This federal election reeks of a punitive, vicious and even racist campaign against refugees — but there is at least one breath of fresh air. While scarcely able to match the anti-refugee noise of Liberal and Labor, the Socialist
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BY SARAH STEPHEN & DANIEL MOYA Bashir Shamkhi's wife and three children were on the boat intercepted by the HMAS Adelaide on October 7. He knows exactly the desperation and fear which led some to jump overboard when confronted by the warship and
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SYDNEY — For two days, beginning on October 7 every section of the corporate media, from TV to newspaper, reported that a group of around 220 Iraqi asylum seekers had callously thrown their children overboard before themselves
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Despite being pushed off the front pages by the September 11 attacks in the US, the Australian government's scandalous treatment of asylum seekers has continued unabated. The government's "war on refugees" reached a new level of
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On September 24, six pieces of legislation were rammed through the Senate after debate was gagged with the support of the Labor Party. A seventh law was still being debated at the close of sitting. The laws will dramatically
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MELBOURNE — October 3 was to be the first day of the three-day blockade of the Commonwealth Business Forum — the O3 blockade. But in the wake of Howard's cancellation of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and with it
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Trade union leaders in Britain have called on the Labour government to abolish asylum detention centres and to scrap the voucher system of benefits for refugees in Britain, according to a September 11 ABC report. Trades Union
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BY VIV MILEY & SARAH STEPHEN On the weekend of September 22-23, more than 300 asylum seekers had been sitting in boats off Ashmore Reef and the Cocos Islands for days — some for close to two weeks — and the government has yet to announce their
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Boats carrying "illegal immigrants" to Australia could be "a pipeline for terrorists", defence minister Peter Reith told radio 3AW on September 13, in an opportunist attempt to make domestic political mileage out of the September
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In comparison to the number of refugees arriving in the United States or Europe, the number of refugees arriving on Australia's shores is a mere trickle, yet the Howard government continues to whip up a frenzied state of fear
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Determined to remake himself as a strong, decisive leader, Prime Minister John Howard declared in parliament on August 29, "That boat will never land in our waters — never!" Decked out in full combat gear, complete with automatic
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The Coalition government claims Australia is a very generous country which takes in large numbers of refugees, and that asylum seekers arriving on our shores are simply taking advantage of that reputation. Of the 10 countries who