A picture of a 1938 Daily Mail article titled "German Jews pouring into this country鈥, circulated social media networks last week and drew comparison with Australia's 鈥渟top the boats鈥 obsession.
鈥淭he number of Jewish aliens entering this country through the 'back door'鈥 was 鈥渁n outrage鈥 and 鈥渁 problem to which The Daily Mail has repeatedly pointed,鈥 the article said.
Jay Fletcher
Over recent weeks, lawyers and campaigners have been racing to the courts to prevent immigration department plans to deport Afghan refugees back to Kabul.
Refugee advocates raised alarm bells on March 5 when four Afghan Hazara refugees who had been living in the community on bridging visas were re-detained after attending scheduled immigration meetings.
The Forbes Billionaires list released last month included almost two dozen Australians in its ranks. Among them was mining boss Gina Rinehart, who has now become the richest person in Australia with a fortune of $17 billion.
This placed her 36th in the world, but her net wealth was still double that of her nearest fellow Australian billionaire, chief executive of commodities firm Glencore, Ivan Glasenberg.
Also on the list were finance elites, gaming kingpins and several other mining corporation owners.
Lip-stitching and attempted self-immolation are among increasingly extreme acts of self-harm taking place in Australia鈥檚 two offshore detention camps in recent weeks.
Hunger strikes, cutting and attempted hangings have already become widespread in the tent city on Nauru. But, on February 19, for the first time since the 鈥渄ark days鈥 of former prime minister John Howard鈥檚 鈥淧acific solution,鈥 refugees stitched their mouths closed to protest their arbitrary and indefinite detention.
Figures released by the department of immigration showed the number of refugees held in Australian mainland detention peaked at 10,271 in November last year, the highest since mandatory detention began.
This included housing and alternative places of detention, but not the almost 400 men held on Nauru by that time.
Children made up 1221 of those held in detention as at December, another record high. The last time more than 1000 children were held in detention, the government was forced to allow more than half to be released.
The Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network (DASSAN) released documents exposing the 鈥渁ppalling鈥 extent of child self-harm in a Darwin detention centre on February 18.
DASSAN obtained the documents via a Freedom of Information request, which took the department of immigration more than nine months to release. They detail 26 cases of self-harm by detained refugees aged 9 to 17 between August 2010 and November 2011.
Spokesperson Fernanda Dahlstrom said the documents 鈥渃oncern one detention centre over a relatively short period of time鈥.
A highly publicised report by the United Nations' refugee agency labeled conditions in the Manus Island refugee camp 鈥渦nlawful鈥, but stopped short of pushing the government to close it completely.
The report was released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on February 4 after a visit to the detention centre over January 15-17. It principally called for the release of children from the 鈥渃losed鈥 detention camp. It said the Australian government's regime of 鈥渁rbitrary, indefinite detention鈥 with no legal framework was 鈥渄eeply troubling鈥.
Soon after Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the September 14 federal election, opposition immigration spokesperson Scott Morrison confirmed the Coalition's startling plans to turn back every refugee from Sri Lanka without exception.
This would include a new plan to enlist the Australian and Sri Lankan navies to detain and return to Colombo any refugee trying to flee the country by boat, Morrison told ABC's Lateline on February 4.
A possible malaria scare in the Manus Island refugee detention camp has sparked new calls to label the offshore detention regime a violation of human rights.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said on January 27 that a 10-year-old girl had been in the camp's medical centre with malaria-like symptoms 鈥 high fever, shivering and bodily pain.
Tamil refugee Ranjini and her two sons made headlines last May when they were taken without warning to Sydney's Villawood detention centre and locked up after Ranjini was labelled an ASIO 鈥渟ecurity risk鈥.
The very next day, 33-year-old Ranjini learned she was pregnant.
She gave birth to Paartheepan (Paari) on January 15. The newborn boy has the right to live outside detention with his father, Ganesh, who married Ranjini a year before she was detained and lives nearby in Sydney.
A Tamil refugee living in Australia on a bridging visa died in a Fremantle hospital on January 5 from suicide. He had a wife and young daughter still in Sri Lanka, and was waiting for an outcome on his refugee status.
It was his second suicide attempt. Refugee advocates in Perth said he had been tortured in Sri Lanka and his mental health deteriorated while in detention on Christmas Island and in the remote north Queensland Scherger base 鈥 where he first attempted suicide.
Photos taken by refugees of their living conditions in the Australian detention camp on Manus Island have led to a new round of 鈥渟ystematic assault on asylum seekers鈥 basic rights鈥, according to Refugee Action Coalition spokesperson Nick Riemer.
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