Australia yesterday abandoned one of the most criticized aspects of its immigration policy by releasing dozens of children from detention, while a Federal Court ruling left the way open for more than 1,000 asylum-seekers to escape deportation.
Facing a backbench revolt over its immigration policy, the conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard announced last month that children, and long-term detainees who could not be returned to their country of origin, would be released from immigration detention centers.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said 21 children were leaving Sydney's Villawood detention center yesterday and the remaining minors in custody would be free within 48 hours.
PHOTO: EPA
"As of this morning there were 42 children from 20 families in immigration detention centers. By the end of this week, there will be none," she said in a statement.
Australia's policy of mandatory detention for illegal immigrants, including children, has been strongly criticized by human rights groups here and abroad. The policy was credited with stopping the flow of mainly Afghan and Iraqi asylum-seekers from arriving in dilapidated boats from Southeast Asia.
"With this new, flexible approach for families, the government is maintaining its strong stance on border control while being sensitive to the special needs of families in detention," Vanstone said.
In a separate development, the Federal Court has ruled that the government cannot deport asylum-seekers whose temporary protection visas have expired unless it can prove their country of origin is safe. Wednesday's ruling means that people do not have to prove their refugee status again when their three-year visas expire. If they had been unable to prove their refugee status, they could have been deported.
In arguing his case for an unnamed Afghan man, Brisbane immigration lawyer Bruce Henry challenged the immigration department's assessment that the removal of the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime in Afghanistan meant the country was safe for his client to return. Canberra recently announced the deployment of 150 troops to Afghanistan to help fight insurgents. Henry said the ruling could open the way for 1,000 Iraqi and hundreds of Afghan asylum-seekers to remain here.
"What the court has said is that because people have already been recognized as refugees, the question that the department and the tribunal have to be asking is, `Is there a good reason why this person has ceased to be a refugee?' and not `Can they prove a case all over again?'" he told ABC radio.
"It means that all of the TPV [Temporary Protection Visa] holders that have been refused visas should now have their cases reviewed."
The government could mount a High Court challenge against the ruling.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in