Weekly media wrap - 9 March

Media reported that ten wooden boats were bought by the Customs and Border Protection Department to tow back asylum seeker boats in Australian waters. The boats, which look like fishing boats typically used in South Asia, are believed to be a cheaper alternative to the orange lifeboat vessels that the Australian government has been using.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has requested the Australian Federal Police investigate Save the Children whistleblowers who provided anonymous submissions to the Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry into children in detention, which referenced child sexual abuse, violence and self-harm on Nauru. A Greens-led motion was passed in the Senate expressing support for Professor Gillian Triggs and the Human Rights Commission and its delivery of the Forgotten Children report.

Almost 200 refugees were arrested on Nauru for protesting against their resettlement on the island and demanding better living conditions. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton stated that refugees' protests would have no influence on the Abbott government's policies. Nauru’s Justice Minister, David Adeang, described the protests as a ‘law and order issue’ that would be dealt with according to Nauru’s laws.

A student staged a protest on a Qantas flight from Melbourne to Darwin over the transfer of a Tamil asylum seeker on board, fearing deportation would occur once the plane arrived in Darwin. The student has been temporarily banned from the airline and asked to attend an interview with the Australian Federal Police.  

In a speech to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama criticised Australia's policy approach of resettling asylum seekers in the Pacific and sought greater scrutiny of the implementation of policy and practice. 

Weekly media wrap - 2 March

The Abbott Government continues to defend its criticism of Professor Gillian Triggs. Described by some as an 'attack', the Government accused Triggs, the President of the Human Rights Commission which produced The Forgotten Children report into children in detention, of harbouring political bias due to the timing of the report. The advocacy group Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children rallied in Melbourne in support of Professor Triggs.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed that the Bladin Alternative Place of Detention in Darwin will close in April 2015. The Coalition Government has attributed the closure to its ability to stop the arrival of asylum seeker carrying boats and the success of Operation Sovereign Borders.

According to reports in The Guardian, the trial of the two men accused of murdering asylum seeker Reza Barati in a riot on Manus Island on 17 February 2014 will soon begin. Asylum seekers on Manus Island have been asked to give evidence and are reportedly nervous about their safety if they testify.

Amnesty International has called on Australia to do more to help the millions of refugees fleeing violence in Syria and Afghanistan, including increasing Australia’s humanitarian intake. Amnesty also released its annual report in which it condemned the Australian Government for its offshore processing policies and the continuing detention.

 Meanwhile, the Obama administration is pushing to increase the number of Syrian refugees settled in the United States, but is facing resistance from Republicans concerned about security screening of refugees.

Weekly media wrap - 23 February

The Federal Government announced that four Sri Lankan asylum seekers were handed over to Sri Lankan authorities earlier this month. The men were determined not to be refugees after their boat was intercepted off the coast of the Cocos Islands. This interception is the first occurrence of on-water processing and transfer since the High Court ruled in January that offshore operations such as this are legal. Critics expressed concern about interceptions at sea and the quality of screening processes being undertaken when on water.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton visited Nauru to reaffirm the Australian Government’s bilateral agreement with the island nation to resettle Australian-bound refugees. Formal visit proceedings were disrupted by refugees protesting Australian asylum policy. Minister Dutton announced an open centre arrangement where selected asylum seekers would have more flexibility in coming and going from the Nauru detention centre within agreed times. Minister Dutton confirmed that 512 asylum seekers have been granted refugee status and 400 had been resettled in Nauru.

The anniversary of the death of Iranian Reza Barati was acknowledged and remembered on social media by thousands. Barati was killed one year ago on Manus Island during the rioting in the immigration detention centre.

An open letter to the Prime Minister Tony Abbott, signed by 50 prominent Australians, expressed support for the Human Rights Commission’s Forgotten Children report and concern about the personal attacks on the Commission's President Gillian Triggs.

More than 2,100 migrants were rescued 160kms off the coast of Italian island Lampedusa by Italian and Maltese rescue vessels. 

Weekly media wrap - 16 February

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) called for a Royal Commission into the policy of holding children in immigration detention, following the government’s release of its The Forgotten Children: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention report. The report found more than a third of children in detention in the first half of 2014 had serious mental health disorders. It found more than 300 children committed or threatened self-harm in a 15-month period, 30 reported sexual assault, nearly 30 went on hunger strike and more than 200 were involved in assaults.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott criticised the report as ‘a blatantly partisan politicised exercise’, questioning ‘where was the Human Rights commission when hundreds of people were drowning at sea?’ Professor Triggs said she made the decision to hold the inquiry last February because the release of children had slowed down over the first six months of the new Coalition Government.  

