Border protection
Site of Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator Amanda Vanstone.

Factsheets
Site of Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Factsheets addressing humanitarian issues, border control and detention arrangements.

Illegal migration and detention
Site of Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator Amanda Vanstone. Includes information about border control in relation to migration legislation, visa requirements and character checking.

Immigration detention
Site of Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator Amanda Vanstone. The site mentions Australia's Migration Act 1958 and Australia's immigration detention policy. Includes links to detention facilities and detention policies.

Introduction of Legislation – November 2001
A table of contents to web-pages that cover the “Excision” legislative changes and excised offshore places.

Managing the border: immigration compliance 2004-2005
Publication of Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Chapters include preventing unlawful entry into Australia, detecting unauthorized boat arrivals and people smuggling and trafficking.

Alternate political party policies

Australian Democrats “Alternatives to detention” issue sheet

Australian Democrats “Children in detention” issue sheet

Australian Democrats “Immigration policy”

Australian Democrats “Pacific solution” issue sheet

Australian Greens “Immigration and refugees” policy

Australian Labor Party “Human Rights and Equal Opportunity for All”
Chapter Seven of the ALP National Platform and Constitution, as adopted at the 43rd National Conference - Sydney, 29 January - 31 January 2004. See particularly items 110 onwards, and the last section titled “The Implementation of Labor's Refugee and Asylum Seeker Policy in Government”

Family First party “Asylum seekers” policy

One Nation “Multiculturalism – Immigration” policy

Non Government Organisations (NGO’s)

A last resort? The national inquiry into children in immigration detention.

Amnesty International
Amnesty International documents their concerns about Australia’s “Pacific Solution”.

Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
Reports and briefing papers on asylum seekers treatment in Australia.

Human Rights Watch
“By Invitation Only” is Human Rights Watch response to Australia’s asylum policy.

Oxfam Australia
Oxfam Australia’s reports “Adrift in the Pacific” and “Still Drifting” on the Pacific Refugee Solution. A report noting that Australia recently experienced two waves of asylum seekers – at the beginning and end of the 1990s. In both cases, the processing system was overwhelmed, and consequently many asylum seekers spent considerable time in detention – with strongly negative human and social costs.

Project Safe

United Nations Refugee Agency
Search for “Australia” to access briefing notes on Australia’s legislation and policy about refugees, border controls etc.

Support Groups

A Just Australia: Australians for Just Refugee Programs
“Offshore Refugee Processing” brief on the proposed changes, April 2006.

Boat people
A pressure group aiming to change the treatment of refugees by our government.

Chilout: children out of detention
Pressure group aiming to change the treatment of child refugees who land at Australia by boat.

SIEV X
Abstract: Primary and secondary source material related to the SIEVX Affair and Australia's People Smuggling Disruption Programme. Use sidebar navigation to access Chronology and Frequently Asked Questions sections.

The Justice Project Inc
The Justice Project was formed in 2004. Its first project was to campaign for refugee policy reform and to campaign for the restoration of human rights in Australia. Jessie Taylor’s article “The Newly Proposed Refugee Laws: A Renovation of John Howard’s Pacific Solution” explains the changes to the Migration Act in simple language, in context, and explains how to be most effective in helping block piece of legislation.

Alternative media opinions

ON LINE opinion
Australia's e-journal of social and political debate.