Weekly media wrap - 15 November 2017

Approximately 600 men remain without power or running water in the now-closed Manus Island detention centre, refusing to relocate to alternative accommodation due to safety concerns. In an interview with 3AW radio, Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton alluded to the possibility of a conflict between these men and Papua New Guinea police, stating that he was discussing with authorities how to proceed if the men stayed on. Meanwhile, PNG’s Supreme Court dismissed an application to restore key services to the detention centre.

UNHCR’s head of protection, Volker Turk, expressed concerns about the closure of the Manus Island centre. At a press briefing in Geneva, Turk called on Australia and PNG to ‘find ways and means to resolve the current tensions peacefully’. Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the UNHCR stated from Manus Island that the alternative accommodation provided for refugees was inadequate, with insufficient healthcare, running water and electricity. In related news, the UN Human Rights Committee published a report urging the Australian government to immediately bring the detainees in its offshore processing facilities to safety.

Protests against the situation on Manus Island took place across the country. Five people from the activist group Whistleblowers, Activists and Citizens Alliance were charged with trespassing after climbing the Sydney Opera House to display pro-refugee banners on Thursday. In Melbourne, a large pro-refugee protest blocked the intersection on Spring Street at Bourke Street on Friday. 

Weekly media wrap - 6 November 2017

This week, Australian media focused heavily on the closure of immigration detention facilities on Manus Island. Essential services including electricity, food and water were cut off and the centre staff, including service provider personnel, have reportedly left the facilities.

More than 600 asylum seekers and refugees are remaining in the former detention facilities, refusing to move to accommodation in Lorengau because of safety concerns. UNHCR inspected two of the alternate accommodation facilities, and reported that one – West Lorengau Haus – is not ready for detainees to transition.

The United Nations human rights commission denounced the Australian Government for withdrawing support to former Manus Island detainees, and criticised Australia’s offshore refugee processing as ‘unsustainable, inhumane and contrary to its human rights obligations’. The commission called on the Australian Government to immediately provide protection, food, water and other basic services. Meanwhile, rallies in support of the detainees on Manus Island were held in Canberra and Brisbane on Friday and in Melbourne and Sydney on Saturday.

On Friday, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection released a statement addressing what they described as ‘significant misreporting’ on the situation on Manus Island, saying that the department’s staff no longer had authority to remain on the PNG Naval Base. The department said it had assisted its PNG counterpart for seven months to decommission the centre and to provide detainees with information about their options.

This week, New Zealand reiterated an offer to the Australian Government to settle 150 refugees from the immigration detention centres on Nauru and PNG, as a one-off intake that would be within New Zealand’s refugee quota.

A report presented to the UN general assembly identified that Australia’s ‘push-backs’ of asylum seeker boats are illegal under international law and ‘may intentionally put lives at risk’. The report focuses on government responses to worldwide flows of migrants across borders.

Weekly media wrap - 3 November 2017

In the lead-up to the closure of the Manus Island Processing Centre on 31 October, the Australian Government issued notices to asylum seekers detained there warning that water, food and power would soon be cut. The government has offered certified refugees accommodation in Lorengau or a transfer to Nauru while they wait for the outcomes of their resettlement applications to the USA. However, detained asylum seeker and journalist Behrouz Boochani stated that many asylum seekers fear for their safety at Lorengau. Meanwhile, a total of 606 asylum seekers are refusing to move from the Manus Island Processing Centre and lawyers including Ben Lomai are planning to ask the PNG Supreme Court to intervene in the closure and stop food and water services being cut off. 

Law firm Maurice Blackburn will file a new class action against Peter Dutton on grounds of unlawful detention with the lead plaintiff being a boy who was born in Darwin and detained on Christmas Island with his asylum seeker parents. Lawyers estimate that thousands of asylum seekers are eligible to join the lawsuit. This comes after the Turnbull Government settled a $70 million payout to 2000 asylum seekers detained on Manus Island last month.

Weekly media wrap - 25 October 2017

Refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island were notified that all services – including food, sanitation and water – would be cut off after 31 October when the Manus Island detention centre closes. Papua New Guinea Immigration and Citizenship Service has found alternative accommodation in Manus Province for the detainees, but refugees fear clashes with locals.

