Any prospect of thinking through the problem posed to Australia by refugees, I suspect, became impossible many years ago. This week, we’re confronted with the latest of thousands of tragedies: three-year-old Tharnicaa Murugappan, apparently with sepsis caused by untreated pneumonia, medically evacuated from Christmas Island, where she’s been living with her parents and older sister since late 2019.
Australia Passes Bill That Allows Government to Indefinitely Detain Refugees and Asylum Seekers
The indefinite detention of refugees is illegal under international law.
Why Global Citizens Should Care
The number of days an individual is typically held in Australian detention centres has grown from under 100 in 2013 to over 600 in 2020. People seeking refuge in Australia are often trying to escape poverty, conflict or persecution. Global Citizen campaigns on the United Nations’ Global Goals, including goal 10 for reduced inequalities. Join the movement and take action on this issue and more here.
A new bill recently passed into Australian law will allow the government to detain refugees and asylum seekers indefinitely, a move human rights activists, lawyers and immigration advocates say is unethical and illegal under international human rights law.
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Subscriber only Anthony Albanese stopped in Rockhampton on Saturday to meet about 40 constituents at Bartlett s Tavern on Kent Street and talk Labor policy. With him were Rockhampton MP Barry O Rourke, Queensland Senator Murray Watt, and Labor s federal candidate for Capricornia, Russell Robertson. Applause greeted the Labor leader, who stayed for perhaps 10 minutes and spoke about housing, workforce casualisation, the decline of real wages, and Mr Robertson s candidacy. There was time for two questions from the audience: the first had to do with Labor s support of the Migration Amendment Bill 2021, which passed parliament during the week; the second asked what to do about the Greens, which the questioner said was a poor influence on Labor s image.
2021-05-14 03:05:52 GMT2021-05-14 11:05:52(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
CANBERRA, May 14 (Xinhua) The Australian parliament has passed laws that give the government the power to detain refugees indefinitely.
The governing coalition and opposition Labor Party on Thursday joined forces to vote the Migration Amendment Bill into law.
The laws give the government the power to detain indefinitely refugees who have had their visas canceled but cannot be returned to their country of origin because they would face persecution there.
Legal experts and the parliament s human rights committee have raised serious concerns about the legislation.
In a statement released on Thursday the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) said the laws would cause serious harm.
The new laws are directed at unlawful citizens housed in immigration detention who cannot return to their home countries because of a risk of persecution or serious harm.