News & Politics - Australian News #1 ~ News from Down Under

**sunnykerr** · 07-06-2010, 07:32 PM

I know, least original title ever. I apologize. I'm willing to change it (assuming I can figure out how) the second anyone comes up with something else they'd rather see.

I'm also open for some actual original art for the opening post.

I just figured it was past time there was a thread for what I was raised to call Oceania, but what I've been told to call Australia.

So I mean no offense to anyone from New Zealand, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and so forth. Chalk it up to ignorance and please forgive me.

**sunnykerr** · 07-06-2010, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Australian PM Gillard plans E Timor asylum centre

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced plans to create a refugee processing centre in East Timor.

Under the plan people seeking asylum in Australia would be housed in the centre while their credentials were checked.

Ms Gillard said the move was aimed at thwarting traffickers and that talks with East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta and the UN had already begun.

Treatment of asylum seekers is a contentious issue in Australia, where elections are expected this year.

Opposition plan

The leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott, also announced a new asylum policy on Tuesday.

Mr Abbott said he would "turn back the boats" by restoring the Pacific Solution set up by former Prime Minister John Howard, under which new arrivals were placed in detention centres in Pacific states, such as Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

That system was scrapped by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Australia currently sends asylum seekers to its Indian Ocean processing centre on Christmas Island.

However, the detention centre is overcrowded and many asylum seekers have been moved to the mainland while their applications are assessed.

In unveiling her plan for an East Timor processing centre Ms Gillard said that her "government is not interested in pursuing a new Pacific Solution".

However, she claimed that establishing "a regional processing centre removes the incentive, once and for all, for the people smugglers to send boats to Australia".

"The purpose would be to ensure that people smugglers have no product to sell. Arriving by boat would just be a ticket back to the regional processing centre," she told the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney.

'Magnified issue'

Rebutting critics who said she was pandering to the anti-immigration lobby, she said it was wrong to describe Australians who had concerns about immigration as "rednecks".

During the speech, her first major address touching on foreign policy, Ms Gillard also announced an immediate restart to the processing of asylum claims from Sri Lankans, but said that the same suspension would not be lifted for Afghans however.

The BBC's Nick Bryant says that border protection looms large in the Australian psyche, and even though asylum seekers represent a tiny fraction of the country's annual immigration intake - just 1.6% - their unauthorised arrival has been magnified into a big political issue.

By unveiling new border protection policies, Ms Gillard is attempting to take the heat out of the debate ahead of the forthcoming election, he says.

BBC News - Australian PM Gillard plans E Timor asylum centre

It sounds to me like she's just trying to fix an overcrowding issue. And it would make more sense (to me) to have a centralized location for processing.

But it also feels a bit Ellis Island-ish to me, and we all know that eventually had to be scrapped. So, I don't really know if she's going about it the right way.

**Wildfire Girl** · 07-08-2010, 08:17 AM

Thanks for the thread Sunny

**sunnykerr** · 07-12-2010, 04:11 PM

There were a lot of Australian stories for a while there, and a lot of Australians posting on here on account of their new female PM... I thought it made sense.

Of course, the fact that you and I are the only ones to have posted anything on here since then seems to contradict that...

**sunnykerr** · 07-14-2010, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Australia and Indonesia discuss refugee processing

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith is on his way to Indonesia for talks about plans for a regional refugee processing centre.

Australia has proposed setting up an asylum seekers' centre in East Timor.

But Indonesia has expressed concern that this could attract more refugees to Indonesian waters, and East Timor has not agreed to the plan.

Australia wants to deter asylum seekers, many from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, from sailing to Australia.

Many of them have been caught in Indonesian waters, and Indonesian authorities have pointed out that Indonesian West Timor and independent East Timor share a porous land border.

Regional solutions?

The Australian foreign minister will meet with his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa in Jakarta.

Mr Smith told Australian media that a regional processing centre would encourage asylum seekers to focus on one destination in the region.

"I think when we sit down with not just Indonesia, but other countries in the region the policy rationale for a regional processing centre is to undercut the incentive for secondary movement, particularly to undercut the incentive for secondary movement by boat across the high seas in dangerous circumstances," he said.

Australia has also said it remains in talks with East Timor over the plan, despite a rejection by the country's parliament.

"Our focus is on discussions with the East Timor government, and the East Timor government continues to confirm to us that it is open to the dialogue about the regional processing centre, and we're in that dialogue now," new Prime Minister Julia Gillard told parliament on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Pacific territory of Nauru has offered to host a processing centre again, as it did under a previous Australian government in what was called the Pacific solution.

Immigration is highly controversial in Australia, where an election is expected to be called shortly.

Asylum-seekers are currently processed at Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, but this centre is overwhelmed and others have had to be reopened on the Australian mainland.

The BBC's Indonesia correspondent Karishma Vaswani says Indonesia and Australia have struggled to solve this issue in the past.

Last year they failed to sign a wide ranging agreement on asylum seekers which had been dubbed by the media as the Indonesian solution.

Official figures show that about 2,982 asylum-seekers were intercepted on their way to Australia this year until 19 May.

