Landmark case says Aboriginal Australians cannot be deported

Yahoo – AFP, Holly ROBERTSON, February 11, 2020

Australia's highest court says immigration law does not apply to Aboriginal
Australians (AFP Photo/SAEED KHAN)

Aboriginal Australians are exempt from immigration law, the country's top court ruled Tuesday, in a historic decision that found indigenous people born overseas cannot be deported.

Australia had been trying to deport two men -- Papua New Guinea citizen Daniel Love and New Zealand citizen Brendan Thoms -- under laws that allow a convicted criminal's visa to be cancelled on character grounds.

Both men identify as Aboriginal Australians, each has one indigenous parent, and they have lived in the country since they were small children.

Love, who served time for assault, and Thoms, who had been jailed for domestic violence, have been battling in the courts to stay in Australia, arguing that they may be "non-citizens" but they are also not "aliens".

The High Court ruled in a decision that split the judges 4-3 that Aboriginal Australians "are not within the reach" of constitutional provisions relating to foreign citizens.

Indigenous people have inhabited the vast continent for more than 60,000 years, while the modern nation's constitution only came into force in 1901.

Thoms -- who was already recognised as a traditional land owner -- was accepted by the court as Aboriginal.

But the judges could not agree on whether Love was under a three-part test that considers biological descent, self-identification and community recognition.

Lawyer Claire Gibbs, who represented the men, hailed the decision as "significant for Aboriginal Australians".

"This case isn't about citizenship, it's about who belongs here, who is an Australian national and who is a part of the Australian community," she told reporters in Canberra.

"The High Court has found Aboriginal Australians are protected from deportation. They can no longer be removed from the country that they know and the country that they have a very close connection with."

The case marked the first time an Australian court has considered whether the government has the power to deport indigenous people.

But it also touched on the contentious question of how Aboriginality is defined in the law.

Gibbs said she was "confident" that they would eventually be able to prove Love's status as he was "accepted by his community as Aboriginal" and had "biological proof" that he was a descendant of the First Australians.

Lawyers will now pursue compensation claims on behalf of both men, who Gibbs said had suffered "severe embarrassment" and been "subject to ridicule" as a result of being Aboriginal men held in immigration detention.

Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge described it as a "significant judgement" that has "implications for our migration programs".

"On the face of it, it has created a new category of persons; neither an Australian citizen under the Australian Citizenship Act, nor a non-citizen," he said in a statement.

The government was reviewing the decision and its implications, Tudge said.

Thoms was freed from immigration detention following the ruling, while Love had been released back in September 2018.

The 'richest black nation': Papua New Guinea sets audacious goal

Yahoo – AFP, June 16, 2019

Violent crime and corruption are endemic in Papua New Guinea, reliable electricity
is rare, and population centres are isolated (AFP Photo/ARIS MESSINIS)

Papua New Guinea's new prime minister has an ambitious -- cynics would say far-fetched -- objective of turning one of the world's poorest countries into the "richest black nation" on earth in just a decade.

If national economies were like football teams, then Papua New Guinea would be near the bottom of the table struggling to avoid a relegation dogfight.

Violent crime and corruption are endemic, reliable electricity is rare, and population centres sit like isolated city-states, surrounded by trackless jungle and mountain ridges that soar into the equatorial sky.

As rich as Papua New Guinea is in culture, language and beauty, it is the 153rd most developed country in the world out of 189, according to the United Nations -- doing slightly better than Syria, marginally worse than Myanmar.

New prime minister James Marape wants to change that. He has promised that within ten years his compatriots will live in "the richest black Christian nation" in the world.

That is not going to be easy. The current titleholder is the highly industrialised economy of Trinidad and Tobago, where the average resident earns around 833% more than Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea is rich in culture, language and beauty, but is way down
the UN development rankings (AFP Photo/SAEED KHAN)

If the British territory of Bermuda were also included in the rankings, the task would be even more daunting.

Papua New Guinea's economy would have to grow at a world-beating rate of around 30 percent per year, every year for the next ten years just to catch up.

