Sandi Logan: the Immigration Dept’s driven and divisive spokesmanSandi Logan is on a mission to shape what you read, see and hear about the federal government’s most troublesome policy area, writes Matthew Knott.
Immigration Department
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?
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.
Crikey Says: The border protection bottom line
Keane has crunched the numbers across budget and ANAO documents and calculated that our politicians’ fixation with asylum seekers arriving by boat has cost taxpayers nearly $2.4 billion since 2000.
asylum seekers Villawood guards blow whistle on OH&S issues at the centre
Three security guards working at Sydney’s Villawood detention centre have exposed occupational health and safety breaches at their workplace, in exclusive interviews with Crikey.
The West’s Christmas Island ‘exclusive’ heads to the Press Council
A journalist who obtained entry to a immigration accommodation facility to interview a survivor of the Christmas Island tragedy faces claims of unethical behaviour.
Crikey Says: Moving public opinion on border protection
How does it look, for the government, for the private contractor Serco, for the Immigration Department, for a country’s human rights reputation, when a man jumps to his death on our watch?
Sitting with asylum seekers on the side of the Stuart Highway
On Wednesday morning a large group of asylum seekers walked out of the Darwin detention centre and stood quietly by the Stuart Highway holding up bed sheets so that passing cars could read such messages as “Give us mercy.” Pamela Curr reports.
Sneaky new laws that terminate student visas
A new bill is before parliament that gives the Immigration Minister the power to deny long term international students their applications for permanent residency. Peter Mares reports.
Julie Bishop’s right — the government has form on fudging passports
A leading refugee advocate says Julie Bishop is correct about Australian authorities’s use of fake passports: refugees without passports or official documents are regularly issued with substitute passports.
Would you trust the Immigration Department with your life?
Rimi Khan reflects on a disturbing interview she witnessed between an asylum seeker and the Immigration Department in 2002. How much has changed for asylum seekers since John Howard days?
Indian students and Immigration: a case of too many cooks …
In the second of a three-part series, Geoff Maslen looks at immigration law and the stampede for visas by foreign students. What happens now to students who thought that would qualify for residency?
Detention debt destroyed
After much debate, including a Crikey analysis of which Coalition members supported the bill, the charging of immigration detainees and asylum seekers for their mandatory detention has been scrapped.
Evans to announce immigration overhaul
Immigration policy is to be overhauled, with Immigration Minister Chris Evans calling for sophisticated public debate on immigration and for the public to stop focusing on the hysteria of immigrants as potential terrorists.
Positive reform for asylum seekers
“Migration reform” is often the wording used for changes in the Immigration portfolio, not always positive. But, writes Kerry Murphy, four changes made by Minister Evans are good news for asylum seekers.
Putting the Ruddock back into shadow immigration?
An email exchange about former Philip Ruddock chief of staff Ann Duffield, who is now working for Shadow Immigration minister Sharman Stone, makes for revealing reading.
Tips and rumours: The real boat people story?
A Crikey tipster lets in on the “real story” behind the Ashmore reef explosion, while another reckons the Immigration Department is broke.
Australia’s $18m bid to keep asylum seekers in Indonesia
The sound bites may have shifted, but the policy around interception of asylum seekers in Indonesia never changed.
Prison cost-cutter set to run migrant detention
An international services company that has attracted extensive criticism of its human rights record is likely to be awarded the new contract to operate immigration detention centres by the Rudd Government, writes Bernard Keane.
Tips and rumours
Everything that has been written about the Immigration Department in your “Tips and rumours” lately is true. There has been a lot of fear in the department - there is an extremely punitive attitude, despite comments to the contrary by the Secretary. That fear has included letting outsiders know the true extent of the debacle […]
Give overseas trained doctors a break
Working in remote areas without adequate support can be difficult for even the best trained and most experienced of doctors, writes Cloncurry GP Sheilagh Cronin.
Bringing back memories of our son’s deportation
Dr Haneef’s deportation has brought back memories of my son for whom we could not do anything, write Inderjit and Margaret.
As you sit in your traffic jam, Immigration Dept plays numbers down
From Brisbane to Perth and all major centres in between, Australian cities are groaning under inadequate infrastructure, choked roads, unaffordable housing, failing public transport.
