This Month
Dutton wants deportation referendum to fix ‘restrictive’ Constitution
The opposition leader says spending as much as $450 million on a poll to give the government powers to expel criminal dual nationals would be value for money.
February
Foreign murderers, sex offenders to be resettled in Nauru
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke revealed the deal between Australia and the Pacific island nation, but not how many people would be deported or the deal’s cost.
November 2024
Former head of immigration enforcement named US ‘border tsar’
Tom Homan was widely expected to be offered a position related to the border and Trump’s pledge to launch the largest deportation operation in US history.
May 2024
Giles orders urgent review into criminal ‘migrants’
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles says he is looking at freshly cancelling the visas of non-citizens who a tribunal has stopped from being deported.
Chinese asylum seekers are paying $15,000 to reach the US via Mexico
About 37,000 people from the Asian nation were detained at the United States’ southern border last year.
PM blames DPP, bureaucrats for Perth couple bashing, detainee debacle
The Coalition has accused the government of duck-shoving accountability for its pledge to keep the community safe.
April 2024
Indefinite detention ‘not punitive’: solicitor-general
A detained Iranian has taken his legal bid for freedom to the High Court in a case that could determine the fates of hundreds of immigrants and government policy.
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.
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.
March 2024
Coalition, Greens, Hanson sink Labor’s emergency deportation bill
The Coalition would now “own it” if more failed asylum seekers were ordered out of detention by the High Court, the government said.
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.
Tough visa rules would ban entire countries
Foreigners would be banned from coming to Australia, even as tourists, if their home country refused to accept the return of failed asylum seekers.
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.
February 2024
Immigration, border security start to resonate with voters
Voters are reporting growing concerns about the two issues, providing an early warning for Labor which has been badly burned in this area in the past.
Dutton aiding people smugglers with overblown claims: PM
Anthony Albanese has accused Peter Dutton of acting as a cheer squad for people smugglers by over-egging the seriousness of the latest arrival.
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.
No detention orders sought for freed immigration detainees
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said applications were under way by the government, but any orders had to meet a high legal threshold.
January 2024
The world’s most powerful – and weakest – passports
Some nations have access to almost 200 destinations without having to apply for visas. Citizens of other countries, however, face a lot of paperwork.
December 2023
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.
In a messy week for Albanese, Labor’s ‘cleaner’ emerges
Clare O’Neil is a Labor rising star but risks being sucked into the Home Affairs vortex.