42nd boat arrives off Australian coast Nov 16, 2009
He said the group would be transferred to Christmas Island to undergo security, identity and health checks and to establish their reasons for travel. It is the 42nd boat to arrive this year. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
Time to change course for Christmas Island, PM Nov 12, 2009
The Oceanic Viking should be directed to take the Sri Lankans to Christmas Island so their claims can be assessed 00004000 by the normal process. If the farcical stand-off continues, Australia will succeed only in looking as foolish as it is lacking in humanity. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
Sri Lankan solution will not deter smugglers Nov 12, 2009
Bluntly put, this is a far better outcome for the 78 asylum-seekers than if they had got their first wish, to be taken to Christmas Island for processing by Australia and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees ... Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's desperation to save face and not have the Oceanic Viking steaming into Christmas Island's port has seen him go the whole nine yards, and some more besides, in a transparent attempt to save his political hide ... He is so desperate not to admit he might have... (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
Evangelist PM overdoes the fire and brimstone Nov 9, 2009
John Pilger's point is simple: the Christmas Island camp is an abhorrent way to treat people seeking asylum, whatever their country of origin, and however they reach, or almost reach, our shores. No amount of window-dressing, and no amount of bluster, especially from hypocritical politicians, will change this. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
PM can save his voice next time - that poll slide was a rough 'un Nov 9, 2009
Send the boatload to Christmas Island but deal with ALEX. the self confessed people smuggler, harshly -- 10 yrs imprisonment - may be. Blokey1 | Canberra - November 09, 2009, 10:25AM. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
In your ears until they bleed, the calm, methodical Rudd Nov 8, 2009
The guano ranges of Christmas Island will be adorned with their own loudspeakers, and struggling media entities such as Mr Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation will be granted fat broadcasting licences on the public shilling. Locals will be issued with special ear plugs composed of surplus wadding from the Government's scaled-down insulation scheme. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
Rudd ready to sit out boat crisis Nov 5, 2009
THE Federal Government has refused to take the 78 asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking to Christmas Island, saying the deal between Jakarta and Australia to disembark the Sri Lankans in Indonesia needed to be honoured ... The boat is believed to be carrying 16 people, who will be taken to Christmas Island ... He sent a veiled message to Indonesia by saying that the 27 survivors whose boat sank off the Cocos Islands on Sunday were going to Christmas Island because they were saved in... (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
Cardboard Kev Nov 2, 2009
Ultimately he must either continue to implement the ''Indonesia solution'' or accept that Australia will need to process growing numbers of arrivals on Christmas Island and the Australian mainland ... By leaving the problem to Indonesian authorities, the Government hopes to harden its ''tough on border protection'' credentials and solve political and logistical problems created by overcrowding at Christmas Island. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
Australia to expand asylum centre Nov 1, 2009
The Australian government has announced plans to significantly expand a detention centre on Christmas Island to cope with the influx of asylum seekers ... Critics argue that asylum seekers are held at Christmas Island for processing, rather than allowing them to step foot on the Australian mainland ... So the decision to expand the capacity of the Christmas Island detention centre in the Indian Ocean, where asylum seekers arriving by boat, are processed is hugely contentious. (BBC News -- Asia-Pacific)
World hits home Nov 1, 2009
The suggestion that they're not that keen is poison for those who believe that Australia should accept the reality of the asylum-seeker phenomenon and simply pick them up and move them to Christmas Island or the mainland, and start processing them straight away ... None of this baloney about Indonesia holding them for us or Christmas Island not being a part of Australia. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
Rising tide of asylum-seekers: Will Australia let them in? Oct 31, 2009
Asylum-seekers who reach Australian waters are taken to Christmas Island, a remote Australian territory in the Indian Ocean ... The use of Christmas Island bursting at the seams following the arrival of 34 boats carrying about 1,700 people this year, the largest number for seven years has been denounced by the Australian Human Rights Commission. (Christian Science Monitor -- World)
Captain Rudd's preferred course - a little to the right Oct 31, 2009
The boat people are locked up and processed on Australian territory, and Christmas Island in particular, rather than in Nauru or Papua New Guinea. Women and children are no longer caged behind razorwire, but that was a Howard policy from 2005 that Labor has inherited. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
UN puts Rudd policies in spotlight Oct 27, 2009
It is understood Mr Grover, who will also examine health issues in indigenous communities and prisons, is not planning to visit Christmas Island because of time constraints. Several Australian human rights lawyers and groups, including the local branch of Amnesty International, are concerned about moves to have asylum seekers processed in Indonesia, which is not a signatory to the UN convention on refugees. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
Wielding the whip on asylum seekers Oct 27, 2009
Each year 30,000 West Africans make a dangerous eight day boat journey to the Canary Islands, a stepping stone to Europe as Christmas Island is to Australia. NGOs and the Red Cross advise them to arrive without papers because Spain has only 40 days to identify their country of origin and deport them. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
Smith calm amid storm Oct 26, 2009
