According to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll taken in May, 54 percent of Australians, particularly young people, consider immigrants a positive influence on their country, while 40 percent took the opposite view. About 41 percent of Australians interviewed said immigrants worked harder than locals, while 50 percent said there was no discernible difference between the two groups. Victoria residents had the most positive view about migrants among Australians and were less likely to associate them with crimes. The survey also indicated that majority of Australians were satisfied with their country’s immigration system.
The federal government has decided to postpone debate on the controversial changes on the Migration Amendment Bill to give it time for a second round of talks with rebel moderates concerned about the changes. The proposed law changes would send all refugee boat arrivals to offshore centers for processing asylum claims, thereby reversing key changes introduced by backbenchers last year that keep children and women out of detention. The bill was proposed in April following the granting of temporary protection visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers. While Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone initially admitted that the bill took into consideration Indonesia’s concerns, Prime Minister John Howard denied that the bill had anything to do with Indonesians. Meanwhile a news poll of some 1,200 Australians found that 74 percent of respondents do not want to change the country’s immigration policy to appease Indonesia and improve bilateral relations. Howard said, however, that the results of the poll do not bother him and they would not affect the government’s policy.
A visiting political delegation from Indonesia met with Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone in Canberra on 13 June. During the meeting Vanstone assured the delegation that Australia does not support the separatist movement in the Indonesian province of Papua despite its earlier decision to grant temporary protection visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers. The Indonesians hope that Australia’s ongoing review of the visa decision on the Papuans would eventually strip them of their visas.
Refugee advocates have expressed concern over the welfare of an Afghan family of three, including a nine-old boy, who had arrived by boat on 21 March on Saibai Island, an Australian territory off the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG) that has been excised from Australia’s migration zone. The family was later moved to an undisclosed location in Queensland while the boy was treated for a medical condition at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. Attempts by Hazara Ethnic Society of Australia chairperson Hassan Ghulam and another advocate to talk to the family had not been successful. Refugee advocate Dianne Hiles of the Children Out of Detention Group, urged immigration authorities not to send the family to the Nauru detention camp, a remote facility housing no other women and children. Meanwhile, the Immigration Department is allegedly considering sending the Afghan family back to PNG, from where they could apply for asylum in Australia.
Dr. Louise Newman, convenor of the Alliance of Health Professionals, said that sexual harassment and abuse within detention centers was widespread. Abuse victims are generally reluctant to speak up for fear that it would hurt their asylum claims, the doctor noted. In this connection, the Immigration Department is investigating allegations that a female detainee at the Villawood Detention Center had been repeatedly raped by a guard in the presence of her child. There were also reports that a former detainee who visited a friend at Villawood had been raped by a guard and that drug use was rampant in the detention center. However, Opposition immigration spokesperson Tony Burke thinks that the police should have been notified of the crime.
The word “oogabooga" typed into a document outlining the 2002 findings of Refugee Review Tribunal member Wendy Boddison made a significant impact in the ongoing review of a Burmese dissident’s asylum claims. According to a federal magistrate, the appearance of the word “oogabooga" in the claimant’s document could be taken to mean that the tribunal had been biased in its deliberations. One of the grounds for a judicial review of the tribunal’s decisions is ostensible or actual bias. The case has since been sent back to the tribunal to be heard by different members. To date, the asylum seeker’s status has not yet been confirmed. Meanwhile, Boddison claimed that she had merely typed in the nonsensical word to test if her spellchecker had been working properly but later failed to delete it from the document.
A driver education program tailored for African refugees will be launched on 9 June by parliamentary secretary for immigration Andrew Robb. The one-year pilot project would be run by the Dandenong-based South East Region Migrant Resource Center and the police. The program was initiated due to widespread abuse of road rules by African refugees. Police data point to drunken driving and unlicensed driving as major problems among the new arrivals from Africa.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone claimed that some sectors were objecting to the foreign guest worker program because it undermined the ability of unions to push excessive wage demands in the light of the skills shortage. The statement drew the ire of union leaders who said that Vanstone had virtually admitted that the purpose of the scheme was to cut wages. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is planning to run a series of advertisements starting 11 June highlighting the wage cuts workers will receive under the Federal Government’s workplace laws.
Prime Minister John Howard rejected the Opposition’s claims that the Teys Bros meatworks in Naracoote in South Australia had cut the working hours of local employees from five to four days while the company’s migrant workers had been made to work fulltime. According to the prime minister, both local and migrant workers had been given the same option to do other unskilled work when stock shortages were low. The Meat Industry Employees Union is set to convene with Workplace Services and the Immigration Department to clear up the issue.
A special monument paying tribute to South Australia’s migrant settlers would be unveiled in Adelaide on 4 June. The bronze sculpture from Italy depicts a migrant family arriving in Adelaide with suitcases. The monument would be placed in the courtyard of the Migration Museum.
The Victoria County Court has sentenced Tang Wei, 44, to 10 years in prison for forcing five Thai women to work as sex slaves in a brothel. The women were allegedly promised that they could work legally in Australia’s sex industry. However, when they arrived in the country they were told to work off thousands of dollars in debt. The women were made to perform sex acts without pay from August 2002 to May 2003 at Club 417, Tang’s brothel in Melbourne.
A spokesperson for the Department of Immigration admitted that the Ombudsman was investigating some 220 cases of wrongful detention, including at least 26 involving Australian citizens. Of these, 11 had received compensation amounting to A$800,000 for unlawful detention. Three pending cases of wrongful detention include that of Vivian Alvarez Solon, an Australian citizen who was deported to the Philippines in 2001 and discovered only last year; German-born Cornelia Rau, a mentally-ill Australian permanent resident who was detained for 10 months; a man, identified only as Mr. T. Both Solon and Rau are seeking millions of dollars in compensation.
Filipino immigrants Emma and Reynaldo Salazar have not given up hope of bringing their adopted daughter Korina Mae to Australia despite the Immigration Department’s repeated refusal to admit her. The couple moved to Australia in November 2002 leaving behind their three-year old daughter because Immigration officials told them that Australia did not recognize “customary adoption." Korina Mae was an abandoned one-year old infant when the Salazars took her in and registered her under their name. They formally adopted the girl in 2003 but Immigration staff told them that they have to live with the child for at least one year before bringing her to Australia. However, under the circumstances, the couple felt this ruling should have been waived. After the couple became Australian citizens in July, they reapplied to bring the child to Australia but the application has again been rejected.
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