Chris Bowen

Summary of 2012-13 Federal Budget measures affecting refugees

KEY POINTS The Refugee and Humanitarian Program will remain static at 13,750 places The Government will be seeking the community’s views on the feasibility of introducing a private sponsorship pilot program to enhance the humanitarian program. Government funding for refugee and migrant settlement services will total $334.4 million, an increase of just 1.4%. There will be a decrease in funding for the Humanitarian Settlement Services (HSS) program, primarily as a result of capping the maximum level of humanitarian settlement services to…

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Petition to protest the indefinite detention of Ranjini and her children

Ranjini and her two children aged 6 and 8 have been taken by the Australian government and placed in ‘indefinite detention’, without charge, without trial, without appeal. Please find the link to the GetUp! petition which will be delivered to Attorney-General Nicola Roxon and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen demanding to ensure no person in Australia should be held indefinetely without charge, trial or appeal. We urge all our members to sign this appeal and pass it on to family and…

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Global campaign to end child detention wants 428 video messages from Australian youth

May 2012 marks the twelfth month of detention for one of the 428 children currently in Australian facilities. In May, Australia also becomes the first in a series of countries being highlighted by the Global Campaign to End Immigration Detention of Children. This campaign was launched on 21st March 2012 at the UN Human Rights Council. Australian campaign members will use the month of May to push for an end to Australia’s policy of indefinitely detaining all children and families before…

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Bowen maintains shameful policy of keeping 428 asylum seeker children detained: Greens

Figures showing 428 children remain detained demonstrate the Immigration Minister continues to flout our international obligations and neglects his duty as legal guardian to act in their best interests, the Australian Greens said today. “Australia is still punishing, rather than protecting, vulnerable children by locking them up simply because they have fled war, torture and persecution,” Greens’ immigration spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said. “We must change the law because children are being detained as a matter of course and the…

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Greens urge Bowen to relinquish guardianship of unaccompanied children and release them into community

The Australian Greens have today urged the Immigration Minister to relinquish his role as the legal guardian of 26 Vietnamese unaccompanied children in detention in Darwin and release them into the community. “The Minister must cease being the legal guardian of all unaccompanied children and be replaced by an independent advocate who can act in their best interests and stand up for their welfare,” Greens’ immigration spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said. “This desperate plea in a letter today from a…

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