"PNG has never experienced 30 per cent growth in the past; nor has any other country for that matter, at least not for any sustained period of time," said Maholopa Laveil, a lecturer in economics at the University of Papua New Guinea.

To reach his lofty goal, Marape appears to be betting on a surge in gas revenues and more of that cash staying in the country.

He has hinted that he may look to renegotiate a massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) contract with Total and ExxonMobil that would double national production to better benefit the local economy.

He has also promised to stop the export of unprocessed hardwoods and tackle corruption.

But the strategy comes with risks.

New prime minister James Marape has hinted he may look to renegotiate a massive
LNG contract with Total and ExxonMobil (AFP Photo/SAEED KHAN)

Dashed expectations

The World Bank has warned that even before a second LNG project comes online, the economy has "become increasingly concentrated in petroleum and gas-related activities".

That, the bank warned, raises Papua New Guinea's vulnerability to the vagaries of international energy markets and natural disasters -- like the 7.5 magnitude quake that froze production and stalled the economy in 2018.

Even the country's existing PNG LNG project -- which started to flow in 2014 -- has failed to live up to expectations.

It required a controversial public loan worth more than a billion Australian dollars ($700 million) and helped national debt spike.

The project was forecast to increase GDP by over 97 percent, but according to Paul Flanagan -- a former Australian government official who runs the influential PNG Economics blog -- the increase has been closer to six percent.

The World Bank has warned PNG's vulnerability to earthquakes is increasing along 

with its reliance on petrol and gas (AFP Photo/Melvin LEVONGO)

"Overall, the PNG LNG project massively over-promised and then failed to deliver," one of his recent blog posts read. "For household disposable income, the prediction was an 84 percent improvement. The outcome is a decline of 9 percent."

Flanagan believes that regardless of any energy boom, Marape -- a former finance minister -- will need to undertake difficult currency and trade reforms if the country has any hope of growing sustainably.

"Time will tell if the new government will tackle such difficult political economy challenges, challenges that must be addressed to make PNG a much richer black Christian nation," he said.

Lost in translation: Papua New Guinea wins the language Olympics

Yahoo – AFP, Andrew BEATTY, 15 November 2018

Papua New Guinea is a linguist's paradise with one in 10 of the world's
languages found here

If you are travelling to Papua New Guinea, you don't need to pack a phrasebook, you need to bring an entire library. With 841 living tongues and a colourful creole lingua franca, this Pacific nation is the undisputed world champion of linguistic diversity.

From Pii in the mist-cloaked highlands to Toaripi on the shores of the gleaming Coral Sea, Papua New Guinea is a linguist's paradise with one in 10 of the world's languages found here.

The number of speakers of individual languages can range from a handful of people in the jungle -- not much more than an extended family -- to millions spread across provinces and terrains.

Experts point to the country's relatively weak central government, deep valleys, almost impenetrable vegetation and roughly 600 islands to explain why a country of eight million people and smaller than Spain has such a bounty of languages, when 46 million Spaniards -- for all practical purposes -- make do with a dozen or so.

Many of these diverse tongues have developed undisturbed over tens of thousands of years, making Papua New Guinea something of a linguistic Galapagos.

To get by day-to-day, Papua New Guineans typically speak three to five languages, and understand many more dialects.

But ironically they can sometimes struggle to render a simple sentence in one language into their mother tongue -- particularly when discussing numbers over 10 or when rural-based languages are deployed to describe life in the big city.

When asked to say "there are more than 800 languages in Papua New Guinea" in Vula'a -- which has a couple of thousand speakers in the central province -- Port Moresby office worker Sonia Pegi has to call her dad just to make sure she has it right.

Graphic charting social indicators for Papua New Guinea, venue

 for the APEC summit

'Pidgin English'

The country's most widely spoken language is pidgin English or Tok Pisin, although this being Papua New Guinea, Tok Pisin only claimed its lingua franca status after beating out a pretender in the form of semi-creole Austronesian language Hiri Motu.

Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu and English are the country's three official languages.

"Tok Pisin is derived 80-85 percent from English," said Jenny Homerang who is starting a pidgin language course at the Australian National University in Canberra. "But you also have bits of German and bits of Portuguese."

