By Dana Affleck. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. Hassan is a little younger than me and we have the same cynical sense of humour. When I first met him early last year, he wasn’t very friendly. He just gave me a nod of acknowledgement and a half […]
By Dana Affleck. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. On the black market in Indonesia, there is a high demand for people smugglers. Refugees desperate to escape their persecutors, protect their family and seek freedom are in search of a smuggler who has the key to all that […]
By Les Wicks. This poem is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. This one is or is called a witch perhaps. So she disappears, her only trick. Why travel? No home, (an inflexible, judged word – foolhardy for any to claim) but she was there a tough demountable equivalent. Some […]
By Jane Hodge and Jana Favero. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. Last year the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Bowen announced that the “no advantage” principle would extend to asylum seekers arriving by boat who are released into the community on bridging visas while they wait […]
By Julian Burnside AO QC. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. Since about 1998, a significant proportion of boat people coming to Australia have been Hazaras from Afghanistan or Pakistan. On 26 August 2001, the Norwegian cargo ship MV Tampa rescued the passengers of a small boat […]
Given the prominence of the issue of asylum seekers over the past 18 months in particular, we regularly broke from our dedicated monthly themes to bring you the major developments in asylum seeker policy and debate (collected here). Now, we’ve dedicated a full two months of content to it over December 2012 and January 2013. […]
By Shae Courtney and Andrew Williams. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. ‘Asylum Seekers’ Constributions’ by Shae Courtney (Right Now) ‘Response’ by Andrew Williams (Refugee Council of Australia) Asylum Seekers’ Contributions By Shae Courtney. The generosity bestowed upon asylum seekers by the Commonwealth contains some caveats; perhaps, most […]
By Melissa Reid. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. Asylum seekers. Refugees. Boat people. Illegal refugees. Queue jumpers. The Other. There seem to be all these different people flocking to Australia to steal “our” riches, corrupt “our” culture, take “our” jobs and plunder “our” taxes. Why do they […]
By William Pitt. This poem is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. Step – step – step –step – the world is much too large; I think I can see the end of land but there’s always more and more; why not sit down and count my thoughts? How wonderful to […]
By Elizabeth Greenhalgh. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. The last decade has seen an unprecedented shift in policies and responses addressing the arrival of asylum seekers in Australia. Despite being a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, punitive government responses aiming to […]
By Greg Pritchard. This poem is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. From where I am lying I can see my sister’s leg Like a long stemmed rose against marble My ears are ringing and all I hear is music The sun is warm and bathes us in orange light […]
By Benjamin Pynt. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. Introduction Under the offshore processing regime, better known as the Pacific Solution Mark II (PSII), some asylum seekers are transferred to Nauru and Manus Island, where they face problems such as endemic antibody-resistant malaria, unsafe drinking water and inadequate […]