Yesterday
- Investigation
- Cyprus Confidential
Importers got rich on COVID masks; the shipment’s still on the dock
When COVID-19 erupted around the world, the race was on to secure masks and gowns. Middlemen were in lucrative taxpayer deals, even one which went awry.
- Liam Walsh and Neil Chenoweth
May
- Opinion
- Immigration
Giles scandal shows we disdain bureaucracies until we need services
Slashing the capabilities of government departments means that in the real world, dodgy characters escape scrutiny and genuine needs go unanswered.
- Laura Tingle
Crisis-focused Home Affairs fails to prepare for security threats
A review of the $6.3 billion Home Affairs department has found it is too focused on crisis management, and lacks the trust of other key intelligence agencies.
- Tom Burton
April
Albanese tries to shift blame on alleged attack by freed detainee
Labor is under fresh pressure over its management of immigration detainees set free by the High Court after the alleged bashing of a Perth grandmother.
- Andrew Tillett
Former Border Force boss rattles the tin, eyes the ASX
The former face of the Coalition’s Stop the Boats campaign wants $20 million to fund his private security outfit’s roll-up of three other companies.
- Updated
- Max Mason
Boat arrivals taken to Nauru after reaching mainland
A third boat has made it to mainland Australia in five months, adding to pressure on the Albanese government over border protection.
- Andrew Tillett
March
- Analysis
- Border security
Legislate rather than litigate: why Labor is feeling heat on detainees
Successive governments have felt they need to rush migration laws into parliament to stay ahead of people smugglers and the courts.
- Andrew Tillett
Fresh wave of immigration detainee releases expected
The Albanese government is bracing for a fresh wave of High Court cases – and rulings – against the powers to hold people in immigration detention indefinitely.
- Andrew Tillett
February
Boat arrivals who reached WA taken to Nauru
Andrew Hastie said the government was “soft and weak” on national security as the opposition doubled down on its attacks over the boat arrival.
- Tom McIlroy and Maxim Shanahan
January
Crackdown seizes $4.5m of disposable vapes
Border Force authorities seized 150,000 disposable vapes worth about $4.5 million after the federal government cracked down on the ‘public health menace’.
- Gus McCubbing
December 2023
Billion-dollar AFP busts reveal what criminals do with their money
A police taskforce has seized more than $1.1 billion worth of assets from alleged criminals, including fancy houses, fast cars, designer gear and bags of cash.
- Patrick Durkin
Immigration detention laws pass as fourth ex-detainee arrested
Canberra has already started identifying the “worst of the worst” offenders to go back into immigration detention as it circumvents a High Court ruling.
- Updated
- Andrew Tillett
People smugglers will twist court ruling to load their boats: admiral
Australian border officials are braced for a potential influx of asylum seeker boats after the High Court’s ruling against indefinite immigration detention.
- Andrew Tillett
August 2023
Illegal tobacco, rising cigarette prices dent supermarket profits
Master Grocers Association chief David Inall says illicit tobacco is a significant concern for its 2700 members, mostly independent grocery and liquor stores.
- Carrie LaFrenz
March 2023
The rising cost and growing discord of US boat arrivals
American border officials are encountering a wave of illegal immigration by sea, and there are parallels to Australia’s experience in the not too distant past.
- Matthew Cranston
November 2022
- Exclusive
- Border security
‘Our borders are being infiltrated’: Border Force seeks more powers
Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram says on a ‘good day’ investigators only detect about 20 per cent of illegal drugs being imported.
- Patrick Durkin
August 2022
Mango farmer on the rotten end of skills shortages
Top End mango farmer Leo Skliros warns at least $20 million of fruit could go to waste because there are too few pickers.
- Andrew Tillett and Georgie Moore
June 2022
How to fix Australia’s broken visa system
A record 423,000 job vacancies and tens of thousands of unresolved visa applications have made the migration system an urgent political and economic problem for Labor.
- Tom McIlroy
Skilled worker visa backlog tops 16,000 applications
Processing timelines for a key visa category have blown out to more than 19 months for half of all potential arrivals.
- Tom McIlroy and Michael Read
Regional visa delays slowing skilled worker arrivals
The median wait time for skilled workers looking to move to regional Australia is up to six months, with some applicants waiting nearly two years.
- Tom McIlroy and Michael Read