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Integration Portal transports people to cultural unity

20 June 2013, 14:47 AEST

An art installation in the Victorian city of Geelong combines vision and sound to encourage people to think about integration.

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Maw Poad from Myanmar's Karenni minority

Refugees share their stories of hope

19 June 2013, 14:34 AEST

Thursday June 20th is World Refugee Day. In Australia it falls in the middle of Refugee Week, which is a celebration of the contribution refugees make to the community. It is also an opportunity to raise important issues related to refugees and migration.

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Exhibition recognises sugar's Pacific foundation

Updated 19 June 2013, 17:13 AEST Neroli Roocke

The earliest days of the sugar industry and its dependence on workers, willing and unwilling, from the Pacific are on show in Brisbane.

Pacific Beat

Samoan immigration scheme to NZ overwhelmed

13 June 2013, 9:12 AEST

More and more Samoans are veiwing New Zealand, despite its tough economic times, as the land of opportunity.

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Lawyer says security guards on Nauru told to prepare to free detained asylum seekers

Updated 11 June 2013, 5:32 AEST By Jeff Waters

There are claims that security guards at the Immigration Department detention centre on Nauru have been told to prepare for the camp to be opened up to allow detainees to "run free". A legal team headed by Melbourne barrister Julian Burnside QC has arrived on the island to file a case on behalf of 10 detained asylum seekers. Legal experts say that if the case succeeds all of the asylum seekers on Nauru may need to be released.

Australian legal team in Nauru arguing for release of asylum seekers

Updated 10 June 2013, 17:38 AEST

An Australian legal team is in Nauru arguing for the immediate release of asylum seekers detained in an Australian-run centre in the island nation.

Asylum seeker search: no survivors from sunken asylum boat near Christmas Island

Updated 10 June 2013, 9:42 AEST

The Australian Maritime and Safety Authority has abandoned a search for at least 55 asylum seekers who drowned after their vessel sank off the coast of Christmas Island. The search, which began late on Wednesday, was called off last night after medical advice that no-one could have survived in the ocean for that long. Another 78 people, believed to be Sri Lankan asylum seekers, arrived on Christmas Island yesterday afternoon after a British merchant vessel came to their rescue.

AFP denies claims riot squad was withdrawn from Christmas Island to highlight security concerns

Updated 29 May 2013, 15:11 AEST By Will Ockenden, staff

The Australian Federal Police has rejected the claims of a whistleblower who says it pulled riot squad staff from Christmas Island for political reasons. Sergeant Brendan Thomson told the ABC's 7.30 program that the elite unit was withdrawn from the island just before the 2011 riots to highlight the shortcomings of the Immigration Department and its private security contractors. Speaking this morning, the AFP's Deputy Commissioner denied the claim, but admitted a senior officer's statement that the squad was pulled out to "manufacture a situation" was a "poor choice of words".

Pacific Beat

Climate change migrants reluctant to leave homes

29 May 2013, 8:20 AEST

Coping with mass migration from Pacific Island nations affected by rising sea levels caused by climate change was on top of the agenda for a regional meeting in Rarotonga last week.

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