On 13 August 2012, the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers released its report containing a suite of measures and recommendations to the Government on how best to deal with asylum seeker issues in the short, medium and long term. One of the short-term measures recommended was a proposal to re-establish offshore processing facilities in Nauru...

'Hard-headed but not hard-hearted' is how Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston describes the 22 recommendations he and his expert panel handed down this week for asylum seeker policy in Australia. The recommendations included increasing Australia’s humanitarian intake by up to 14,000 people over the next five years, processing asylum seekers at off-shore facilities on Nauru...

For APO, RMIT's Binoy Kampmark reflects on a story of embittered stinginess that never ends.

This background note provides a snap-shot of significant developments in refugee law and policy during the period September 2010 to the end of December 2011. On 14 September 2010, Julia Gillard was re-sworn in as Australia’s 27th Prime Minister following the 21 August 2010 federal election. When the Australian Labor Party (ALP) commenced its second...

On 16 June 2011 the Parliament established the Joint Select Committee on Australia's Immigration Detention Network. Chapter 1 sets out the administrative arrangements for the inquiry and outlines the roles of the key organisations and government agencies involved in the immigration detention network. Chapter 2 provides an overview of Australia's current immigration detention network, summarises...