With Australia’s asylum seeker policy and its bearings on human rights making headlines around the world, Cowra Shire Councillor Ruth Fagan said this year’s choice of guest nation for the Festival of International Understanding is more important than ever. Read…

Australia’s asylum seeker resettlement arrangements on Manus Island and Nauru will be questioned by the UN human rights commissioner. Australia is set to face a high-level international call to review its offshore asylum seeker detainment arrangements after the death of…

LANGUAGE barriers affecting more than half of Brimbank’s population can be addressed, the Brimbank Council believes. Read more: http://leader.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/showarticle.aspx?&article=ba459d2b-d648-4d0a-bcf4-5de6c71a4209&viewmode=2&page=9

THE Napthine Government will monitor the views of Victorians on controversial issues such as multiculturalism and immigration under a key policy to give migrants a fair go. For the first time, the Government will also track the performance of culturally…

Scientists have used DNA to accurately chart the history of migration across the globe for the first time. The ground breaking work has produced a fascinating map that shows how mixing between populations occurred. The scientists, from University College London…

ASYLUM seekers will be interviewed by a Papua New Guinea judge as he investigates their treatment at the Australian run detention centre on Manus island. Justice David Cannings has announced he will visit Manus to investigate whether asylum seekers are…

AUSTRALIA’S migrants are abandoning their adopted country at record levels, new data reveals. The number of former migrants leaving country has doubled in just over a decade to 48,000 and last year made up more than half of all Australians…

Newly arrived asylum seekers and refugees are taking up cricket as way of connecting with communities and finding meaningful ways to occupy themselves. Dozens have already joined local clubs and more have taken part in clinics or open days. One…

Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers is inhumane and lacks compassion, Canberra’s Christian leaders say. Newly appointed Catholic Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn Christopher Prowse (pictured) spoke out about public attitudes towards asylum seekers at a church service at St Christopher’s…

The rate of youth unemployment has soared across the country with the level in Victoria reaching 14%, according to recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The worst hit areas are Melbourne’s outer suburbs and the regions, including north-east…

Help celebrate Melbourne’s cultural diversity with an afternoon of family friendly fun. The 2014 Community Cultural Fair is being hosted by AMES and the Melbourne City Council as part of Cultural Diversity Week on Saturday March 15 at the Drill…

As the wrangling continues over events on Manus Island, and Australia’s policy on asylum seekers, former Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, has taken a swipe at the conduct of politicians on both sides of parliament. Read more: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/pacific-beat/former-pm-malcolm-fraser-calls-for-increased-refugee-intake/1271928