Hello and happy Friday.
A mammoth week for migration and population news. Enjoy and share!
Senate estimates
Every few months, Senate estimates hearings provide an opportunity to understand the operations of government departments such as Home Affairs. They were held this week in Canberra.
From the hearings, Helen Davidson at The Guardian reported that six men held inside a Papua New Guinean immigration prison have been released and will be sent home, and Australia has no visibility, access or influence over the fate of the 47 remaining inside.
Michael Koziol at the SMH/Age wrote ten asylum seekers are detained in Port Moresby despite having been approved for medical transfer to Australia under the medevac regime.
SBS reported the Administrative Appeals Tribunal is inundated with a record number of requests to review migration and protection decisions.
It also covered Michael Pezzullo rejecting claims of a “crisis” in air arrivals. The Australian said Kristina Keneally’s claims have been exposed ($).
Coinciding with estimates, the Department released a new migration program summary (pdf). It confirms the 23,000-place regional migration target for 2019/20 will be met at least partly through processing of the old visas:
The full estimates transcript is here (pdf). Did anything stand out to you? Just reply to this email.
People of Australia
Congratulations to the winners at the Migration and Settlement Awards in Canberra on Wednesday night. Peter Scanlon received a lifetime achievement award.
Other winners included:
Settlement Innovation
ACCESS Community Services for their ‘Gateway’ model of holistic care, where there is no wrong door and everyone belongs
Caseworker of the Year
Girma Seid from The Centre for Multicultural Youth
Sports Leadership
Football Federation Australia for the Aldi Miniroos Multicultural Settlement Program
Diversity and the Law
Legal Aid ACT for their Community Liaison Unit and Migration Clinic
Empowering Women
Ishar Multicultural Women’s Health Services for their work on migrant women’s health and wellbeing
Journalism Excellence Award
Pema Dolkar for reporting on a Tibetan learning to swim program
Business Inclusion Award
The Bread & Butter Project for their ‘Makers of Bread’ program
Local Government Award
City of Stirling for their Multicultural Framework
What else happened
Policy
Paul Karp from the Guardian reported of Peter Dutton’s attempts to win over Jacqui Lambie on the ‘medevac’ regime, noting the Minister believes 250 more people will go to the US from Australia’s immigration processing facilities.
David Crowe from the SMH/Age tapped into migrants’ experience in an opinion article following weeks of ramped up airline arrival rhetoric:
Imagine, for a moment, being a woman who comes to Australia on the promise of having a job as a cook and a visa for a new life. Then imagine being told to work without pay for six months. Then being told to pay tens of thousands of dollars for that visa. Then being fired when you refuse to pay.
Labor continues to push for the release of the Shergold report into migrant settlement.
Andreas Cebulla and George Tan wrote in The Conversation about their research suggesting the skilled migration program is failing to achieve its full economic potential.
A very punchy article from late last week on the backpacker visas from Beth Orton and Stephen Howes:
The questions around the backpacker scheme will only grow as the numbers do. It is extraordinary that Ministers Coleman and Birmingham should welcome the growth in a scheme condemned by the Fair Work Ombudsman as exploitative. This horse has largely bolted, but at a minimum, the government should avoid further increases in the 462 caps to slow the further morphing of the backpacker visa into an unregulated agricultural visa.
This chart they included was interesting, showing how people from less developed countries are more likely to sign up for a second year:
Second-to-first-year backpacker visa ratios for selected countries
Helen Davidson at The Guardian reported the findings of new work by the Australian Human Rights Commission on the use of force in immigration detention.
ABC fact-checked airline arrival claims.
Jarni Blakkarly at SBS took a close look at regional visas in South Australia.
SBS covered the influence of migration on cemeteries.
It also reported Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds may be receiving "inequitable dementia care".
SBS Punjabi quoted a migration agent about his view that many migrants are leaving Australia for Canada.
And the Labor Party is introducing a new caucus committee to focus on multicultural affairs and to help the party shape its policies.
People
ABC reported about why girls' cricket is serious business in Melbourne's west.
The Australian Federal Police boss personally apologised to refugee footballer Hakeem al-Araibi over his detention in a Thai prison for months.
Paul Farrell at the ABC reported two Australian citizens were unlawfully detained in immigration detention facilities by the Department of Home Affairs in the last 12 months.
SBS reported Australia is poised to accept refugees from conflict zones in Latin America.
A neat feature was written by SBS’ Pablo Vinales late last week on some Snowy Hydro ties shared by politicians:
Energy Minister Angus Taylor’s grandfather, Sir William Hudson, was the commissioner of the Snowy.
“It was around me growing up, it was a quintessential part of my upbringing to focus on the Snowy… Indeed my grandfather and grandmother took me around the scheme when I was young,” Mr Taylor said.
ABC’s April McLennan spoke to Egyptian vet Malak Abdou, pictured below with family, about what finding work in regional Australia is like.
An article ($) from the Mercury profiled a man who wrote a book about a boat:
THE great sailing ships of old were called cathedrals in the sea. They towered over the seven oceans, their white-sailed majesty a symbol of hope and the human spirit in the quest for new lands and new lives. The Conway was one such “cathedral” which carried Harley Stanton’s ancestors and countless other immigrants to Australia from European shores in the mid-19th century.
Warrnambool appears to have a great volunteer-run English language program for migrants, according to The Standard’s Kimberley Price and Mark Witte.
SBS covered a Victorian program helping women tap into their entrepreneurial skills to become financially independent.
A charity is launching a new water safety campaign targeting migrant communities.
A not-for-profit business is working to address economic inequality amongst Australia's migrant and refugee community through food.
Annabel Crabb was co-opted for ABC’s Australia Talks campaign, which this week covered attitudes about ‘Australian-ness’ and immigration.
Population
Jason Murphy wrote ($) in The Conversation about population and migration:
After 28 years of steady economic growth, Australia is richer than almost anywhere in the world. But we're also bitter, angry and divided. How can this be?
The world
One Kiwi deportee said Australia’s policy of applying the character test to migrants is racist.
ABC covered Hongkongers looking to move to Australia and the potential impact on local property prices.
Nice to meet some subscribers at the Migration and Settlement Awards on Wednesday. Catch you next week.
Jack