The government announced there would not be a Royal Commission into children in detention.

 More than 200 Australian organisations (including Asylum Insight) signed a letter calling on parliament to stop holding children in immigration detention.

Meanwhile, it emerged through Fairfax media that the government had sought the resignation of AHRC president, Professor Gillian Triggs.

The High Court ordered that the Immigration Minister grant a permanent protection visa to a Pakistani refugee. It unanimously found the decision by former Immigration Minister Scott Morrison not to grant the visa on national interest grounds because the man was an unauthorised maritime arrival was illegal.

Around 300 people were feared drowned after four people-smuggling boats sank in the Mediterranean. Twenty-nine people died of hypothermia aboard Italian coastguard vessels after being picked up from a boat adrift near Libya. 

Weekly media wrap - 9 February

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres responded to the High Court’s judgment of the Tamil asylum seeker known as  ‘CPCF’, decided on 28 January 2015.  Despite the judgement that Australian authorities acted lawfully according to Australian law, UNHCR urged Australia to recognise its international legal obligations.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser criticised the government for its attacks on the Australian Human Rights Commission in the lead up to the 2014 release of the Commission's report from the Inquiry into Children in Detention.

Senate Estimate documents showed that during the last financial year the Federal Government spent over $1.2 billion on the operation of detention centres on Manus Island, Nauru and Christmas Island.

Human rights lawyer Julian Burnside QC announced that he will represent an Iranian asylum seeker in an appeal after his application for refugee status was rejected.  The 33 year old detainee of Wickham Point detention centre has been on a hunger strike since his appeal was rejected late last year.

In international news, Guterres urged the European Union to grant asylum to more refugees, with 50 million people currently displaced globally, creating the largest refugee crisis worldwide since World War II.

Weekly media wrap – 1 February

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton announced that a total of 15 boats containing 429 asylum seekers have been turned back since the commencement of Operation Sovereign Borders.

A group of eight former Australians of the Year used Australia Day celebrations to call for the immediate release of all refugee and asylum seeker children from immigration detention. On the same day, further arrests were made in detention compounds on Manus Island as protests continued.

The High Court handed down a judgment that Australian authorities acted legally when they intercepted a boat from India carrying 157 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers in June 2014. The asylum seekers were detained on an Australian customs vessel for 29 days until they were brought to the Australian mainland and then transferred to Nauru. The Court found that Australian authorities had acted within the bounds of the Maritime Powers Act.

Minister Dutton said that the ruling ‘has vindicated the Government's position’. However, others have written that the decision raises concerns about the rights of asylum seekers who are detained at sea.

In international news, Kuwaiti philanthropist Shaikha Rima Al Sabah has been appointed as the UNHCR’s newest Goodwill Ambassador, while Angelina Jolie, special envoy for the UNHCR, appealed for urgent funding to assist more than 3 million displaced Iraqis and Syrians living in northern Iraq.

Weekly media wrap - 26 January

Unrest on Manus Island ended last Tuesday. Staff at the centre reportedly prepared 14 men, who were thought to be leaders of the protest, to be sent to prison in Port Moresby. Australian and Papua New Guinean officials described the force used against protestors as minimal, although a video obtained by The Guardian suggests otherwise. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has rejected claims asylum seekers were denied food and water

Australia’s resettlement program in Cambodia is uncertain, as all but three of 200 refugees on Nauru refused to meet with Cambodian officials. Mr Dutton will travel to Cambodia to meet with officials for further talks on the resettlement program.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten criticised the culture of secrecy regarding the government’s release of information surrounding Manus Island. NSW Premier Mike Baird called on Prime Minister Abbott to “do more” to help refugees.

The UNHCR has announced plans to settle a number of Rohingya refugees in Thailand to the United States.

Weekly media wrap - 19 January

A week of protest and hunger strikes on Manus Island culminated in the storming of two compounds of the detention centre by Wilson guards.

On Tuesday 13 January, 100 asylum seekers went on hunger strike, protesting resettlement in Papua New Guinea (PNG) enabled by a bilateral with Australia.

By Wednesday 14 January, 500 asylum seekers were on hunger strike. On the same day, running water became unavailable  at the centre. 

