2008/03: Should the Australian Government have temporarily halted the admission of African refugees?

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2008/03: Should the Australian Government have temporarily halted the admission of African refugees?

What they said ...
'I am not seeking to demonise them. I am seeking to help them'
Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, commenting on his decision to temporary stop taking African refugees

'A sweeping generalisation about an entire racial or national group is unjustifiable - and far more dangerous than the Minister realises'
Refugee Council of Australia's chief executive officer, Paul Power

The issue at a glance
On October 1, 2007, the Immigration Minister, Mr Kevin Andrews, told journalists that the Australian Government would not accept any more applications from Africans for Australia's Humanitarian Refugee Program until at least July 2008.
On August 18, 2007, the Minister had announced that Australia was dropping its quota of African refugees from a previous high of 70 percent of the annual intake to 30 percent. The reason then given for the reduction in the intake from African countries was 'an improvement in conditions in some [African] countries and an increase in the number of people returning to their country of origin'.
When the Minister made his October 1 statement a different reason was given. On this occasion the Minster cited concern on the part of the Government 'that many refugees from parts of Africa have had difficulties settling in Australia'. This was reiterated in a media release issued on October 4.
Mr Andrews went on to specify concerns that African youths were forming gangs, that there had been an increase in crime within African communities and that 'young African males [were] congregating in parks at night, often to consume alcohol'.
The Minister's comments provoked an immediate and dramatic response. There was a surge of apparently racist comment on call-back radio programs, supporting Kevin Andrew's comments. Former One Nation leader Pauline Hanson also supported the Government's declared position. The Prime Minister, John Howard, also supported Mr Andrews' comments saying they were not intended as racist.
Meanwhile the Minister's comments were rejected by Australia's Human Rights Commissioner, Mr Graham Innes; the premiers of Queensland and Victoria; Victoria's Police Commissioner; a range of religious leaders and spokespeople for the Sudanese community in Australia.

Background
African refugees in Australia predominantly come from Burundi, Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan.
A New South Wales Health Department fact sheet outlines some of the difficulties these refugees have faced prior to coming to Australia and the challenges faced by Australian authorities in making adequate provision for them.
The fact sheet states, 'Refugees, by definition, have fled serious human rights violations as a result of war or organised violence. Many African refugees will have experienced protracted stays in refugee camps without adequate medical care and in conditions of extreme deprivation before arriving in Australia.'
The same health sheet, after detailing a range of health problems with which African refugees might present goes on to state, 'As a consequence of their traumatic experiences, refugees are at risk of a range of psychological problems including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and stress-related psychosomatic symptoms.
The concept of counselling, however, is unfamiliar to most refugees from Africa ... As a result, help for psychological issues may not be sought until a crisis has occurred.'
The traumatic experiences which these refugees have suffered have been offered as both a reason for continuing to accept them in Australia and for slowing down or temporarily halting our intake.

Government and Opposition policies on African refugees in Australia
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show Melbourne is the preferred settlement location for African refugees, with 12,000 settling there since 2000.
Sydney followed with 9,000, then Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Labor's immigration spokesman Tony Burke has claimed, 'The reason why we've now got a halt [in African refugee arrivals] until the end of June [2008] isn't because the government's doing some ruthless attempt to stop Africans from entering the country. It's simply because the humanitarian program has always worked on a quota and ... they filled the African part of the quota in the first few months of this year rather than staggering it over the full 12-month period.'
Mr Burke has claimed that it is on this basis that the Opposition supported the Government's quota system.
Critics of the Government's actions stress that the need within Africa requires the Government to reconsider its quota limits.
It has been claimed that the Darfur crisis in Sudan has created so much demand for places that Australia filled its quota of 4,000 African refugees in the first three months of this financial year. While many of the 9,000 places the government has set aside for Middle-Eastern and Asian refugees until June 2008 are still unfilled.
There are those who argue that one response to this situation would be for Australia to increase its quota from 13,000 refugees a year.
The Opposition's readiness to accept the Government's position on African refugees has been criticised as merely an attempt to defuse the issue in the lead-up to the next federal election.

Internet information
On August 18, 2007, the Immigration Minister, Mr Kevin Andrews, issued a media release outlining changes about to be made to Australia's Refugee and Humanitarian Programme in 2007-08.
The overall figure was to remain at 13,000, however, the percentage of this refugee intake to be drawn from Africa was to drop to 30 percent from last year's 50 percent and a former high of 70 percent. The shortfall was to be made up with increased intake from other countries, especially Burma and Iraq. The reason given was differences in the level of need in the respective areas.
The full text of this media release can be found at http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/media-releases/2007/ka07071.htm

On October 2, 2007, the Immigration Minister, Mr Kevin Andrews, gave an interview to Neil Mitchell on 3AW's Morning program. During that interview the Minister referred to integration issues as one reason why the quota for African refugees had been reduced. He also discussed with Neil Mitchell a couple of cases, not yet before the courts, where a Sudanese youth had assaulted police.
The full transcript of this interview can be found at http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/media-releases/2007/ka_transcript_0780.htm

On October 4, 2007, the Immigration Minister, Mr Kevin Andrews, issued a further media release in which he defended Australia's record as a host country for refugees as well as detailing some of the concerns the Government had about the apparent integration problems being faced by African refugees. He cited involvement in gangs and an increase in criminal behaviour. He also outlined the increase in Government funding that had been made available to assist refugees with integration problems.
The full text of this media release can be found at http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/media-releases/2007/ka07104.htm

On October 2, 2007, the Refugee Council of Australia issued a media release criticising the comments made by the Immigration Minister about African refugees on October 1 and 2. The full text of the media release can be found at http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/docs/releases/2007/071002%20Minister's%20comments%20on%20African%20intake.pdf

Australian Policy Online is an Internet opinion and information source that gathers news and research from some 120 leading Australian research centres and institutes. On October 5, 2007, it posted an article titled, 'Refugees: back to the future' by Peter Browne. The article gives an overview and a critique of Australia's refugee policy especially as it relates to African refugees.
The full text of the article can be found at http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/comment_results.chtml?filename_num=176779

On October 8, 2007, the ABC's Media Watch ran a program revealing that a number of previous reports shown on Channels 7, 9 and 10 purporting to reveal violence and criminal activity among the Sudanese community were inaccurate. A full transcript at the program can be found at http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2054150.htm
A video of the program can also currently be accessed from the same address.

