bLOGOS/HA HA: Australia's 2021 Budget Vision :

David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.

14 May 2021

Australia's 2021 Budget Vision :

Govt chooses detention over hope for world’s refugees in budget

May 11, 2021

Statement by Paul Power CEO of the Refugee Council of Australia

Media release : 12 May 2021

The Australian Government is allocating hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding to immigration detention – but offering no new hope for the world’s refugees in its 2021-22 Budget.

The Morrison Government will spend $464.7 million over two years to increase the capacity of its immigration detention centres and to extend the life of the Christmas Island detention centre.

The 2021-22 allocation for onshore detention and compliance has been increased to $1.27 billion.

The offshore processing regime will cost another $811.8 million in 2021-22, taking the cumulative allocation to more than $8.3 billion since the Coalition Government’s first budget in 2014.

This is despite the number of people held in Nauru and Papua New Guinea under this policy dropping from 3127 in 2013-14 to just 239 now.

- read the full article here

ongoing protest vigil : Rural Australians for Refugees (Daylesford)

New powers to jail refugees for life

Post (Schwartz Media) : 14 May 2021

A new law rushed through parliament allows the federal government to detain refugees for the rest of their lives or remove their refugee status after it has been granted.

The Migration Act amendment allows :

- Indefinite detention of a refugee whose visa has been cancelled but who cannot return to their country of origin because they would face persecution there;
- The minister to unilaterally withdraw a person’s refugee status after it has been granted.

The law ostensibly targets 21 refugees in detention convicted of offences or negatively assessed by ASIO, but rights groups warn the applications are far broader (Guardian Australia).

Visas can be cancelled for character reasons or “association with a group” suspected by the minister of wrongdoing.

David Burke, of the Human Rights Law Centre, said “the minister should not be able to wave a pen and overturn the fundamental protection the government has given someone”.

The bill was voted into law with Labor support on Thursday after Senate debate was cut short.

Backed up by the budget:

The federal budget this week allocated $464.7m to expanding the capacity of onshore and offshore detention centres (The Conversation).

The offshore detention system will effectively cost $3.4m per offshore detainee in 2021.