On Friday 16 January the entire centre was placed in lockdown, preventing staff from entering the compounds. Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton stated it was his ‘absolute resolve’ to prevent asylum seekers arriving in Australia and accused advocates of coaching self-harm, a claim that was strongly denied. 

By Saturday 17 January, more than 100 asylum seekers were under medical care, most from dehydration. PNG’s immigration minister Rimbink Pato reported asylum seekers sewing their lips and swallowing razor blades and washing powder.

On Sunday 18 January, four asylum seekers were placed in solitary confinement as asylum seekers barricaded themselves inside Delta compound. Amid conflicting claims over conditions at the detention centre, opposition leader Bill Shorten called for transparency from the government. Mr Dutton said asylum seekers had engaged in ‘aggressive’ and ‘irresponsible behaviour’.

Meanwhile, Australian and Cambodian officials visited Nauru, to discuss the deal to resettle refugees in Cambodia.

In Australia, advocates for 15 Iranian asylum seekers detained indefinitely in Darwin wrote to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants requesting an investigation into their detention. 

Weekly media wrap - 11 January 2015

The group of 50 men on Manus Island with approved refugee applications are being prepared to move from detention to temporary accommodation at the Lorengau transit centre and then into the PNG community. They were told they would be treated like the local Papua New Guineans, but detainees are resisting this move for fear of violence from locals.

An Iranian asylum seeker who went without food for 51 days in the Wickham Point Immigration Detention Centre in Northern Territory during late 2014 has resumed his hunger strike. 

A teenage boy who was crew on an asylum seeker boat that arrived nearly two years ago will return home to Indonesia next week. He and another teenage boy have been kept in detention since their arrival, despite a government policy not to prosecute Indonesian children found on the boats. The second boy has also been released on parole and put in immigration detention.

Figures provided to Fairfax Media indicate that ten refugees have been released into the community since August 2014, after ASIO reversed their decisions that the refugees were threats to national security.

Prime Minister Abbott congratulated the new Sri Lankan president-elect Maithripala Sirisena and emphasised the two countries’ cooperation on addressing people smuggling and other issues.

Lebanon turned back Syrians attempting to cross the border under new visa regulations, which limit the amount of time they can stay in Lebanon. Lebanon is concerned about its capacity to accommodate more people displaced by the Syrian civil war.

UNHCR released its Mid-Year Trends 2014 report, which indicate that an estimated 5.5 million people became newly displaced during the first half of 2014. Of these, 1.4 million fled across international borders, with the remaining displaced within their own countries. Syrians have become the largest refugee population under UNHCR's mandate.

Weekly media wrap - 5 January

Former Immigration Minister Scott Morrison threatened to revoke Moreland Council’s right to hold an Australia Day citizenship ceremony if Mayor Megan Hopper refused to read an official Ministerial message. The message is normally delivered at citizenship ceremonies, however it isn’t compulsory. Ms Hopper said the Federal Government’s asylum seeker policies conflicted with the council’s policy. In response, Wollongong Mayor Gordon Bradbery said the letter was ‘fairly innocuous’ and ‘full of motherhood statements’.

The Guardian reported that refugees released from detention on Nauru have pleaded to be allowed back into detention centres due to fears of violence and harassment from locals.

In her New Year address German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a more welcoming attitude to refugees amid concern at the rise of anti-Islamic groups in the country. The first refugees moved into so-called ‘container towns’ in Berlin – emergency housing built from stackable, portable blocks.

Weekly media wrap - 29 December

Scott Morrison was replaced as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection by Peter Dutton. The move has been interpreted as a promotion for Mr Morrison (who will become Minister for Social Services) and a demotion for Mr Dutton, who has performed poorly in the Health portfolio. Prominent asylum advocate Julian Burnside has criticised Morrison’s time as Minister “a terrible stain on our [Australia’s] history”. Mr Dutton’s initial comments suggest his early focus will be on deporting visa over-stayers.

Burnside also condemned the recent passage of the Asylum Legacy Act, highlighting the lack of legal recourse for asylum seekers who are initially assessed not to be genuine refugees. The Act also creates a new a class of visa – the Safe Haven Enterprise Visa, and establishes the Immigration Assessment Authority.

The remaining asylum seeker children held on Christmas Island have been returned to the mainland while they wait for their claims to be assessed.

An Iranian asylum seeker has ended a hunger strike after not eating for 53 days. Earlier this year the man was found not to be a genuine refugee by the Refugee Review Tribunal. Another Iranian asylum seeker, who’s asylum claim is yet to be processed, will sue the Australian Government for negligence, alleging he was intentionally denied medical treatment for severe burns.

