A prison-style training manual produced by the company contracted to run Australia's detention centres contains explicit instructions on how to "hit" and "strike" asylum seekers.
Let’s get one thing clear. Asylum seekers do not get more than Australian residents and citizens, writes Caz Coleman, a member of the Council for Immigration Services and Status Resolution.
Start with the headline, and work backwards. Pick a theme. In this case, riff off the idea of a game show giveaway.
Sandi 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.
Opposition citizen spokesperson Teresa Gambaro's gaffe about immigrants' lack of deodorant reveals much about the deeper social values and political tactics the Liberal Party is willing to delve into, writes Robin Cameron.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
