Labor and the Coalition have mostly agreed on harsh measures for refugees who flee here to escape war and persecution. Mano Yagolingam had been struggling, Chloe DS writes, largely because of being stuck in limbo for 12 years.
Refugee and Immigrant Rights
Labor's draconian bill, which would allow the immigration minister to send asylum seekers back to countries where they could be killed, is one of the worst decisions it has made since being elected, argues Sue Bull.
The Anthony Albanese government’s treatment of Palestinian refugees escaping the genocide in Gaza presents another blatant example of state-sponsored racism, argues Jonathan Strauss.
Labor's reaction to the High Court ruling that indefinite detention is unlawful underscores its continuing racist scapegoating of refugees, argues Jonathan Strauss.
We are thrilled that Priya and Nades and their two children can return to Biloela in Queensland but we must keep the pressure on Labor.
Boat turn-backs don’t save lives at sea. The real meaning of this barbaric practice has always been “Fuck off and die somewhere else”
No matter what we think of Djokovic’s born-to-rule attitude, the government’s arbitrary and discriminatory use of its harsh border policies is not in our broader democratic interest.
Unions are rightly worried that guest workers from South-East Asia will be super-exploited by rural bosses who are used to paying sub-standard wages. The new visa is intended to allow shamefully low wages to continue.
Keeping people out of Australia under the guise of stopping “people smuggling” and “deaths at sea” is no excuse for government cruelty towards people escaping war, torture, persecution and death.
The truth is that Labor, like the Coalition, can be pressured by popular campaigns to adopt progressive policies; and we’d all be better off if Labor was forced to adopt better refugee policies.
The Socialist Alliance strongly condemns the February 1 military coup in Myanmar/Burma and the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) which won 83% of the vote in the general election last November and calls on the Australian government to deny any recognition to the coup regime.
There are so many reasons why allowing the minister the power to take phones away from refugees in immigration detention is a bad idea.