Links Roundup 28 March - 20 April 2013
Asylum seekers were illegally deported to Sri Lanka last week without benefit of either legal advice nor any actual efforts to determine whether they were, in fact, refugees. The results for returnees are likely to be grim. (At least in one recent case, involving a Hazara man, the courts didn't let DIMIA get away with it.)
Indonesia, which hosts thousands of refugees but will not allow them to settle, has asked Australia to accept more refugees through official channels. (This was also one of the recommendations of the Houston inquiry, along with an increase in our global annual intake.)
Australia's prisons for refugees are run by security company Serco, whose contracts have exploded over the last four years from about $300,000 to $1.8 billion. ETA: The total cost of DIMIA contracts - the "asylum seeker industry" - is $8 billion. That's more than twice what's set aside in this year's federal budget for improving aged care, or for the increased family tax benefit and the schoolkids bonus combined.
Fact sheets on asylum seekers in Australia. | The personal story of the wife of a refugee lucky enough to arrive in Australia by plane. | A scholarship set up in the name of a refugee student has seen her graduate with degrees in both medicine and pharmacy. | The Opposition mendaciously links asylum seekers to crime - not so much dog whistling as blasting the hunting horn.
Why I continue to Boycott Nestlé. (More information from Save The Children.)
Half of Sydney's homeless are mentally ill. There but for my loved ones and my extensive medical staff go I. (ETA: The full report: The homeless of the inner-city: A snapshot 2013.)
NOW's 2010 report to the UN on Domestic Violence and Femicide Resulting from Inadequate Gun Control and Firearms Regulation in the United States. | States With Loose Gun Laws Have Higher Rates Of Gun Violence | "powerful and staunch supporter of gun rights" quits NRA over background checks | Expert advice on avoiding bullets if there's a shoot-out ("for cripes sake, do not step out on to your front porch and start recording a video on your iPhone")
In Rape Tragedies, the Shame Is Ours: The cyberbullying of young women who have been raped, including two who took their own lives. "I will never understand why it is more shameful to be raped than to be a rapist." This made me inarticulate with grief and rage... I am probably not Anonymous' greatest fan, but their active support for justice for one of the victims impresses me. But the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing shows how dangerous it could be for Anon to publicly identify the alleged rapists. That's information for the police, not the lynch mob.
Russell Brand meditates with compassion on the demise of Margaret Thatcher. For an idea of why so many people were so gleeful at her death, check out these graphs of how the UK changed under her leadership.
In lighter news, I wonder what percentage of the "synthetic outrage" over Justin Bieber's Anne Frank comment comes from the fact that, as entertainment for teenage girls, he is automatically derisible.
Indonesia, which hosts thousands of refugees but will not allow them to settle, has asked Australia to accept more refugees through official channels. (This was also one of the recommendations of the Houston inquiry, along with an increase in our global annual intake.)
Australia's prisons for refugees are run by security company Serco, whose contracts have exploded over the last four years from about $300,000 to $1.8 billion. ETA: The total cost of DIMIA contracts - the "asylum seeker industry" - is $8 billion. That's more than twice what's set aside in this year's federal budget for improving aged care, or for the increased family tax benefit and the schoolkids bonus combined.
Fact sheets on asylum seekers in Australia. | The personal story of the wife of a refugee lucky enough to arrive in Australia by plane. | A scholarship set up in the name of a refugee student has seen her graduate with degrees in both medicine and pharmacy. | The Opposition mendaciously links asylum seekers to crime - not so much dog whistling as blasting the hunting horn.
Why I continue to Boycott Nestlé. (More information from Save The Children.)
Half of Sydney's homeless are mentally ill. There but for my loved ones and my extensive medical staff go I. (ETA: The full report: The homeless of the inner-city: A snapshot 2013.)
NOW's 2010 report to the UN on Domestic Violence and Femicide Resulting from Inadequate Gun Control and Firearms Regulation in the United States. | States With Loose Gun Laws Have Higher Rates Of Gun Violence | "powerful and staunch supporter of gun rights" quits NRA over background checks | Expert advice on avoiding bullets if there's a shoot-out ("for cripes sake, do not step out on to your front porch and start recording a video on your iPhone")
In Rape Tragedies, the Shame Is Ours: The cyberbullying of young women who have been raped, including two who took their own lives. "I will never understand why it is more shameful to be raped than to be a rapist." This made me inarticulate with grief and rage... I am probably not Anonymous' greatest fan, but their active support for justice for one of the victims impresses me. But the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing shows how dangerous it could be for Anon to publicly identify the alleged rapists. That's information for the police, not the lynch mob.
Russell Brand meditates with compassion on the demise of Margaret Thatcher. For an idea of why so many people were so gleeful at her death, check out these graphs of how the UK changed under her leadership.
In lighter news, I wonder what percentage of the "synthetic outrage" over Justin Bieber's Anne Frank comment comes from the fact that, as entertainment for teenage girls, he is automatically derisible.