Weekly media wrap - 22 December 2014

Immigration and Border Protection Minister Scott Morrison announced that 31 babies born to asylum seekers who were transferred from Nauru to Australia before December 4 will be allowed to stay in Australia, along with their parents and siblings, while their protection claims are assessed in Australia. More than 20 expecting asylum seeker women, who are currently in Darwin, will not be eligible to access this arrangement and will be required to return to Nauru with their babies once born. This one-off arrangement came as a result of a deal made with Senator Rick Muir, whose vote recently secured the passing of new migration laws through the Senate.

The immigration department has been accused of actively delaying visa grants to an 84-year-old Iraqi refugee and her daughter until the new temporary protection visa laws come into force. The two women were both found to be refugees by the Refugee Review Tribunal, but are considering returning home to Iraq as the TPV does not allow a person to sponsor their family. The daughter has a young child who is still overseas with her father. 

An Iranian asylum seeker entered his 49th day of a hunger strike at Wickham Point Immigration Detention Centre in Darwin, after being denied refugee status by the Refugee Review Tribunal earlier this year. Reports indicate this man’s health condition is deteriorating, which has sparked legal and medical debate on whether the Department of Immigration and Border Protection can force feed this asylum seeker. 

Papua New Guinea approved 50 refugee applications from Manus Island, but has not yet resettled anyone. PNG Foreign Minister said that the men will be resettled in PNG but that has been delayed by the lack of a policy framework.

Weekly media wrap - 15 December 2014

The Senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee released an inquiry report into the February 2014 incidents on Manus Island, which led to the death of Iranian man Reza Barati. The Senate inquiry found that the government 'failed in its duty' to protect the asylum seekers. It also found that there were violations of human rights that warranted compensation for those who were injured. Coalition MPs who sat on this committee rejected some recommendations, arguing that the underlying issues that led to the riots were the responsibility of the previous Labor government. 

Asylum seekers on Manus Island wrote to Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to be taken off the island, as they fear they will be killed if released.

Documents obtained by The Australian regarding ill asylum seeker Hamid Kehazaei’s transfer from Manus Island in August reveal that the transfer was delayed by bureaucratic obstacles.

Guardian Australia data showed that asylum seekers were put in solitary confinement on Manus Island 74 times during the 25 weeks between 23 May and 17 November.

Asylum seeker families held in the Inverbrackie Immigration Detention Centre in Adelaide were released into the community on bridging visas.

Weekly media wrap - 8 December 2014

The government reintroduced temporary protection visas after it received support from the Palmer United Party (PUP) and Ricky Muir of the Motoring Enthusiast Party. Immigration minister Scott Morrison announced a number of concessions to bring crossbenchers across the line.

These concessions include the increase of refugee and humanitarian intake by 7500 places to 20,000, subject to Senate approval. The package also includes further details about the safe haven enterprise visa, which would allow asylum seekers to work or study in certain regional areas. The visa aims to provide a “pathway” to permanent residency. Critics claim the bill strips the right of appeal and gives the government greater powers to detain and remove asylum seekers at sea.  

Mr Morrison also announced the removal of all children from Christmas Island detention centre before Christmas. However, the release of these children will be under new ‘fast-track’ assessments, which remove appeal rights. The United Nations Committee Against Torture warned the bill could mean asylum seekers, including children, would be forced back to the countries they’d fled to face torture.

Four asylum seekers on Manus Island sewed their lips together in protest at being held on the island for more than a year. A letter obtained by Guardian Australia says that protesters claim they suffer catastrophic conditions and are treated like slaves. Two hundred and fifty asylum seekers are undertaking a hunger strike about being held in detention without any guarantee about their futures.

A three-day standoff by two pregnant refugees who refused to get off a bus ended with the women being taken inside a Northern Territory detention centre.

Police intervened in the deportation of an Iranian asylum seeker accused of rape to obtain a criminal justice visa. The man’s lawyer says he deserves the opportunity to clear his name in court and will contest the charge.

Weekly media wrap - 1 December

The Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen wrote to an opposition party politician defending Cambodia’s ability to host and protect refugees. However, a group of Cambodian NGOs expressed ‘deep concern’ about the deal, and the ‘shroud of secrecy’ surrounding it. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young also wrote about her concerns with the deal, after travelling to Cambodia to assess the conditions that refugees will face there.

