This paper summarises both the continuing and new concerns expressed to the RCOA during our annual national consultations and other discussions with service providers and refugee community members. It proposes alternatives for positive reforms that will benefit those seeking protection in Australia and the humanitarian arrivals and ultimately enhance the outcomes for our entire community.

The Refugee Council of Australia has always taken a principled stand against offshore processing. Our view has always been that the policy is cruel and inhumane, and that its human and financial cost can neither be justified nor sustained. We have also consistently maintained the view that boat turnbacks should be abandoned as a matter...

Offshore processing (referred to by the Australian Government as “regional processing”) is the term used to describe the arrangements by which Australia sends people seeking asylum who arrive by boat to either Nauru or on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea (PNG), where their refugee claims are determined. Australia is the only country in the...

This report outlines the issues and concerns about Australia’s asylum policies and practices that RCOA gathered in 2014 and 2015. It provides an overview of the issues that people seeking asylum themselves have raised, as well as concerns communicated by individuals and agencies supporting people seeking asylum.

People seeking asylum have constantly expressed to RCOA their keen desire to improve their English and to undertake further education in order to contribute to Australia. There are currently around 30,000 asylum seekers living in Australia who arrived by boat and are waiting to have their claims processed. If they are found to be refugees...