Refugees & migrants

Congratulations to Tony Abbott on becoming prime minister. We all know how just badly he wanted this job, and he didn't even have to sell his arse. Or worse, support nominal action on climate change. His rise to the nation's top office was marked on August 15, when his government passed his asylum seeker policies, with the opposition — Adam Bandt and Andrew Wilkie — voting against.

Activists from Refugee Action Collective rallied in Melbourne on August 15 against the Gillard government using

The report delivered by the Angus Houston-led “expert panel” on asylum seekers is not a plan for “stopping the boats” or stopping people from risking their lives at sea. It is a plan to demonise refugees and use them as a scapegoat for the rising government-led attacks on Australian people.

The Refugee Action Coalition released the statement below on August 13. * * * The Refugee Action Coalition has strongly condemned the Houston panel’s recommendations for offshore processing as made public at their press conference this afternoon.

Advocacy group Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees (RISE) released the statement below on August 15. * * * There is nothing to be surprised about. Once again, the government has used puppets to say yes to “offshore processing”. None of the three individuals on the Houston Panel have been appointed by refugee community groups or advocates, and therefore it comes as no surprise that their proposal is in line with the government’s own offshore solutions.

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre released the statement below on August 14. * * * The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) is shocked and disappointed with the release of the expert panel’s recommendations as they focus on deterrence, punishment and breach the very reason the Refugee Convention was established — offering protection to people fleeing persecution. The recommendations are a step backwards in Australia's humanity and will affect our reputation as a defender of human rights.

The ALP’s capitulation to populist refugee-bashing is wrong on so many levels that it's hard to know where to begin. The underlying rationale is patently false. The Age reported: “In a major backdown from her earlier insistence on the Malaysia ‘people swap’, Prime Minister Julia Gillard declared: ‘If people want to put up banners that this is a compromise from the government: dead — in order to start saving lives.’

Refugee rights supporters gathered in Melbourne on August 12 in a protest organised by the Refugee Action Collective (Victoria) to demand no offshore processing of refugees.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s “expert panel” on refugee policy will hand over its findings on how to “stop the boats” and end the parliamentary “deadlock” over offshore processing when parliament begins sitting again next week. After an asylum boat tragedy that killed 90 people in June, the three-member panel, headed by former defence chief Angus Houston, was tasked to report on the “best way forward for Australia to prevent asylum seekers risking their lives” considering “Australia’s right to maintain its borders”.

Robert Magid, owner and publisher of the Australian Jewish News, published an opinion piece about refugees and asylum-seekers on August 3. He described “illegal immigration” as “a criminal enterprise” and said he “doubt[ed] there is a single boat person” that seeks asylum in Australia who flees “certain death”.

Features refugee panel with Hadi Hosseini (Hazara refugee and former detainee); Dianne Hiles (Chilout); Jay Fletcher (refugee reported for GLW and RAC activist); Choo Chon Kai (Socialist Party of Malaysia) + activist news on Coles, WikiLeaks, Observer Tree, GasiLeaks, and Lizards revenge anti-uranium action.