As Australian Government contractors prepare to leave Manus Island, the Papua New Guinean government contracted IHMS – the healthcare provider for Australia’s offshore processing regime – to remain beyond the 31 October deadline. As services will no longer be provided at the detention centre, asylum seekers and refugees were being assisted to self-manage their medications during the transition – a move some health professionals labelled risky given the high prevalence of mental health issues.

The UNHCR urged Australia to take responsibility for the situation in Papua New Guinea, which it labelled an ‘imminent humanitarian crisis’. The refugee agency expressed serious concerns about detainee health, welfare and security, following visits to the island last month.

The federal government awarded an Australian civil engineering firm a six-month contract worth more than $8 million to provide welfare and garrison services to the Nauru detention centre. Canstruct International Pty Ltd will take on the role next week from Broadspectrum, who announced last year it was abandoning its work in offshore detention. Human rights groups accused Canstruct – which has no experience in refugee services – of profiting from the suffering of people fleeing persecution.

Australian Government officials appearing before the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva were questioned about Australia's human rights record. One committee member described Operation Sovereign Borders and Australia’s offshore processing of asylum seekers as ‘shocking’. Australia was elected unopposed to the UN Human Rights Council earlier in the week.

Weekly media wrap - 17 October 2017

Immigration minister Peter Dutton told 2GB radio that the government had cut off welfare payments to 71 asylum seekers after they failed to lodge claims for Australian protection by 1 October. Asylum Seeker Resource Centre CEO Kon Karapanagiotidis said that the centre’s lawyers would challenge the legality of the move. He added that he was worried that due to the deadline, claims had been rushed and might therefore be rejected by the government. 

Asylum seekers held on Manus Island sent a letter to PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neil asking PNG authorities to oppose Australia’s plans to resettle them in surrounding PNG communities and instead help them relocate to ‘safe’ countries. This comes after a note allegedly appeared in the Manus Island Processing Centre stating that asylum seekers in the US resettlement process were able to apply for transfer to Nauru, which was taken as a sign by Refugee Action Coalition’s Ian Rintoul that Australia had no faith in the US deal. The Manus Island Processing Centre is due to close on 31 October. 

Weekly media wrap - 9 October 2017

Immigration minister Peter Dutton reiterated his description of the first tranche of refugees to be transferred from Manus Island to the United States as ‘economic refugees’. On Sydney radio, Dutton claimed that many of those who ended up in the island camps had not come from war-ravaged areas but were instead seeking economic advantage.

US President Trump’s administration will accept 45,000 refugees in the next financial year, down from almost 85,000 in FY2016. Refugee advocates say that this lower limit ignores growing humanitarian crises around the world that are causing people to flee their countries in greater numbers, and represents a departure from US global leadership.

The Rohingya crisis continues as the UN warns of cholera risk. A boat carrying Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh capsized and at least 12 people, most of them children, drowned. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that people smugglers have begun targeting distressed Rohingya Muslims fleeing what the UN describes as a violent campaign of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.

Weekly media wrap - 6 October 2017

A 32-year-old Sri Lankan asylum seeker who was detained on Manus Island was found dead in the grounds of Lorengau Hospital on 2 October. Manus Island Police Commander David Yapu has called it a suicide. Shamindan Kanapadhi, another detainee and a friend of the man, said that his friend had not been given adequate care after cutting his own neck three days before. The death is the second on Manus Island in the past two months.

The Australian Government will cut off the welfare payments of hundreds of asylum seekers who arrived by boat between 2008 and 2013. These asylum seekers may also be deported now that 1 October, the cut-off date to apply for protection visas, has passed. The immigration department website now reads that those who did not apply are ‘expected to depart Australia’ and risk being detained and removed from Australia if they do not comply. As of 29 September, about 500 asylum seekers still had not applied for protection.

Fifty-four refugees left Manus Island and Nauru for the USA, under the resettlement deal agreed upon by the Obama administration and the Turnbull Government. The US government will resettle the refugees across the country in states including Texas, Georgia and Oregon.

Weekly media wrap - 25 September 2017

Fifty-four men, refugees currently on Manus Island and Nauru are to be permanently resettled in the United States, as part of the Australian government’s deal with the United States struck in November 2016. The refugees on Manus Island, who come from Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, are expected to fly to the United States this week.

