Asylum seekers in Melbourne are volunteering in droves as they try to find ways to make a contribution, occupy themselves and connect with local communities. An audit of asylum seeker clients of settlement agency AMES has found more than 400…

The federal government says mandatory sentences for people smugglers will remain, despite a judge saying the punishment is too severe for a former refugee who helped his family travel to Australia. Lamis Hameed Alli Baighi, 36, has been jailed for…

A set of measures to gauge the success of multiculturalism in Victoria will be introduced by the State Government under a new policy to protect cultural diversity. For the first time, the Government will monitor the performance of culturally diverse…

The night Reza Barati died at Australia’s offshore detention centre on Manus Island, hip-hop artist Urthboy was already writing a song about Australia’s hard-line asylum seeker policy. ”[It] started with me getting my head around how we were using our…

A SERIES of special breakfasts aims to connect the local business and migrant communities. The breakfasts are the continuation of a City of Ballarat program that aims to help upskill migrants who are new to Ballarat, in the hope of…

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has faced accusations that Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers is “inhumane and uncivilised” during a hostile BBC interview in London. Ms Bishop is in the United Kingdom for the annual AUKMIN meeting with her British counterpart…

In 2007 Ireland elected a Nigerian-born man as its first black mayor. Late last year a Hamas rocket landed in Israel killing a farmworker. Not so unusual, except that the worker was Thai. These two unrelated incidents are indicative of…

Geelong based training and settlement agency Diversitat this week opened its new training facility in the centre of the city. The $2 million building, in Ryan Place, is a key part of Diversitat’s central campus and houses training and administration…

Newcomers to Australia are being urged to protect their children against a range of cancers by signing up to the National HPV Vaccination Program. Parents of children aged 12-13 years can take advantage of the free Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination…

More than a hundred satisfied customers enjoyed a sumptuous five-course repast at fifty-six threads café last weekend as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. The ‘Sea of Cultures’ event was hailed by all as a great success and congratulations flowed…

Asylum seekers and workers at the Manus Island detention centre should be flown to Australia to give their evidence to the newly established Senate inquiry, a spokesman for Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister says. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/manus-island-inquiry-png-may-not-allow-australian-probe-on-its-soil-20140306-34aao.html#ixzz2vE0xzGcW  

The Australian Greens say the federal government’s decision to re-introduce a controversial freeze on granting protection visas to refugees who arrive by boat amounts to chaotic policy making. Read more: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/03/06/government-re-introduces-visa-freeze-refugee-boat-arrivals