In fact, Tok Pisin is something of a linguistic sponge, soaking up words from languages as distant as Taiwanese and Zulu, which dominates the southeastern corner of Africa.

Suspected sorcerers -- who in Papua New Guinea can often be the victims of extreme violence -- are referred to as "sangoma", a word familiar to anyone living in Johannesburg or Durban.

Tok Pisin is also a deeply expressive language: you can 'bagarap' your car in an accident, or relieve yourself in the 'sithaus'.

But sometimes things get lost in translation. 'Ol' means 'they', not 'all', which can confuse a first-time visitor.

Similarly, 'lukim yu bihan' is not an instruction to turn around, but a way of saying 'goodbye'.

Pressure mounts in Australia over Nauru refugee children

Yahoo – AFP, October 28, 2018

Domestic and international criticism of the camps on Nauru has grown amid reports
of abuse, suicides and lengthy detention periods (AFP Photo/PETER PARKS)

Public pressure was mounting on Australia's government Sunday to remove refugee children detained on the Pacific island of Nauru, possibly to New Zealand, even as the prime minister raised fears such transfers could encourage new arrivals.

Under a harsh policy meant to deter asylum-seekers from reaching Australia by boat, Canberra sends arrivals to remote Pacific camps for processing and bars them from resettling in Australia.

But domestic and international criticism of the camps has grown amid reports of abuse, suicides and lengthy detention periods, even as the government says the policy is discouraging asylum-seekers from embarking on dangerous sea voyages.

A YouGov Galaxy poll commissioned by Sydney's Sunday Telegraph -- a tabloid that usually backs the conservative government -- found 79 percent of those surveyed want children and their families transferred off Nauru.

Thousands of Australians on Saturday also rallied in Sydney and Melbourne against the offshore camp.

The children's plight was highlighted earlier this month after Nauru kicked out Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a global medical charity that had been treating asylum-seekers in the camps.

MSF said many children were suffering "traumatic withdrawal syndrome" and were unable to eat, drink or talk.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR added in mid-October that the health situation of asylum-seekers and refugees was "collapsing".

Ahead of a crucial Sydney by-election this month, PM Scott Morrison seemed willing to work with the Labor opposition to allow some refugees to be transferred to New Zealand, although they would still be blocked from entering Australia.

But with ongoing counting pointing to a loss in the seat for the government, Morrison has since appeared to back away from a deal.

"I just want to get them off, but I want to get them off in a way which does not put more children on Nauru," he told commercial broadcaster Channel Nine on Friday.

"If one boat turns up or one child is floating face down in the water, how would Australia feel then?"

Within Morrison's Liberal Party, three MPs have so far called for children to be removed.

New Zealand has an open offer to take 150 people from Nauru, and PM Jacinda Ardern said Monday she expected women and children to be prioritised if Australia accepts the proposal.

However, she said the decision was "ultimately a matter for the Australian government".

There are 635 asylum-seekers and refugees on Nauru, including 52 children, according to Immigration Minister David Coleman.

There are also some 600 men in transition centres on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island after the camp there was closed late last year, according to refugee advocates.

Under a deal with former American president Barack Obama, 439 people have so far been resettled from Manus and Nauru to the United States, Coleman added.

Fears PNG death toll will rise after 'worst quake in century'

Yahoo – AFP, March 4, 2018

Australian air force personnel along with high commission officials and Papua New
Guinea locals unload aid from trucks onto an RAAF C-130J aircraft in Lae, bound
for earthquake-hit areas (AFP Photo/David Gibbs)

Local communities are struggling to cope with the aftermath of a major earthquake that hit Papua New Guinea's remote highlands almost a week ago, reports said Sunday, amid fears of a rising death toll.

The highlands in the Pacific nation's interior about 600 kilometres (370 miles) north-west of Port Moresby were struck by a 7.5-magnitude tremor early on February 26.

The region has also been shaken by a series of strong aftershocks in subsequent days, the latest a 6.0-magnitude tremor recorded by the United States Geological Survey that struck about 0.30am local time Monday (1430 GMT Sunday).

