This Australia Day, thousands of migrants and refugees will stand proudly and pledge their loyalty to Australia and its people at citizenship ceremonies around the nation. The citizenship pledge is considered to be the most important step in becoming an…

Prominent human rights lawyer Julian Burnside says Australia is remaining silent about Nauru’s legal turmoil because it protects asylum seeker detention centres on the island. The Pacific nation deported the country’s resident magistrate Peter Law and in a written statement…

A former Bhutan refugee has been named the inaugural New Australian of the Year. Horticulturalist Parsuram Sharma-Luital was nominated by the Refugee Council of Australia for his support for migrant and refugee communities and his broad contribution to Australian society.…

The Federal Government says no asylum seeker boats have been disembarked in Australia for 36 days – the longest stretch in almost five years. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison released the news today in his weekly statement, which has replaced his…

A former refugee from Bhutan has been named the very first ‘New Australian of the Year’. It is the first time the Australia Day Council has awarded the accolade, which aims to recognise the efforts of Australia’s migrants and refugees.…

DES Alipoe spent 15 years in a refugee camp. In 2007 he set foot on Australian soil for the first time and now has become an Australian citizen. Mr Alipoe was one of the 20 new citizens who made the pledge at…

The number of potential volunteers at a West Melbourne centre for asylum seekers has risen by more than 400 per cent. The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) announced that 2068 people have signed up for their February volunteer information session,…

This quick guide provides statistics on the number of asylum seekers that have arrived by boat in Australia since 1976 when the first wave of boats carrying people seeking asylum from the aftermath of the Vietnam War began to arrive.…

About 18 youth students from Noble Park AMES went on an excursion on the final day of classes last year visiting a ‘follow your waste’ tour conducted by the City of Greater Dandenong. The group aged between 18 and 25,…

The United Nations refugee convention was ratified by Australia 60 years ago this week, giving it the power to come into effect. Read more: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/01/21/aust-marks-60-years-refugee-convention

The ALP’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek says the refugee crisis from the Syrian conflict is unprecedented, and Australia should be contributing significantly more funding to humanitarian efforts. Ms Plibersek has visited refugees in Jordan and Lebanon and says the…

AFTER 19 years in a refugee camp, Peter Lodwa will fin­ally have a country to call home when he becomes an Australian citizen on Wednesday evening. The 30-year-old Dandenong resident and his three young children will be among about 300people…