Sydney Demonstration: Stop refugee detention at Nauru and Manus Island

Hundreds of protesters have gathered outside the Department of Immigration in central Sydney calling on the Federal Government not to deport almost 270 asylum seekers to Nauru.

It was the first in a series of protests planned around the country today in response to Wednesday's High Court ruling that Australia's offshore detention at Nauru and Manus Island is legal.

The judgment cleared the way for 267 asylum seekers, including more than 30 babies, who were brought to Australia for medical treatment, to be returned to Nauru.

Protester Kay Ashton said she was ashamed of the Government's treatment of asylum seekers.

"They're just destroying people's lives," she said.
"We are just calling on them to reverse it, show some gumption, show some leadership for goodness sake."

Former immigrant Angelika Treichler said she was shocked at the Government's policy.

"I'm very, very upset that this country I've chosen to live in is now carrying out such a cruel, cruel policy. I can't believe it in fact," Ms Treichler said.

The case was launched by a Bangladeshi detainee on Nauru who was brought to Australia for treatment and later gave birth to her daughter in Brisbane.

Protesters rally outside the Department of Immigration in Sydney

Lawyers for the woman argued it was illegal for the Australian Government to fund and operate detention centres in a third country.

During the High Court case the Government changed the law to close a loophole in the funding arrangements, which it feared could be undermined by the challenge.

Yesterday, a majority of the court's bench found the current government arrangements were valid under the constitution.

Protester Rod Yule said the Government was failing in its obligation to protect children under their care.

"I think it's contravening their international obligations to look after the most vulnerable, to look after asylum seekers who are coming to Australia looking for refuge and protection," Mr Yule said.

"I'm disappointed in Turnbull and the Australian Government for failing to fulfil their obligations."

ACOSS: COMMUNITY JOINT STATEMENT

ACOSS, Australian Council for International Development, Anglicare Australia, Catholic Social Services Australia, Mission Australia, Oxfam Australia, St Vincent de Paul Society, Save the Children, and World Vision.

Thursday 4 February 2016

Australian international aid and community sector agencies today united behind churches across the country who are opening their doors to asylum seekers facing removal back to offshore detention centres.

The groups, including ACOSS, Australian Council for International Development, Anglicare Australia, Catholic Social Services Australia, Mission Australia, Oxfam Australia, St Vincent de Paul Society, Save the Children, and World Vision, urge the Australian government to allow the families and their children to stay in Australia.

“The High Court of Australia may have ruled against the challenge to the legality of our offshore detention centres, but what’s at stake here is the safety and wellbeing of traumatised and vulnerable people, including 37 babies and 54 children. This goes beyond technical legalities, it’s about our humanity, our morals and values, our human rights obligations and what’s the right humanitarian thing to do,” said ACFID Chief Executive Officer, Mr Marc Purcell.

“We are a wealthy nation made up of people who have been welcomed from all around the world. It is certainly within our capacity and our moral duty to provide these people sanctuary,” said ACOSS CEO Cassandra Goldie.

“We remain opposed to offshore processing, and urge the Federal Government to immediately move to process the outstanding applications of asylum seekers and provide safe haven here in Australia. Our services are offered to provide assistance to the families and their children to enable them stay in Australia, out of harm’s way.”

“Australia’s churches, community sector and broader civil society are ready and able to welcome and ensure the proper care and protection of this small group of people and children. We have housing, community, employment and faith networks that will ensure people seeking asylum in Australia are safe and integrate successfully into the Australian community. We call on the Government to work with us to ensure Australia fulfils its humanitarian obligations,” Dr Goldie said.

“Aid agencies have staff who are highly experienced in working with refugees in places like Afghanistan and with the Syrians displaced by war. They also have staff that specialise in working with families and children suffering from trauma. Many of our member agencies can support the churches offering sanctuary with this range of expertise,” said Mr Purcell.

Turnbull and Climate Change – Abbott Still Rules OK ?

Fears that some of Australia's most important climate research institutions will be gutted by the Turnbull government have been realised with deep job cuts for scientists to be announced to staff later today.

Fairfax Media has learnt that as many as 110 positions in the Oceans and Atmosphere division will go, with a similarly sharp reduction in the Land and Water division. It's a catastrophic reduction in our capacity to assess present and future climate change

The cuts were flagged in November, just a week before the Paris climate summit began, with key divisions told to prepare lists of job cuts or to find new ways to raise revenue.

"Climate will be all gone, basically," said one senior scientist, before the announcement. "We understand both the Prime Minister and Christopher Pyne have signed off on the cuts."

