Church leaders turn to offshore processing
This week three Christian leaders publicly expressed distress at the deaths of more asylum seekers trying to reach Australian shores, writes Caz Coleman, a member of the Council for Immigration Services and Status Resolution.
Asylum seekers: finding a Political Solution
Crikey media wrap: The Gillard government appeared willing to negotiate its Malaysia Solution even before the latest boat tragedy but the Opposition refuses to compromise on its asylum seeker policy, according to private letters released yesterday.
The 2011 Crikeys: the government policy hits and misses
2011 was the biggest year in economic policy for a long time - which isn’t saying much. What was best and worst?
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Julian Assange is not a journalist
Crikey readers have their say.
Media briefs: Egypt media war … Twitter OWS ban … Somali journo killed
In today’s Media Briefs: media war breaks out in Egypt … Twitter suspends Occupy Wall Street tweeter … Somali journalist killed and more …
Tragedy at sea: over 160 asylum seekers feared dead
Crikey media wrap: Over 160 people are feared dead after an unseaworthy boat packed with asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Iran sank off the coast of Indonesia yesterday.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: A desperate embrace of moral bankruptcy
Crikey readers have their say.
Crikey Says: A failure of imagination
A year on from Australia’s deadliest shipwreck since 1890, we revisited our editorial from December 2010, written, as our opening line states, as they were “still pulling bodies from the water”, as pieces of SIEV221 splintered across the rocks of Christmas Island.
One year on: reflecting on the Christmas Island boat tragedy
In the dark reflection of the one-year anniversary of the shipwreck of SIEV 221 – the Christmas Island Boat Tragedy – it’s time to ask ourselves and each other: what have we learned? writes Peter Chambers.
Menadue: media missing the boat on asylum-seeker coverage
The Finkelstein media inquiry should have examined the role of the media in the so-called debate on asylum seekers and refugees, writes John Menadue, Centre for Policy Development director and former Department of Immigration secretary.
ALP Left hang tight to reforms as they step up numbers drive
The ALP’s Left say they will not give up on key reforms trashed by the Right at national conference and will urgently move to recruit multiple members to force Labor to democratise.
Let the ALP conference begin
Crikey media wrap: The ALP party has rolled into town for the first day of the Labor national conference in Sydney. With gay marriage, uranium and asylum seeker policy all up for grabs, expect it to be a raucous weekend.
Christmas Is: residents’ hope for more than a prison island
The isolation of the Christmas Island detention centre is the key to soaring mental health problems of staff and detainees. Crikey took the long flight to inspect the facility.
Curtin detention centre: 30min drive from Derby, ‘fit in or f-ck off’
Curtin is situated inside an Australian Airforce Base, around 30 minutes drive from Derby, and can only be accessed by prior arrangement with Serco. Crikey paid a visit.
Hey, panic merchants: asylum seekers are already living next door
The use of bridging visas will bring Australia in line with other countries that implement comprehensive community-based processing, writes Caz Coleman, a member of the Council for Immigration Services and Status Resolution.
Return of failed asylum seekers — a necessary evil
Returning failed asylum seekers is a necessary part of implementing the 1951 Refugee Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the subsequent 1967 protocol, writes Caz Coleman, a member of the Council for Immigration Services and Status Resolution
