This article tries to test the assumption that asylum seeker policy is guided by public opinion. It analyses events in November and December 1977 during the final stages of the federal election campaign.

No single party was directly to blame for the two nights of violence that led to the death of the Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati at Manus detention centre, according to a long-awaited government-commissioned review. The Cornall review, which places significant emphasis on the conduct of asylum seekers in the runup to the unrest, took...

The collateral damage is too great for policy-by-slogan to be sustainable. The alternative can bring benefits for asylum seekers and for Australia.

Asylum seekers living in the community are at serious risk of disadvantage, isolation and marginalisation, argues this report, which outlines the emergency relief services and other related support to asylum seekers provided by UnitingCare agencies.

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...