More than 2000 people remain in Manus Island and Nauru and 1783 of those have been found to be refugees.  In both islands, refugees who applied for resettlement in the United States remain uncertain of their prospects. Daily protests are continuing on Manus Island.

Liberal MP, Russell Broadbent, has publicly criticised the government’s asylum seeker policies. Mr Broadbent delivered a critical assessment of successive governments' detention of refugees offshore, predicting an imminent ‘tipping point’ in what the public would accept.

The Australian government has faced criticism over settlement packages offering thousands of dollars to Rohingya refugees in offshore detention centres as inducements to return to Myanmar. Guardian Australia reported that up to seven Rohingya return to Myanmar from Manus Island.

Australia has been urged to pressure Cambodia, a regional refugee resettlement partner, to halt the ‘imminent return’ of 29 Montagnard refugees to Vietnam where they could face persecution. The Montagnards are part of the hundreds that fled Vietnam in 2014 and 2015. 

An asylum seeker will stand trial at the County Court of Victoria after he allegedly set fire to a Melbourne bank.

Weekly media wrap - 20 September 2017

Immigration minister Peter Dutton stated that approximately 200 asylum seekers held at the Manus Island detention centre will be moved to an ‘alternative place of detention’ in Papua New Guinea after 31 October. This will include those whose refugee status applications have been denied, and those from countries to which they cannot be forcefully deported.

Dutton also introduced a bill to Parliament on Wednesday that would see phones and other items deemed to pose a ‘risk’ prohibited inside detention centres. This comes after a February Federal Court injunction that stopped immigration officers confiscating detainees’ mobile phones.

An Afghan asylum seeker will have his case reviewed after the full Federal Court found that the Refugee Review Tribunal (now known as the Administrative Appeals Tribunal) had denied the man a protection visa on the basis of incorrect facts. The Court heard evidence that the tribunal used templates, or cut and pasted paragraphs from other asylum seeker applications, in its determination of the man’s case. It is believed that this practice has occurred on several occasions.

The NSW Supreme Court rejected the legal case filed by eight families of asylum seekers who were killed and injured when their boat smashed into Christmas Island in December 2010. The families had argued that the government failed to fulfil its duty of care by intercepting arrivals.

Weekly media wrap - 11 September 2017

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced a $600,000 package to support asylum seekers in the state who have been moved to a final departure Bridging E Visa. The package will provide accommodation and basic living costs for more than 100 asylum seekers who will lose federal income and housing support under the new visa.

Victorian Supreme Court Justice Cameron Macaulay approved a $70 million compensation settlement to be paid to current and former detainees of Manus Island for their illegal detention in dangerous conditions. The law firm that ran the class action, Slater and Gordon, aims to have compensation paid before the detention centre closes at the end of October. Immigration minister Peter Dutton admitted no culpability, stating that ‘settlement is not an admission of liability in any regard’.

In Myanmar, Rohingya insurgents declared a month-long ceasefire, urging the government to reciprocate. The ceasefire comes after weeks of violence which has caused more than 270,000 refugees from the Rohingya Muslim community to flee to Bangladesh. 

Weekly media wrap - 4 September 2017

In a radio interview with Alan Jones on 2GB, immigration minister Peter Dutton defended the introduction of ‘final departure Bridging E Visa’, claiming that people were ‘ripping the system off’. Meanwhile, Australian Greens senator Nick McKim stated that his party was looking into how to reverse the decision to create the new visa in the Senate.  

Dutton also reported to the Nine Network this week that Indonesian authorities had found a vessel holding 33 asylum seekers en route to Australia or New Zealand. He labelled the finding a ‘really significant wake-up call’ that showed that Australia had to remain vigilant.

Over 100 asylum seekers were moved from the Manus Island Detention Centre to Port Moresby. They were told that the move was so that they could receive specialist treatment for medical conditions, but some are worried that it is part of the government’s efforts to close the centre by 31 October. Ben Moghimi, a moved Iranian refugee, fears that he and the other patients will be left in Port Moresby if the centre closes.

A Rohingya insurgency continues in Rakhine state, in Myanmar’s west. Since 25 August , tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have attempted to cross into Bangladesh, as Myanmar troops have fired upon them and Bangladeshi authorities have turned them away. 

