Migration

Review: Australia, real and imagined
Review: Australia, real and imagined
Review: Tim Watts, The Golden Country: Australia’s Changing Identity (Text Publishing 2019) Summer reading bins have been well stocked with memoirs by retired Australian…
The Rohingya Football Club
The Rohingya Football Club
I’ve worked a lot in development areas, but I have never run a charity before. So, when I decided to set up a locally based international aid and development not-for-profit, it…
Out of sight, out of mind? Irregular people movement on the doorstep
Out of sight, out of mind? Irregular people movement on the doorstep
Earlier this year, French authorities intercepted a boat from Sri Lanka heading to Réunion Island, a journey of more than 4000 kilometres in the direction of Madagascar. Reports…
Australia, New Zealand and the “corrosive” character test
Australia, New Zealand and the “corrosive” character test
In the first parliamentary sitting week following Australia’s recent election, a bill to amend the Migration Act was introduced and tabled in the House of Representatives. This…
Harnessing demographic destiny
Harnessing demographic destiny
Once confident predictions that the world’s population will reach 11 billion by the end of this century are beginning to be debunked. It is now appears more likely that the global…
That Trump phone call to Australia and what it means to refugees today
That Trump phone call to Australia and what it means to refugees today
When US President Donald Trump and former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull held their infamous, protocol-smashing phone call in the president’s first week in office in…
My mother’s life: faraway dreams, new growth and seeking acceptance
My mother’s life: faraway dreams, new growth and seeking acceptance
To mark Mother’s Day on Sunday, The Interpreter invited contributors to write about their mothers who shaped world politics or were shaped by it. Too often the “immigration…
Trafficking in old anxieties
Trafficking in old anxieties
Are the boats back? Once again a reliable fear of “uncontrolled” immigration has been invoked in an Australian federal election. This time current Prime Minister Scott Morrison…
Visa tussles: here come the Irish again
Visa tussles: here come the Irish again
The Irish campaign to gain access to the E-3 visa in the United States has roared back to life.  Currently, Australia is the only country with access to the 10,500 E-3 visa…
Refugees are educating themselves abroad. Australia should help
Refugees are educating themselves abroad. Australia should help
Picture this. At 68.5 million people, it’s the 23rd largest population on earth. There is no healthcare system. Going to school is often illegal. There is no social welfare…