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The Turnbull government has announced a deal that will see the remaining refugees held in offshore processing centres offered resettlement in the United States.
Speaking at a press conference this morning with Immigration and Border Protection minister Peter Dutton, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the deal is a “one-off agreement” that will only be available to people currently in the off-shore centres. [Read more…]
The retiring ALP member for Fremantle, has addressed the House of Representatives on the treatment of asylum seekers.
Parke, 49, who has held Fremantle since 2007, spoke in the Grievance Debate in the Federation Chamber.
Speech by Melissa Parke, member for Fremantle, to the House of Representatives.
Ms PARKE (Fremantle) (17:46): I was preselected to run for Labor in the federal seat of Fremantle while I was still working for the United Nations overseas. One of the main motivations for coming back to Australia to stand for parliament was to help to improve asylum seekers policy that had for so long been misused by the government of Prime Minister John Howard for cynical political purposes.
On my first day back to Australia on 20 June 2007, I gave a speech in the Fremantle Town Hall to mark World Refugee Day. I had worked a lot with refugees during my time with the UN, especially in Kosovo and Gaza. I had seen Kosovars streaming back from neighbouring countries to their burnt-out homes in Kosovo to live in tents in the middle of the harshest winter on record. I worked with Palestinian refugees in the Middle East who had been forced from their homes in 1948 and 1967 and who were living in appallingly dire conditions for decades in the hope that they would one day return to their homes. [Read more…]
The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Scott Morrison, has announced that the government will bring 157 Tamil asylum seekers to the Australian mainland for processing.
The Tamils have been on an Australian customs vessel in the Indian Ocean since last month. The High Court ruled that they could not be handed over to Sri Lankan officials. [Read more…]
The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Scott Morrison, says people smugglers are on the back foot, as another week passes without a boat arrival.
At a press briefing on Operation Sovereign Borders, Morrison also revealed the name of the man who died in the disturbance on Manus Island earlier this week. The Iranian man, 23-year-old Reza Barati, had been on Manus Island since last July. [Read more…]