The government has declared a state of emergency and sent relief workers to the Southern Highlands, Western, Enga and Hela provinces, which have been hit by downed communications, landslides and sinkholes, as well as toppled homes and buildings.

"This was the biggest earthquake in a hundred years (in the highlands) and it spread 150 kilometres across the fault line," humanitarian duty officer Darian Clark of the Australian High Commission (embassy) said in a statement Saturday.

"A number of urban settlements, as well as villages, have been affected, many in the form of landslides and landslips, which means that roads have been cut off, water contaminated, power knocked out and other widespread effects for the local people."

Numerous communities have yet to be reached by aid workers and it was not known how badly they were affected, seismologist Mathew Moihoi of PNG's Geophysical Observatory told AFP Sunday.

No official death toll has been released by the government, but various PNG media reports have cited local officials on the ground who spoke of dozens of casualties.

The PNG Post-Courier newspaper has collated unconfirmed reports of more than 50 dead from the initial quake.

"The figures (for the death toll) have been coming out from areas where there is access, but there might be areas which are not accessible and it is a little bit hard to get to those areas," Moihoi said.

"There might be some casualties there, we just don't know. It's going to be a little bit difficult to get the figures at this stage."

Local news website Loop PNG cited a police officer as saying that starvation and looting were on the rise in the affected communities.

The situation was worsening on the ground every day, the website added Sunday, quoting local advocacy groups mobilising to help stricken communities.

"People are crying and they are shouting when they are calling us," Cathy Alex from the Advancing PNG Women's Network said as she pleaded for public donations.

"We can't just sit and wait for the (government-pledged disaster funding of) 450 million kina (US$140 million)."

Besides the government's aid efforts, oil and gas companies ExxonMobil and Oil Search, which operate in the area, have assisted relief and recovery efforts.

The Australian military said Saturday it had arrived in PNG and was distributing relief supplies and conducting aerial surveys of quake-hit areas.

Death toll from Papua New Guinea earthquake rises to 67, with thousands homeless and without food and clean water, Red Cross reports https://t.co/VFVtyDuzch pic.twitter.com/IW7cHN5vqI

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 5, 2018

Papua New Guinea announces Australian refugee center closure

A Supreme Court ruling means an Australian-run refugee detention facility on Papua New Guinea is illegal and must close. Now PNG is working with Australia to find a new place for the refugees to go.

Deutsche Welle, 27 April 2016

The island nation of Papua New Guinea has announced it will close a center for asylum seekers it had been hosting on behalf of Australia. This comes a day after the Supreme Court in Papa New Guinea deemed it was unconstitutional to allow Australia to detain asylum seekers on the country's Manus Island.

"Respecting this ruling, Papua New Guinea will immediately ask the Australian government to make alternative arrangements for the asylum-seekers currently held at the regional processing center," Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said in a statement on Wednesday.

No exceptions

Australian policy regarding those who attempt to enter the country illegally by boat is to reject them and send them to detention camps, paid for by the Australian government, in Papua New Guinea and the island nation of Nauru. Those found to have legitimate claims for asylum can be resettled in Papua New Guinea or Cambodia under agreements reached between Australia and those two countries.

Regarding the current asylum seekers on Manus Island, O'Neill said that legitimate refugees were welcome to live in Papua New Guinea "only if they want to be a part of our society and make a contribution to our community," but added: "It is clear that several of these refugees do not want to settle in Papua New Guinea and that is their decision."

There are currently over 800 asylum seekers being held on Manus Island, and Papua New Guinea will now being working with Australian officials about where to relocate the people being detained. Australia has made it clear that under no circumstances will they be resettled in Australia.

Self-immolation

Meanwhile, a 23-year-old refugee in an Australian-run detention facility on Nauru is set to be airlifted to an Australian hospital after setting himself on fire Tuesday during a routine visit of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to the facility.

According to news reports, the man shouted "I can not take this any more" before setting himself on fire. Bystanders quickly attempted to douse the flames with water and blankets.

