People held in immigration detention, as well as staff working in detention facilities, face genuine risks to their health, safety, security and their human rights more broadly. This report assesses how the Australian government identifies and manages those risks.

These principles are grounded in evidence and informed by good practices from other countries, as well as from Australia’s past. They provide real-world examples of how, and why, Australia can develop a more humane, sustainable and manageable approach to refugee policy.

The institution of rigorous decision-making processes will not guarantee Scott Morrison’s success, but they could help him avoid many of the pitfalls that contributed to the downfall of the Rudd and Gillard Governments.

This paper outlines a model which aims to secure an improved and expanded scheme that would allow ordinary Australian people and community groups to join together to financially sponsor the permanent migration of a refugee or refugee family to Australia and then provide them with practical support during their first year.

Despite the huge challenges they face, refugees are the most entrepreneurial migrants in Australia and they are nearly twice as likely to be entrepreneurs as Australian taxpayers in general. Yet refugee entrepreneurship hardly features in public debate and receives little policy support.