A spokesman for the CSIRO said the organisation would comment later today. "We will not be commenting until staff have been told of any proposed changes and consulted on how they may be affected," he said. 

It is understood just 30 staff will be left in the Oceans and Atmosphere unit and they will not be working on climate issues. Another senior scientist, aware of the planned announcement, said staff would be shocked by the news that basic climate science including much of the monitoring of changes in the southern hemisphere would be gutted.

"There'll be disappointment, anger," he said, adding that Australia's counterparts would also respond "with shock and horror".

Australia, with its already variable climate, has seen average temperatures rise about 1 degree over the past century. Heatwaves are also increasing in intensity and frequency, as are the number of high fire danger days, according research by the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology.

Understanding how bushfires and other perils will change with global warming will be undermined by the cuts, scientists say.

Fairfax Media has sought comment from Mr Pyne's office and also Environment Minister Greg Hunt. Doubts also remain over the CSIRO's on-going role as coordinator of the new National Environmental Science Program, which comes under Mr Hunt's office.

Some 16 full-time staff from CSIRO will be assigned to the program, which was set up to house remaining climate science and other environmental science divisions that had suffered deep cuts during the Abbott government.

It is understood the IMOS - or Integrated Marine Observing System - will be maintained with "some remnants" of climate work remaining in Hobart, one scientist said.

The scientist said the cuts to climate research were part of a pattern of environmental science cutbacks across many fields.

'Jaw-droppingly shocking'

Andy Pitman, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science at the University of NSW, said the scale of the cuts was "jaw-droppingly shocking".

"It's a catastrophic reduction in our capacity to assess present and future climate change," Professor Pitman said. "It will leave us vulnerable to future climate change and unable to take advantage of any positives that result."

The impact will extend not just to the science being conducted in and around Australia but also to the ability of the country to retain and attract scientists, he said. 

"They will focus on North American and European problems [when they go], not Australia's, Professor Pitman said.

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High court decision no blank cheque

High court decisions are not football matches: it’s not always clear who has won and by how much.

The full bench’s decision in M68 does uphold the government’s right to send asylum seekers to foreign countries to be detained. The court found the action is lawful under the constitution and empowered by the extraordinary breadth of a newly inserted provision in the Migration Act.

But the court’s decision is no blank cheque. All seven judges explicitly ruled that the commonwealth can’t simply detain people offshore for as long as it likes. 

Nor can it ask a foreign government to incarcerate people indefinitely on its behalf.

In a forecast of a likely area of future legal challenge, the joint decision from French CJ, Kiefel and Nettle JJ said explicitly that “the commonwealth may only participate in that [offshore processing] regime if, and for so long as, it serves the purpose of processing”.

“The commonwealth is not authorised ... to support an offshore detention regime which is not reasonably necessary to achieve that purpose.”

GST Scam Spooks Coalition

There is growing unease on the Coalition backbench at the possibility the Turnbull Government will take a Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike to an election.

The ABC has been told that as many as 20 MPs are organising against the move.

Key points:

• About 20 backbenchers are worried about the impact a GST rise will have at the polls
• Increasing the tax from to 15 per cent could raise $46 billion annually
• Nationals MP says government needs to properly inform public of benefits

The key concern is that the Government is moving towards an increase in the GST from 10 to 15 per cent without adequately considering other measures, such as changes to superannuation and negative gearing.

Federal Liberal director Tony Nutt is believed to be holding briefings for MPs in marginal seats on a range of issues that will arise during the election campaign, including the GST.

One MP has told the ABC there is a feeling that while Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is happy to discuss broad changes to the taxation system, his Treasurer Scott Morrison's focus remains on the GST.

Treasury has modelled the impact of increasing the GST to 15 per cent, expanded to include food and non-alcoholic drinks, as well as water and sewerage charges, raising as much as $46 billion annually.

Mr Morrison continues to argue the Government is having a wide-ranging debate on taxation, and would never play into Labor's game of ruling things in or out.

Victorian Nationals MP Andrew Broad told ABC Radio National there were some rumblings among his colleagues.

"If any conversation becomes too one-dimensional, it of course scares people, and I guess there's some nervousness and some discussion there," Mr Broad said.

Mr Broad said the Government needed to sell the potential GST increase by showing it would boost job numbers and reduce property stamp duty.

"But if we're going to the Australian people saying 'well we're just going to take an extra 5 per cent, and trust us we can spend your money better than you can spend it,' well I wouldn't support that and I don't think the electorate would buy it," he said.

The Government has promised its tax plan would be released before the election later this year.