The man is in critical condition, but Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has said his application for asylum would not be influenced.

mz/kms (Reuters, AFP, AP)

Australia doctors demand children be freed from #immigration detention http://t.co/oSHkZyvn5V pic.twitter.com/s9yLBKHA2Z

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 12, 2015

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All child asylum seekers freed from mainland Australian detention

The last child has been removed from immigration detention on the mainland, Australian authorities announced. However, others are still being held on a remote Pacific island.

Deutsche Welle, 3 April 2016

The government made the announcement on Sunday, saying the children have been moved to what's called "community detention," where processed refugees can live freely among the community.

"It's always been a goal of the immigration minister ... to get kids out of detention," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told Sky News.

Turnbull also said that since the change from the Labor government in 2013, the arrival of asylum-seekers in Australia has significantly declined.

Child refugees on the Pacific
island of Nauru

Fierce criticism

Australia's migration policies have drawn sharp criticism from activists, with much of the attention focusing on the detention center on the Pacific island nation of Nauru, which is known for its harsh conditions.

Under Canberra's immigration policy, refugees who try to reach Australia by sea are turned back or sent to Pacific camps in Nauru or Papua New Guinea, where they are held indefinitely while waiting for their asylum applications to be processed. The government action announced Sunday did not impact the dozens of child asylum seekers purportedly still living on Nauru.

Rikki Lambert, a political adviser and current state senate candidate for the Family First Party, told DW in an email that he approved the move to release the children.

"Family First is very pleased with the release of the last child from detention," Lambert wrote. "We have been calling for it for two years. Our first priority was secure borders, as insecure borders saw thousands of children in detention under Labor. Now there are none."

In February, the 1-year-old child of an asylum-seeker became a focal point of activists when a hospital refused to discharge her in order to prevent her return to Nauru. The government has said it would not immediately send the child to the island.

Related Article:

Australian hospital refuses to return asylum baby to Nauru
Australia doctors demand children be freed from immigration detention

Australia doctors demand children be freed from #immigration detention http://t.co/oSHkZyvn5V pic.twitter.com/s9yLBKHA2Z

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 12, 2015

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Germany ready to support Turkey's EU accession process, says Merkel

Chancellor Merkel has said Germany will support Turkey's EU membership bid, during a visit aimed at securing Ankara's help in stemming a migrant influx to Europe. Turkish PM Davutoglu hailed Europe's "better approach."

Deutsche Welle, 18 Oct 2015

Merkel and Davutoglu shake hands at a joint-press conference

Germany is ready to accelerate Turkey's EU accession process, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday at a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Merkel spoke of organizing the accesion process "more dynamically."

"Germany is ready this year to open Chapter 17, and make preparations for (Chapters) 23 and 24. We can talk about the details," she said.

Kanzlerin #Merkel zu Gesprächen in #Türkei eingetroffen. Im Mittelpunkt: Syrien+Kooperation in der Flüchtlingskrise. pic.twitter.com/15vLrwt6jM

— Steffen Seibert (@RegSprecher) 18 oktober 2015

Merkel's statement comes as she visits Turkish leaders on Sunday in a bid to secure Ankara's support in stemming the current migrant influx into the EU.

'Better approach'

Davutoglu hailed the EU's latest moves to foster collaboration between Brussels and Ankara as a "better approach."

"Unfortunately Turkey was left alone by the international community in terms of burden sharing. We are very pleased there is a better approach now. The issue of sharing going forward is very important," Davutoglu said.

The Turkish premier also praised Merkel for "not turning a blind eye" to the crisis.

However, Davutoglu noted that "significant new waves of migration" were likely to occur if a political solution to the Syrian conflict does not emerge.

Turkey has taken in more than two million Syrian refugees since a civil war erupted there in 2011, according to UN figures.

Thousands of refugees have crossed the Aegean Sea to enter EU member
state Greece from Turkey

Whole package?

According to officials, the EU offered Ankara an aid package of at least 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) along with an easing EU visa restrictions for Turkish citizens, which Merkel and Davutoglu discussed.

The German chancellor later met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said he asked Merkel to support Turkey's EU membership bid. Erdogan added that he also asked France, Britain and Spain for support.

