Keywords: Christmas Island
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INTERNATIONAL
- Susan Metcalfe
- 07 April 2011
22 Comments
Paul Keating said: 'Governments that wander along uncertain about where they are, looking over their shoulder, invariably get run over themselves.' If Labor doesn't stop looking over its shoulder on asylum seekers, it will miss another opportunity to stand up for what it says it believes in.
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CARTOON
- Fiona Katauskas
- 24 March 2011
1 Comment
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INTERNATIONAL
- Kerry Murphy
- 22 March 2011
6 Comments
The reintroduction of the Complementary Protection Bill to Parliament this week ought be welcomed. Given the protests in Christmas Island, it is clear that the mandatory detention policy is also overdue for reform.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Andrew Hamilton
- 21 March 2011
37 Comments
Those who defend the humanity of asylum seekers are often dismissed as bleeding hearts. It is tempting to respond by referring to those who defend the existing regime of detention as bleeding minds. The recent events in remote detention centres are deplorable, but predictable.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Arnold Zable
- 22 February 2011
6 Comments
SIEV X survivor Amal Basry died of cancer in 2006. By then she had received her permanent visa and was able to return to see her children, grandchildren and father in the Middle East one more time. When she returned, she expressed a wish to be buried in Australian soil.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Andrew Hamilton
- 16 February 2011
39 Comments
Even in death asylum seekers open a faultline in Australian culture and society. The two Sydney funerals for the asylum seekers who died trying to reach Christmas Island raise larger questions that deserve comment.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Tony Kevin
- 20 December 2010
23 Comments
It is curious and sad that in weeks when our media are celebrating WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, we can accept so easily a government-managed story, whose public accountability obligation stares us in the face. Perhaps because editors know that our complacent society really does not want to go there.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Kerry Murphy
- 17 December 2010
12 Comments
Let's hope Wednesday's tragic events are not exploited for political advantage. We remember those who died and offer prayers and condolences for their families. For the living, they need to be treated with dignity.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Kerry Murphy
- 12 November 2010
6 Comments
A litmus test for the health of a democracy is what a Government does when it loses cases in the highest court in the land. The first consequence of yesterday's High Court decision regarding the cases of two Tamil asylum seekers is that many cases will need to be reconsidered.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Andrew Hamilton
- 21 June 2010
5 Comments
I remember the 250,000 Cambodians in Site Two by the Thai border, and among them Chea, the sister of a friend, who died when the camp was shelled. I remember the many who spent years in Australian detention centres, and the sadness of watching as the light went out of the eyes of those detained for more than six months.
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INTERNATIONAL
Abbott's 'red arrows' asulym seeker ad is reminiscent of the 'reds under the beds' hysteria of the '50s and '60s. With an election on the way, the immigration policy reform agenda has been put aside as both Government and Opposition harden their policies.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Kerry Murphy
- 30 March 2010
4 Comments
Once again the coalition is inflaming passions about what is actually an insignificant number of people arriving in Australian waters and claiming asylum. Unfortunately the Government is getting caught up in this debate because it insists on maintaining the excision and Christmas Island Centre.
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