It is almost four decades since the first boats carrying Indochinese asylum seekers arrived on Australia’s shores. Since then a widespread perception in the community that Australia is being swamped by waves of asylum seekers arriving unauthorised by boat continues to strongly influence government policy and to be an emotive and divisive political issue. While...

Introduction: This quick guide provides statistics on the number of asylum seekers that have arrived by boat in Australia since 1976 when the first wave of boats carrying people seeking asylum from the aftermath of the Vietnam War began to arrive. It reproduces and updates the appendices of a more detailed Parliamentary Library research paper...

This paper provides a brief overview of the historical and political context surrounding boat arrivals in Australia since 1976.

The policy of mandatory detention in Australia (that is the legal requirement to detain all non-citizens without a valid visa) was introduced by the Keating (Labor) Government in 1992 in response to a wave of Indochinese boat arrivals. Under this policy it is a requirement that ‘unlawful non-citizens’ (a national from another country without a...

The magnitude and complexity of the issues arising from the flow of asylum seekers and refugees globally poses huge challenges for the world’s destination countries, including Australia. These countries universally struggle to maintain a balance between controlling national borders and offering protection to millions of displaced people. When the Office of the United Nations High...