I see Wilson Tuckey has come up with another pronouncement that asylum seekers could endanger the health of Australian children because health checks are inadequate on Christmas Island. It seems to me that the Opposition speaks with forked tongue on this issue on the one hand they demand that the Governemnt does not allow even one of these people to set foot on Australian soil and on the other they castigate the Government for causing the death of asylum seekers on the high seas and for not... (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
Christmas Island 'violates' rights Oct 24, 2009
Australia should stop using Christmas Island to detain people and create two classes of asylum seekers, Australian Human Rights Commissioner Catherine Branson says. As a boatload of 33 people, picked up by the Navy yesterday, was poised to crowd the island further, Ms Branson, QC, lashed the retention of laws that excised thousands of Australian islands, including Christmas Island, for migration purposes ... Laws excising the islands should be overturned immediately, the commission said in its... (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
Labor charged with mistreating boat people Oct 24, 2009
THE Human Rights Commissioner, Catherine Branson, has criticised conditions on Christmas Island and demanded the Rudd Government stop detaining people there immediately ... Its arrival will put further pressure on Christmas Island, which already has 1129 detainees, and feed Opposition claims that the Government has lost control of Australia's borders ... The Howard-era laws excising the islands should be overturned immediately, the commission's 2009 Immigration Detention and Offshore Processing... (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
Labor all at sea on asylum promises Oct 23, 2009
The development came as the debate in Parliament turned ugly, with Liberals claiming the asylum seekers posed terrorism and disease risks, and a boat carrying 32 people was intercepted near Christmas Island. New figures tabled in Parliament showed the Government has failed to deliver on its election promise to speed up decisions on whether to let asylum seekers stay in the country. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
Labor's policies are not encouraging boat people Oct 23, 2009
Labor also maintained the key border protection policies of the previous Government a system of excision and the mandatory detention, and the offshore processing on Christmas Island of all irregular maritime arrivals. We also firmly believe that regional engagement and co-operation with Indonesia and other South-East Asian neighbours is a vital component of a successful policy to combat people smuggling and have therefore increased our regional cooperation arrangements. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
Another 'asylum seeker' boat intercepted Oct 23, 2009
The Australian Human Rights Commission has criticised the federal government over its use of mandatory detention and processing of asylum seekers on Christmas Island ... The commission said the decision to unwind the Pacific Solution, introduced under the Howard government, was a step in the right direction, but has raised concerns over the Rudd government's use of Christmas Island to process asylum seekers ... "The Australian Human Rights Commission welcomed the federal government's decision to... (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
Come hell or high water Oct 17, 2009
The Sri Lankan asylum seekers engage in a hunger strike after their boat broke down on the way to Australia's Christmas Island ... The buses were back in Flying Fish Cove on Monday and Tuesday this week to collect another 52 asylum seekers the navy had harvested from the seas round Christmas Island ... Nor did they precipitate a crisis on Christmas Island. (Sydney Morning Herald -- World)
Asylum seekers Oct 15, 2009
Liberty tested on river Nile. Liberty tested on river Nile. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
Detention bill reopens split over asylum seekers Aug 19, 2009
Prison-like detention centres, such as the $400 million compound at Christmas Island, should be used only when no other option was available, the committee said ... Repeated attempts to visit Christmas Island after the surge in boat arrivals began were rejected and the department failed to provide a detailed breakdown on how much detention cost, she said ... "The detention centre on Christmas Island is the only large, secure immigration detention facility available other than the Villawood... (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
* World News Quick Take Jul 13, 2009
The navy stopped a boat carrying more than 70 suspected asylum seekers about 32km northwest of Christmas Island, where the government detains and processes refugee applicants, Home Affairs Minister Brendan OConnor said in a statement. The 73 passengers were being held yesterday on the island, which is about 2,575km northwest of Western Australia. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
* SYLVANIA, OHIO Jul 5, 2009
Our staff went to the detention center in Christmas Island and in Perth and they found that some of the fishermen told them that they didnt know anything, Joelianto told the newspaper ... Australias detention center on Christmas Island, a tiny Australian possession in the Indian Ocean just south of the Indonesian island of Java, is getting full with hundreds of asylum-seekers waiting to have their claims processed. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- Business)
Australian Hospitals Treat Burns Victims After Fire on Asylum Seeker Boat Apr 17, 2009
The wooden fishing vessel with two crew and 47 refugees on board caught fire early yesterday more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) off the northwestern coast as it was being escorted to Christmas Island, a remote Australian territory that houses a processing center for asylum seekers ... All asylum seekers intercepted at sea will now be detained on Christmas Island while they undergo checks. (Bloomberg -- Australia & New Zealand)
Ninth Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan Mar 18, 2009
THE mystery of the Christmas Island body - which washed ... THE mystery of the Christmas Island body - which washed ashore in 1942, three months after the battle that sank the HMAS Sydney - was partially solved yesterday with the commissioner of an inquiry into the sinking, Terence Cole, QC, finding the remains were those of a sailor who fought in the battle. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
Time running out to fix health Feb 25, 2009
Why detention on Christmas Island. And for how long. (The Australian)