The Federal Court of Australia reserved its decision about the right of children born in Australian detention centres to seek refugee visas. Labor and the Greens expressed opposition to a decision by the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee to recommend that the Resolving the asylum seeker caseload bill be passed. The bill also came under pressure from Senate crossbenchers who want the legislation to include a pathway to permanent resettlement of refugees and reunion with immediate family members.

The UN Committee Against Torture released a report criticising elements of Australia’s asylum seeker policies, including the policies of turning back boats carrying asylum seekers and mandatory detention of children on Nauru and Manus Island.

The Guardian reported a female asylum seeker was allegedly impregnated when she was raped in detention on Nauru.  This follows stories of the rape of homosexual asylum seeker men who are scared of being jailed for their sexuality.  

A group of high profile Australians recorded a song calling for an end to child detention.

Asylum seekers on Manus Island wrote to the United States and Canada requesting for resettlement to these countries.

In international news, President Obama announced sweeping reforms to the United States’ immigration policy that will ease the threat of deportation for 4.7 million undocumented immigrants. However, the President’s unprecedented exercise of executive authority is likely to face fierce opposition from the Republican party.

Weekly media wrap - 24 November

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced Australia’s humanitarian intake of refugees through the UNHCR would not include people in Indonesia whose claims were assessed after July 1. ‘We're trying to stop people thinking that it's OK to come into Indonesia and use that as a waiting ground to get to Australia’, Mr Morrison said. Australia will continue to accept 13,750 refugees in 2014-15, mostly from countries of first asylum.

Resettled refugees on Nauru received an anonymous letter telling them to leave the island and that ‘bad things’ would happen if they stayed. The Nauruan government dismissed safety concerns and blamed refugee advocates for a ‘campaign of misinformation’.

Amnesty International released a report stating that Turkish border guards killed 17 people fleeing Syria at unofficial border crossings between December 2013 and August 2014.

A boatload of 35 asylum seekers from India and Nepal arrived on the small island of Yap, 2000km north of Papua New Guinea. People smugglers had reportedly told them that they would be taken to Australia.

An investigative report on the Al-Jazeera network claimed there is an illegal market for UNHCR refugee status cards in Malaysia, with some paying people thousands of Malaysian Ringgit for the documents. Sources at UNHCR said an internal investigation has been conducted to assess the fraudulent activity of staff.

Weekly media wrap - 17 November

The UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) is reviewing Australia’s obligations under its treaty for the first time since 2008, and will hand down its assessment on November 28. Australia’s immigration policy came under the spotlight when the committee questioned officials in relation to deaths and treatment of asylum seekers in offshore detention and the interception of boats at sea. Following this, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced that his department is set to introduce an independent ‘Detention Assurance Team’ (DAT) which will seek to monitor abuse and misconduct by service providers contracted to run both onshore and offshore detention centres.

The Senate inquiry into the federal government’s migration and maritime powers amendment received over 5,000 submissions, with many critical of the proposed laws. The amendment will seek to fast-track the assessment process and remove existing review mechanisms. The Department of Immigration revealed at the hearing that further legislation is required before asylum seekers are able to transition between the proposed safe haven enterprise visa (SHEV) and other classes of visas. The news comes after more than 100 asylum seekers on Manus Island signed a letter to MP Clive Palmer, asking to be included in plans for the government’s temporary protection visa scheme.

Meanwhile, Papua New Guinea offered 10 asylum seekers in the Manus Island detention centre refugee status, inviting them to apply for a 12-month visa. This follows Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young’s undertaking to spend a week in Cambodia investigating the conditions for refugees who may be re-settled in the country under the government’s new deal.

Australia’s privacy commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, released a report concluding that the Department of Immigration unlawfully exposed data on almost 10,000 asylum seekers in detention and left their personal information public for 16 days after the breach was reported.

More than 1000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees fleeing Islamic State militants have been resettled in Australia on special humanitarian visas. Refugee advocates called for two Afghan asylum seekers to be returned to Australia following a High Court order to review a case with similar foundations. An Australian-born child, deemed by authorities as an unauthorised arrival, marked his first birthday in an immigration detention facility in Darwin.