Weekly media wrap - 28 August 2017

Leaked government documents revealed the Department of Immigration and Border Protection will move up to 100 Australia-based asylum seekers onto a new visa – a final departure Bridging E Visa – that removes their income and housing support. The changes affect asylum seekers who were transferred to Australia from offshore detention for medical treatment. Human Services Minister Alan Tudge said the move was ‘consistent with the principle that anybody who arrives by boat to our shores won’t be settled in Australia’. Greens Leader Richard Di Natale said the party was seeking advice about whether the decision could be overturned when the Senate returns in a week's time, while Opposition Leader Bill Shorten labelled the move a ‘new low’.

Papua New Guinea's new government told the Australian Government it will not be able to walk away from asylum seekers currently held at Manus Island at the end of October. Newly sworn-in PNG Attorney-General Davis Steven broke the news to Australia’s High Commissioner, explaining that his government had not agreed to a 31 October closure.

Also on Manus Island, doubts emerged about who will replace International Health and Medical Services (IHMS) – the international medical company contracted to look after refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island – when their contract ends on 31 October. Senior staff at IHMS are allegedly concerned that no handover process has commenced.

The president of the Australian Medical Association said Australia has an ethical and legal obligation to bring three pregnant refugees being refused terminations on Nauru to Australia. The comments came after The Guardian Australia revealed that more than 50 people currently held on Nauru – including the three pregnant women – are being denied overseas medical transfers despite doctors’ recommendations. 

Weekly media wrap - 21 August 2017

On Thursday, the High Court again upheld the legality of Australia’s offshore detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island. After Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court ruled that the arrangement was unconstitutional in April, Australian lawyers argued that it was unlawful for Australia to enter into an agreement that was not legal in another country. However, the High Court ruled unanimously that there was no constitutional requirement for the Australian government to conform to the law of another country.

The Australian Government lost its appeal against a Federal Court ruling allowing immigration detainees to keep their mobile phones. In February, the Federal Court granted an injunction prohibiting Australian Border Force guards from seizing detainees’ phones. George Newhouse, the principal solicitor for the National Justice Project, claimed that removing phones was ‘part of the process of criminalising asylum seekers’.

In a short speech to parliament this week, Liberal backbencher Russell Broadbent called for asylum seekers held on Nauru and Manus Island to be brought to Australia if they are not resettled in the USA. 

Weekly media wrap - 16 August 2017

Iranian asylum seeker Hamed Shamshiripour was found dead in a forest near the East Lorengau transit centre on Manus Island. Shamshiripour had suffered mental health crises in the Australian-run detention system for over a year, with fellow refugees and asylum seekers making formal and urgent requests for his medical treatment. The reported cause of Shamshiripour’s death, suicide, was challenged by refugees and asylum seekers on the island, and his family requested an independent autopsy and inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death.

Immigration minister Peter Dutton put forward amendments to the secrecy and disclosure provisions in the Australian Border Force Act 2015 (Cth). The provisions initially included the imposition of criminal liability on employees, former employees, contractors and consultants who disclosed any ‘protected information’ in connection with detention centres. They will now apply only to information that could compromise Australia's security, defence or international relations, interfere with the investigation of offences, or impact sensitive personal and commercial matters. 

An Iraqi man known as Saeed was deported after 4 years in Australia’s detention system.  Saeed, whose brother has been granted asylum, was deported overnight with no notice to his lawyer, Alison Battisson. 

Weekly media wrap - 8 August 2017

A transcript of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s January phone call with US President Donald Trump regarding the US resettlement deal for refugees on Manus Island and Nauru was leaked to the media this week. During the conversation, Turnbull told Trump that those detained were ‘economic refugees’ and assured him that his only obligation was to ‘go through the process’ of vetting the asylum seekers for resettlement.

Over 700 asylum seekers on Manus Island are continuing to protest after water and medical services were taken away from the detention centre in an attempt to force the remaining residents to move to the new camp of Lorengau. On Friday, protesters refused access to police and immigration officials attempting to move them on. They maintain that Lorengau is unsafe. 

Weekly media wrap - 2 August 2017

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Filippo Grandi, issued a statement saying that Australia had not honoured an agreement made on family reunification in Australia. The UNHCR agreed to help administer the Australia’s refugee resettlement agreement with the United States, on the understanding that vulnerable refugees with close family ties in Australia would be allowed to settle in Australia. The UNHCR was recently informed that Australia would refuse to accept these refugees. The Australian Government rejected the claim that such a deal was reached with UNHCR.

