Keywords: Migrant Workers
-
INTERNATIONAL
Even if all of the families that have been coldly, clinically, 'legally' torn apart can be reunited, much of the damage done is likely irreparable. Social workers and scientists have spoken out on the permanent damage inflicted on children separated from their parents. But who will speak on the scar left on the national conscience?
READ MORE 
-
AUSTRALIA
For Japanese Australians, the connections with Australia's war-time history continues to be particularly fraught. Whether they are early or more recent migrants, Japanese Australians have many narratives and expressions of complex identities that are now gaining voice.
READ MORE
-
INTERNATIONAL
- Sangeetha Thanapal
- 27 February 2018
9 Comments
The world continues to laud Singapore as a model for governance, while ignoring the serious human rights violations that occur within it. The silence of countries like Australia and others in the region ensure that the Singapore state will continue intimidating its opponents into silence, or obscurity.
READ MORE
-
RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 21 February 2018
9 Comments
The World Day of Social Justice greets a year when social justice is returning to favour. Bank executives begin to own their social responsibilities. Liberal economics begin to be seen, not as the condition for a productive economy but as a barrier to it. That is the rhetoric. For governments, though, it is business as usual.
READ MORE
-
ARTS AND CULTURE
- Andrew Hamilton
- 03 November 2017
9 Comments
More recently, Mammon has dominated the Melbourne Cup. It has been targeted by wealthy international owners and stables who buy up the most likely stayers in order to buy the result. It has also been used by corporations to fuel their engines of misery that suck money and life out of many Australian families.
READ MORE
-
AUSTRALIA
- Tseen Khoo
- 02 November 2017
9 Comments
The bill ramps up the difficulty of becoming an Australian citizen, and one element depends on 'proof' of Australian values or integration that is open to contestation. Aside from the many critiques around definitions of Australian identities or values, does being able to say you're a good Australian mean you are a good Australian?
READ MORE
-
AUSTRALIA
- Tseen Khoo and Jen Kwok
- 02 October 2017
5 Comments
Our national population is more diverse than ever, particularly when it comes to those of Asian Australian heritage. Just how diverse is something we need to examine more closely if we are to develop a more inclusive, welcoming society.
READ MORE
-
INTERNATIONAL
- Sean Cowan
- 25 August 2017
8 Comments
It seems like immigration hasn’t been seen in a positive light of late. Control over immigration has been a central theme in the successful Brexit bid in the United Kingdom. America elected a president who suggests tougher laws and screening for immigrants. Syrian refugees were welcomed by the thousands into Canada (46,700 in 2016 alone to be exact) not without considerable controversy.
READ MORE
-
ARTS AND CULTURE
- Tseen Khoo
- 08 August 2017
6 Comments
The Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) starts on Friday 25 August. It’s a good time to consider what such a festival says about our local cultures, as well as being a perfect time to think about how you relate to that culture.
READ MORE
-
RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 17 May 2017
As the Church of 2030, we need to be more attentive to the contemplation of believers and our experience of spiritual realities, as well as the preaching of the church. Pope Francis has no time whatever for the notion of the Church as a perfect society. But, there is no way that Francis wants to abandon the ideals and the commitment to truth and justice so well exemplified by his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict.
READ MORE
-
AUSTRALIA
- Kerry Murphy
- 20 April 2017
3 Comments
There are several significant changes which mean that for a number of occupations, the pathway to a permanent visa sponsored by an employer will be closed. A number of people will only be able to get a temporary work visa for two years, and a further two year period after that only. It is the latest in a range of changes to immigration that have seen Australia change from being a country of permanent migration, to one of permanent and temporary migration.
READ MORE
-
AUSTRALIA
- Sayomi Ariyawansa
- 24 March 2017
5 Comments
In 2015, Four Corners exposed the misuse of migrant labour in Australian horticulture. It found evidence that the labour hire providers routinely underpaid these workers. Once working on-site, some of these workers were required to work excessive hours and endure unsafe conditions. There is great potential for a licensing scheme to bring a degree of regulation. But there are complex reasons behind the prevalence of migrant worker exploitation in the industry, and a licensing scheme is no cure-all.
READ MORE