Other lives: Campaigner who argued the case for compensation for British soldiers forced to watch nuclear bomb tests in the Pacific
May 2024
Serco fined for covering up use of fire extinguishers against detainees in Christmas Island riots
Exclusive: Ombudsman’s report says devices ‘discharged directly on’ detainees and into areas where people retreated, including those not involved in riots
December 2023
March of the red crabs: months of preparation for annual mass migration on Christmas Island
Temporary roadside barriers set up to channel tens of millions of crabs migrating to the coastline
October 2023
Christmas Island now empty as all detainees brought to Australian mainland, border force says
‘Fight for every other refugee’: Priya Nadesalingam on what Australia can learn from Biloela
January 2023
Immigration detainee not given new food because maggots ‘just on the vegetables’, report finds
Advocates say ombudsman’s findings lay bare ‘inhumane’ treatment in Australia’s detention centres
December 2022
Russia-backed spaceport proposed for Christmas Island abandoned in 2002 over sovereignty fears
Cabinet papers reveal Russia wanted to limit Australia’s access to its rocket technology and classified information, leading to ‘impasse’
John Howard’s government considered letting offshore detainees into Australia in 2002
Cabinet papers 2002: records show there were growing concerns about management of asylum seekers in Australia’s offshore detention centres
Full Story
Revisited: Home to Biloela
In this episode from June, Queensland reporter Eden Gillespie documents the Nadesalingam family’s return to Biloela after more than four years in detention, and Priya Nadesalingam discusses life after detention and Australia’s asylum seeker policies
May 2022
The age of extinction
Extinction obituary: the sudden, sad disappearance of the Christmas Island forest skink
Immigration detainees transferred from Melbourne to Christmas Island amid heated protests
January 2022
Australian crawl: Christmas Island’s baby red crab migration – in pictures
Early 2022 has seen one of the biggest baby crab returns ever documented on the remote island in the Indian Ocean
October 2021
The pattern is clear: Australia’s next election will be a competition on cruelty
Behrouz Boochani
Since the Tampa affair, humanitarian issues have been used to manipulate the public. The refugees still exiled in Papua New Guinea will suffer the consequences
August 2021
The Tampa affair, 20 years on: the roots of Australia’s hardline asylum seeker policy – video
Reporter Ben Doherty looks back at the extraordinary events that led to Australia's current immigration policies
The Tampa affair, 20 years on: the ship that capsized Australia’s refugee policy
When a Norwegian freighter rescued 433 asylum seekers from a sinking vessel en route to Christmas Island, it sparked a crisis that led to hardline border policies and indelibly shifted the response to boat arrivals
High court rejects bid to appeal Biloela child Tharnicaa Murugappan protection visa case
Court’s decision compels immigration minister to review the four-year-old’s eligibility for assessment as an asylum seeker
July 2021
For eight years, Australia has been taking refugees as hostages. It’s time to ask: who has benefited?
Behrouz Boochani
The government needs our bodies for political power, while the detention industry needs us to fuel its money-making torture machine. But what has Australia truly gained?
June 2021
Three members of Biloela family granted temporary bridging visas
Immigration minister Alex Hawke grants visas, meaning family will be released from community detention in Perth
Full Story
The people of Biloela v the government
For three years a Queensland community has fought for a Tamil family to be released from immigration detention. Ben Smee talks to them about their enduring bond with the family
Home affairs minister suggests reports about Biloela daughter’s illness ‘inaccurate’
Karen Andrews refuses to say what is not correct after Tharnicaa was evacuated from Christmas Island to Perth to treat a blood infection caused by pneumonia