Weekly media wrap - 10 November

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison told a NSW Liberal party function that the Abbott Government would not reconsider its policy of turning back asylum seeker boats. Mr Morrison said that '[t]he government will never, ever move away from the policies that we know work'.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs claimed that Scott Morrison is using children in detention as 'bargaining chips' to facilitate the passage of the Abbott government’s proposed changes to the Migration Act. A report delivered by the Parliamentary Committee into Human Rights states that the proposed changes are incompatible with Australia's human rights obligations.

A high-level roundtable that was run in July 2014 by the Centre for Policy Development, Australia 21 and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law released its report. The report's key recommendations include lifting Australia's humanitarian intake to at least 25,000, processing asylum seekers in their home countries before they flee, and better treatment of asylum seekers in Australia.

Tensions at Regional Processing Centres on Nauru and Manus Island continue to rise, with reports from Nauru that an Iranian refugee was stoned and then beaten by a group of local men. The PNG Government has announced that it will begin the process of finalising refugee status determinations and will provide training to refugees in English, the national language of Tok Pisin and PNG culture in a purpose built facility.

In other international news, a boat carrying asylum seekers has capsized off the coast of Istanbul with reports that at least 24 people are dead. UNHCR welcomed a new set of international guidelines calling for countries to adopt a more gender-sensitive approach to dealing with female refugees, asylum seekers and stateless people in order to take account of the abuses they frequently suffer.

Weekly media wrap - 3 November

Australia will persist with its plan to resettle asylum seekers found to be genuine refugees in Cambodia

Four teenage refugees were allegedly assaulted by on Nauru this week. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and other government MPs are reluctant to interfere in the security matters of another sovereign nation. Calls continue for improved medical assistance to be provided to detainees held in offshore detention .

Australia has deported another Hazara asylum seeker. The Refugee Review Tribunal believe he can live safely in Kabul, rather than his home-town in the Afghani provice of Ghazni.

Labor party MPs have watered down suggestions that their policy on ‘turn backs’ has changed, after Shadow Immigration spokesman Richard Marles backed away from his suggestion that Labor would consider ‘turn backs’ when in government

According to The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights the Assad regime has attacked a refugee camp in Abedin, killing at least ten civilians.  At an international conference in Germany convened last week world leaders urged greater investment to tackle the ongoing humanitarian crisis and increased intakes from host countries.

In other international developments, the UNHCR is planning to ramp up operations to support displaced persons in eastern Ukraine as winter approaches. Italy is winding down Mare Nostrum, their search and rescue operation, after a boat disaster in which more than 300 migrants drowned. It will be replaced by Operation Triton, a more limited border security operation that does not have a search and rescue function, and is run by the European Union. It has received support from the UK, who perceive such functions as “pull factors”, encouraging people to make the dangerous crossing. 

Weekly media wrap - 27 October

Australian Federal Independent MP Andrew Wilkie wrote to the International Criminal Court to seek an investigation into the treatment of asylum seekers, to determine whether Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the 19 members of the cabinet have contravened international conventions.

The Guardian obtained information that Immigration Minister Scott Morrison employed a rarely used clause in the Migration Act that allows him to issue a ‘conclusive certificate’. The certificate blocks permanent protection on grounds of national interest. Asylum seeker advocates say that refugees are being denied natural justice and there is a lack of clarity on how national interest is being defined.

The future of the migration and maritime power legislation amendment bill is uncertain, as it is facing difficulty passing through the senate. Minister Morrison said failing to pass it would add to budget costs and keep children in detention. Critics claim that this bill will allow an increase to the powers of the immigration minister and will limit the role of the courts by bypassing the review process.

A group of asylum seekers won a Federal Court appeal against the immigration department over the unintentional exposure of their personal details in a significant data breach in February 2014. The Immigration Minister has been ordered to pay the asylum seekers' costs.

Further delays are expected for refugees to be resettled in Papua New Guniea, as Prime Minister Peter O'Neill announced plans for a new policy with increased focus on consultations and building public awareness of the scheme.

A senate estimates hearing was told that the Abbott government spent more than one billion dollars this financial year to house approximately 2200 asylum seekers in offshore detention centres in PNG and Nauru. A spokeswoman for the Immigration Minister defended the costs as almost $100 million less than the previous financial year.

Cambodian officials reportedly travelled to Australia this week, prior to flying to Nauru to meet refugees to discuss their option to be resettled in Cambodia. Cambodian Interior Ministry said that refugees would be given a 'realistic' picture of contemporary Cambodia.

Lebanon has closed its borders to Syrians fleeing their country's civil war as refugees, with the exception of ‘emergency cases’. The border will remain open for people traveling for other purposes.