Monthly Wrap December 2025

In the media

Nauru corruption concerns

Over November a number of people and agencies alleged successive Australian offshore processing deals with Nauru had been corrupted. A senior Home Affairs official who oversaw the process to award the 2019 and 2021 contracts said he had evidence of significant corruption. A former army soldier said that bikie gangs had infiltrated the security service operating under the contract. A Senator read out an Austrac report that raised concerns of corruption and money laundering by the current President of Nauru around the time that deals with Australia were actioned. The Home Affairs Minister’s said that some aspects of the secret Nauru deal would become public ‘over time.’ At the same time the Australian government blocked publication of an interview transcript in which the Nauruan President appears to suggest that his government could deport people in the so-called NZYQ cohort to their countries of origin.

International

2025 became the deadliest year for Rohingya people attempting to find safe haven by boat. In November another boat sank with at least 21 people confirmed dead. The American government announced the cancellation of temporary protection status to nationals of South Sudan, Venezuela, Syria and other countries. It has also reduced the annual refugee intake quota to the lowest level on record and terminated the Afghan resettlement program after a National Guard officer was killed by an Afghan man. Germany announced the commencement of a repatriation program for Syrian refugees. This coincides with the first decline in the number of people displaced globally in the last ten years, primarily due to Syrians returning home. As the UK government announced major reforms to its asylum policies, The Guardian highlighted the limbo of asylum seekers by way of the case of a man who took 17 years to get a residency visa.

In policy

The government defended its policy of buying and restoring fishing boats to give to people who are intercepted in Australian waters and ordered to return to their departure point. During November Australia issued it’s one millionth humanitarian visa since the end of World War II. The new Refugee Student Settlement Pathway program took effect with the arrival of the first visa recipients. The UNSW Kaldor Centre published its submission to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ahead of their December visit to Australia.  

In research

UNSW research found that people in Australia on humanitarian visas were 51% less likely to be employed five years post- arrival than other new migrants. The Scanlon Foundation Research Institute published the 2025 report of the Refugees Experiences in Australia Study. The IOM’s International Migration published a study into the prevalence of state organised forced migration as an intentional geopolitical strategy.

Monthly Wrap Dec 2024

In the media

In community and locked detention

Serco lost the contract for immigration detention in Australia, a role they have played since 2009. The new contractor has not yet been announced. A human rights lawyer told the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that Australia’s detention centres are prisons where people are often detained unlawfully. The High Court ruled that it is unlawful to impose curfews and ankle bracelets on people who are moved into the community. Additional High Court cases are underway as to the lawfulness of detaining people while their protection applications are being assessed.

Boat arrivals

Indigenous rangers have criticised the rapid response of Border Force to boats carrying asylum seekers compared to the absence of response when they report illegal fishing in the area. After assisting four men recently, they demanded assurance from authorities that the men would be cared for.

International

As the ongoing conflict in Sudan has caused the world’s worst humanitarian disaster, the UN World Food Program detailed the scale of the famine threat and the complexity of delivering food aid. The UNHCR recognised Thailand as leading the world in their efforts to end statelessness. Italian Courts blocked the transfer of asylum seekers to Albania on the basis that EU law only permits the accelerated removal of people where they have come from countries considered safe. As President-elect Trump promised mass deportations of asylum seekers and illegal migrants, businesses working in detention and prison services expect to profit from the policy.

In policy

The government ended the parliamentary year by introducing legislation that will enable (i) Australia to pay a third country to receive failed asylum seekers, (ii) the re-detention of people who were released due to the NZYQ High Court ruling, and (iii) the Minister to declare any item (e.g. a mobile phone) to be prohibited in detention. A Senate inquiry heard that up to 80,000 people could be affected by the proposed removal powers. A bipartisan Parliamentary committee found that the re-detention legislation could impact on people’s human rights on multiple levels. The Coalition asserted that they are basically running the government’s immigration policy.

In research

The largest known study into the prevalence of mental health ill-health among people who spent time in Australian immigration detention found it was profound. On PTSD they were at 16-22 times more risk than the general population, the rate depended on whether their detention was onshore or offshore and whether it was above or below six months duration.

The Human Rights Law Centre and the University of Melbourne analysed the increase in visa cancellations and its effect on immigration detention and deportation.  The Refugee Council of Australia published evaluation findings of a decade of their Refugee Stories for Change program.

New releases and events

70th anniversary of the Convention on Statelessness, a webinar by the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness on 12 December 2024.