Keywords: Mandatory Detention
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MEDIA
Officially, the ban on journalists interviewing or filming asylum seekers in detention is for the detainees' protection. But it also stops them from sharing their stories with the public. Surely asylum seekers are capable of determining who is and is not acting in their best interests.
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AUSTRALIA
- Kerry Murphy
- 23 June 2011
2 Comments
The Rudd Government promised positive reforms after a decade of 'boat people'-bashing from the previous government. Three years later, we are back where we were. To understand how this happened it is helpful to overview the changes under Labor and the gradual decline in 'key immigration values'.
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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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AUSTRALIA
- Michael Mullins
- 28 March 2011
21 Comments
Currently the churches and the Greens have a mostly dysfunctional relationship. More than a few Greens owe their passion for social justice to a strong Christian upbringing. But while they both want values to triumph over pragmatism in government, they regard each other as the enemy.
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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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INFORMATION
- June Factor
- 18 March 2011
8 Comments
A Sydney Morning Herald editorial 71 years ago declared that to persecute refugees 'is stupid from the purely practical point of view'. The practical and humanitarian reasons it outlines for welcoming refugees remain relevant today.
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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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AUSTRALIA
- Ben Coleridge
- 16 November 2010
8 Comments
Soon enough there was a group of children in the yard and a soccer game was about to begin. First we had to decide the teams. I asked one small boy, whose family was from Sri Lanka, which country he wanted his team to be. 'Australia,' he yelled back.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 27 September 2010
7 Comments
Groups concerned for asylum seekers are now faced with bad Australian policies on asylum seekers like the regional processing centre and a harsher regime of detention. They should reject the policies but cooperate with governments to minimise the harm caused to asylum seekers by them.
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AUSTRALIA
If there is any vestige of democratic socialism left in Labor, the Gillard Government needs to raise taxes without
apology, knowing its social welfare policies are just and
necessary. It also needs to remain committed to redistributing wealth to eliminate huge discrepancies in living standards.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 21 June 2010
14 Comments
As the election lather on the asylum seeker issue continues, let's ask, 'Why is
it right to treat the honest, unvisaed boat person more harshly than
the visaed airplane passenger who fails to declare their intention to
apply for asylum?'
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