Refugees and asylum seekers in the Foxtrot compound of the Manus Island immigration detention centre were advised that they must vacate this week, forming part of the rolling closure of the facility. Water, power, and cleaning services within the Foxtrot compound are also ceasing.

Also on Manus Island, two men were reportedly seriously injured in separate armed robberies overnight: a 27-year-old Sudanese refugee and a 27-year-old Iranian asylum seeker. Both men are currently in the Lorengau Hospital.

A group of around 30 refugees from El Salvador, who are being held in Costa Rica, are expected to arrive in Australia in the next two months, according to two sources. This forms part of the refugee swap arrangement made with the United States. 

Weekly media wrap - 27 July 2017

Wednesday 19 July marked the fourth anniversary of Kevin Rudd’s announcement of a refugee deal with Papua New Guinea that would mean that ‘any asylum seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia’. Rudd tweeted on Wednesday night that this deal was only intended to last 12 months and that refugees should have been resettled in Australia by the Coalition Government three years ago. To mark the anniversary, refugee advocates organised 57 vigils around Australia urging the need to ‘evacuate [the detention centres] now’. Around 2000 people remain in offshore detention centres under the program. 

Immigration minister Peter Dutton expressed disappointment that US resettlement for asylum seekers in offshore processing centres had not begun this month as hoped, due to the US already having filled its refugee quota of 50,000 for the financial year. Dutton stated his hope that the eligible asylum seekers would be moved by 21 October, when the processing centre on Manus Island is scheduled to close.

Refugee advocates reported a six-fold increase in workload as they attempt to file protection claims for asylum seekers by 1 October. This is the deadline for asylum seekers living in Australia to make a claim for protection or risk losing government payments and being deported. An unnamed asylum seeker told SBS News that the uncertainty is causing depression and anxiety for those affected.

Weekly media wrap - 19 July 2017

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull considered the creation of a homeland security portfolio, bringing ASIO, the Federal Police and the current Department of Immigration and Border Protection under the one umbrella. Separately, the immigration department is reportedly considering outsourcing large parts of the visa system to private operators. The Community and Public Sector Union described the potential plan as ‘undermin[ing] the integrity of a core function of government’. 

The US State Department said it had reached its annual refugee intake. The US is currently assessing the applications of hundreds of refugees on Nauru and Manus Island as part of a resettlement deal struck with the Australian Government last year. 

UNHCR released a Roadmap to improve the situation of unaccompanied minors and separated refugee and migrant children. Since 2015, the situation for unaccompanied children and young people arriving in Europe has worsened, with a broadened use of detention and large scale institutional care, limited family reunification opportunities, and rising concerns over deportations. 

Weekly media wrap - 10 July 2017

Immigration officials are in the process of shutting down the Manus Island detention centre, although hundreds of asylum seekers are refusing to leave. A notice posted at the centre stated that refugees should move to the East Lorengau Refugee Transit Centre without delay and that failure to cooperate would hinder their chances of being accepted for resettlement in the USA.

On Monday, former immigration department spokesperson Sandi Logan posted to Twitter that Australian Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg was ‘under external investigation’ and had been suspended. Sources claim that the investigation is due to ‘personal behaviour’.

Andrew Goledzinowski, Australia’s ambassador for people smuggling and human trafficking, stated that although most of the refugees detained on Manus Island and Nauru are to be resettled in the USA, New Zealand’s offer to take 150 refugees has not yet been rejected outright.

Weekly media wrap - 4 July 2017

A refugee on Manus Island was flown to Port Moresby for treatment of serious injuries sustained during an alleged robbery. The man was allegedly attacked with knives by locals after refusing to hand over his phone. Refugee advocates called for the man to be flown to Australia to see a specialist surgeon.

The Australian reported that the number of asylum seeker boats intercepted at sea has risen to 31 since Operation Sovereign Borders came into force in December 2013. Six Sri Lankans were returned to Colombo from Christmas Island as recently as Monday.

An Indonesian man jailed as a child for people smuggling had his conviction overturned. Ali Jasmin was likely 13 years old when he served almost three years in Perth’s maximum security Hakea Prison. The WA Court of Appeal ruled that Jasmin was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.