The EU is struggling to cope with the current influx of asylum seekers, with more than half a million migrants having crossed into the 28-nation bloc in 2015, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported in September.

ls/tj (Reuters, AFP, dpa)

Germany, Turkey hail progress in handling refugee crisis http://t.co/KzSFwV7skC pic.twitter.com/HgwlJBVOOH

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) 18 oktober 2015

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Australia doctors demand children be freed from immigration detention

Australia doctors demand children be freed from #immigration detention http://t.co/oSHkZyvn5V pic.twitter.com/s9yLBKHA2Z

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) 12 oktober 2015

Australia doctors demand children be freed from immigration detention

Yahoo – AFP, Martin Parry, 12 Oct 2015

A woman holds a banner at a rally in support of refugees and asylum seekers,

in Sydney, on October 11, 2015 (AFP Photo/Peter Parks)

Australian doctors on Monday ramped up pressure on the government over its hardline policy on asylum-seekers, saying children they treat from immigration centres should not be returned to detention where conditions could harm them.

Thousands of Australians rallied over the weekend urging Pacific island detention camps be shut, and medical professionals at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne are reportedly refusing to discharge asylum-seeker patients if they are to be locked up again.

The stance was backed by the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP).

Ethnic Syrians attend a rally in support of

 refugees and asylum seekers, in Sydney, on

October 11, 2015 (AFP Photo/Peter Parks)

AMA president Brain Owler said children behind bars suffered psychologically and doctors faced an ethical dilemma.

"Doctors are put in a very difficult position," he told national radio.

"If we had a child that comes into our hospital that we feared if sending them back to an environment which we felt was going to be harmful, where they were at risk of abuse, we would be negligent if we sent them back to that environment.

"And that is what the doctors at the Royal Children's Hospital are saying. We cannot send children back to an environment where they're going to be harmed."

RACP president Nick Talley added in a statement that "time and again, the Australian public has seen inquiries and heard excuses for the wrongs committed against children inside these detention centres".

"The health and well-being of children should never be open to compromise. No child should be held in detention," he said.

All asylum-seekers coming by boat to Australia are now sent to camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru and ultimately denied resettlement in Australia even if they are found to be genuine refugees.

Although the tough policy, which also includes turning back boats, has stopped frequent drownings, human rights organisations have slammed the prolonged detention, particularly of children, as a breach of Australia's legal obligations.

Canberra has also been accused of drawing a veil of secrecy over its treatment of asylum-seekers with new laws introduced this year criminalising the disclosure of information about boatpeople in its care, including by doctors.

Harsh policy

Owler estimated some 200 children were being held, about half in Australia and the rest offshore. Government figures recently said 86 children were on Nauru.

Distressed about the welfare of dozens of patients brought to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne while in immigration detention, staff on Sunday penned an emotive opinion piece for the Herald Sun newspaper.

A demonstrator (L) representing the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association, 

seen at a rally in support of refugees and asylum seekers, in Sydney, on October 11,

2015 (AFP Photo/Peter Parks)

"As health staff at a leading children's hospital, our duty is to support child health. We cannot accept or condone harm to children. Detention causes harm and it must end," it said.

"We call for moral leadership on this issue to find a solution, quickly -- to use alternatives to detention and to stop the harm."

The numbers of children in immigration detention peaked at 1,992 in mid-2013 under the former Labor administration, but they have been significantly reduced since the conservative government was elected in September that year.

Since ousting Tony Abbott for the leadership of the Liberal Party and the government last month, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has admitted to concerns about the Pacific camps. But he has given no indication of immediate policy changes.

"Nobody wants to have children in detention ... we have been working very hard to reduce those numbers," he told parliament Monday, while advocating a tough asylum-seeker policy as a necessary deterrent.

"We recognise that our border protection policy is tough, we recognise many would see it as harsh. But it has been proven to be the only way to stop those deaths at sea and to ensure that our sovereignty and our borders are safe."

Australia doctors demand children be freed from #immigration detention http://t.co/oSHkZyvn5V pic.twitter.com/s9yLBKHA2Z

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) 12 oktober 2015

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