BBC News - Australia and Indonesia discuss refugee processing

I don't know if this constitute illegal immigration, though it kinda seems like it would. I'm just saying, I didn't realize it was such a big issue in Australia. Kinda feels like I should have known.

**sunnykerr** · 07-17-2010, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Australian PM Julia Gillard sets general election date

Australia will hold a general election on 21 August, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced.

Ms Gillard - the country's first female prime minister - said the snap poll would be "tough and close".

The governing Labor Party elected her as leader three weeks ago after ousting her predecessor, Kevin Rudd.

The race between Labor and the conservative opposition Liberal Party is expected to focus on the economy, health, climate change and immigration.

"This election is about the choice as to whether we move Australia forward or go back," Ms Gillard said in a televised speech in Canberra.

"Moving forward means moving forward with budget surpluses and a stronger economy."

She said that it also "means moving forward with stronger protection of our borders and strong plan, a real plan, that takes away from people-smugglers and the products they sell".

Opposition Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott has dismissed the recent change of the Labor leadership, saying Ms Gillard was committed to the "same dud policies" of her predecessor.

It will be the toughest fight in Ms Gillard's political life, the BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney says.

Recent opinion polls give Labor a lead over the Liberals and Ms Gillard will be hoping to secure another three-year term, our correspondent adds.

Labor wrangles

Ms Gillard became Australia's prime minister last month after a surprise leadership vote saw Mr Rudd deposed.

Mr Rudd chose not to take part in the ballot, knowing he would suffer an embarrassing defeat to his deputy.

Labor has suffered a sharp drop in support in opinion polls this year.

A U-turn on a carbon trading scheme and a wrangle over a controversial mining tax led to a sharp slide in approval ratings for Mr Rudd's government.

Ms Gillard was born in Barry in south Wales, moving to Australia with her family at the age of four.

BBC News - Australian PM Julia Gillard sets general election date

So I guess you guys are headed to the polls...

**sunnykerr** · 07-18-2010, 07:07 AM

It's the kind of thing that's expected, but it looks like not everyone's not happy with this:

Quote:

Australian opposition leader attacks snap election call

Australia's main opposition leader Tony Abbott, has criticised the nation's new Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, after she called a snap general election.

Mr Abbott said voters would not be "conned" by a leader who was running to the polls before she had established her credentials.

She became prime minister in June after ousting her predecessor Kevin Rudd.

"Julia Gillard's recent past is so littered with failures, including the political corpse of an elected prime minister," Mr Abbot said at a meeting of his conservative Liberal Party in Brisbane, Queensland.

He added that Ms Gillard had so far failed to prove that she was able "to lead our nation".

'Toughest fight'

The race between Labor and the Liberal Party is expected to focus on the economy, health, climate change and immigration.

It will be the toughest fight in Ms Gillard's political life, the BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney says.

Recent opinion polls give Labor a slight lead over the Liberals and Ms Gillard will be hoping to secure another three-year term, our correspondent adds.

In a televised address in Canberra, the country's first female prime minister admitted that the poll would be "tough and close".

"This election is about the choice as to whether we move Australia forward or go back," Ms Gillard said.

"Moving forward means moving forward with budget surpluses and a stronger economy."

She said that it also "means moving forward with stronger protection of our borders and strong plan, a real plan, that takes away from people-smugglers and the products they sell".

Labor wrangles

Ms Gillard became Australia's prime minister last month after a surprise leadership vote saw Mr Rudd deposed.

Mr Rudd chose not to take part in the ballot, knowing he would suffer an embarrassing defeat to his deputy.

Labor has suffered a sharp drop in support in opinion polls this year.

A U-turn on a carbon trading scheme and a wrangle over a controversial mining tax led to a sharp slide in approval ratings for Mr Rudd's government.

Ms Gillard was born in Barry in south Wales, moving to Australia with her family at the age of four.

BBC News - Australian opposition leader attacks snap election call

foreva_99 · 07-19-2010, 03:58 AM

Thanks for all the latest news - I have to admit that I am already sick of all the ads on the television.

-Kelly- · 07-19-2010, 10:23 PM

Thanks for the thread

I'll spread the news around about the news thread.

Right now, I'm hating the ads too

**canflam** · 07-19-2010, 10:36 PM

I don't understand. What do you mean you're going to ''spread the news around'' about this thread? Are you from Australia?

-Kelly- · 07-19-2010, 10:49 PM

Yes, I'm from Australia

I'm just telling the Aussies there's a thread for Australian news.

**canflam** · 07-20-2010, 12:29 PM

That makes sense. Good luck.

**Wildfire Girl** · 07-21-2010, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -Kelly- (View Post)

Yes, I'm from Australia

I'm just telling the Aussies there's a thread for Australian news.

Be nice to have some Austrailians in here to discuss the news pertenate to them.

**sunnykerr** · 07-25-2010, 07:22 AM

I would indeed be very nice to have actual Australians on the Australian News thread.

-Kelly- · 08-20-2010, 08:31 AM

Tomorrow, the Aussies gets to Vote.

I don't want Abbott to win or the Greens


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