On October 13, 2007, The Sydney Morning Herald published a profile of and interview with Kevin Andrews titled, 'Where Angels Fear to Tread'. The article gives Andrews' defence of his position as well as the comments of a range of people who oppose it. The full text of the profile can be found at http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/where-angels-fear-to-tread/2007/10/12/1191696173839.html

Arguments against the current block on African refugees
1. The claims made about the Sudanese failure to integrate are not accurate
It has been claimed that Mr Andrews' suggestions that Sudanese refugees have particular difficulties immigrating are false.
The chair of African Federation Communities Council, Mr Abeselom Nega, claims the Minister for Immigration has no evidence that Africans have failed to integrate.
'The Minister is absolutely wrong when he says that Africans have problems integrating with this community, and this is not the first time that he has made such comments,' Mr Nega has stated.
Mr Nega has stressed that about 12,000 African migrants have arrived in Australia over the past year and that African migrants are no more likely to have trouble with the law, or trouble fitting in, than other migrant groups.
'The evidence actually suggests otherwise,' Mr Nega has stated. '[African migrants] are contributing immensely to the national economy by taking jobs that ordinary Australians wouldn't have taken,' he said.
Queensland has a significant number of Sudanese refugees living and working within its borders. The Queensland premier, Ms Anna Bligh has noted that police data indicates Sudanese refugees are not involved in crime any more frequently than any other sector of the Australian community.
'Those Sudanese refugees are actually under-represented in the crime statistics,' Ms Bligh has claimed. 'What that tells me,' the premier said, 'is that these people are law-abiding citizens, by and large that they are not committing crimes at a rate any higher than the average citizen from any other part of the world.'
A similar comment was made by the Victorian Police Commissioner, Christine Nixon, who stated on October 3, 'When you look at the numbers we're talking about, the young Sudanese who actually come into custody or are dealt with by us, only really make up about 1 per cent of the people we deal with. When we look at the data, what we're actually seeing is that they're not, in a sense, represented more than the proportion of them in the population.'

2. Many of the criticisms of African refugees are prompted by racist attitudes
It has been claimed that the criticisms directed at Sudanese refugees by the Immigration Minister, Mr Andrews, and others, are essentially racist.
This claim has been made by the Queensland premier, Ms Anna Bligh, who has stated, 'Kevin Andrews' comments are basically making a judgment about the character of people on the basis of their race. There is no more pure form of racism.'
The Human Rights Commissioner, Mr Graham Innes, has also condemned the Federal Government's stance on African refugees.
Commissioner Graham Innes stated that singling out a particular race goes against Australian values. 'I think it is troubling to single out one community or group as not settling and integrating well,' Mr Innes has said, 'and it is not the Australian way to deal with refugees. People shouldn't be treated differently on the basis of race or ethnic origin.'
Mr Phong Nguyen, the chairman of the Victorian Ethnic Communities' Council, has similarly stated, 'It is simply inhumane for the Government to close the door on these people, based on perceptions that some African refugees are not integrating into the community. As with all refugees, their initial settlement period will face challenges and the Australian-African community is facing discrimination and racism. Selecting refugees on perceptions of their capacity to integrate borders on racism.'
The Refugee Council of Australian issued a media release on October 2, 2007, expressing concern at the potentially racist nature of Kevin Andrews' remarks and their capacity to foster racism. The release stated, 'Andrews has linked ability to settle in Australia to a person's race, rather than his or her individual circumstances. Such a sweeping generalisation about an entire racial or national group is unjustifiable - and far more dangerous than the Minister realises.
Within every ethnic and cultural group represented in the Australian people, there are people who thrive and others who struggle to overcome the barriers they face.
It is inevitable that people who have survived persecution, war and great trauma will experience difficulties in adjusting to life in a new country. This has been the case throughout the 60 years of Australian post-war immigration. But, given the barriers people face, the reality is far more positive than the Australian public is often led to believe.'

3. African refugees have been misrepresented in the media
It has been claimed that a wide range of Australian media outlets have presented inaccurate stories about African refugees, either exaggerating or completing misrepresenting their supposed involvement in violent or criminal activities.
On October 15, 2007, the ABC's Media Watch program examined news reports from Channels 7, 9 and 10 demonstrating that each had made claims about the supposed involvement of African youth in violent or criminal activities that were inaccurate.
Commenting of one Channel Seven report that purported to show 'the terror experienced by a Noble Park shopkeeper at the hands of an ethnic gang. They've been identified by Police as predominantly Sudanese youths caught on camera stealing and striking fear into those around them'.
Media watch then had Akoch Manheim, the director of the Sudanese Lost Boys Association of Victoria, examine the footage and he claimed, 'Actually the guys fighting here are not Sudanese. That one is not Sudanese, that guy is not Sudanese.. I see only guy who's Sudanese in a red t-shirt and he's not doing anything.'
The conclusion Media watch drew after examining footage from Channels 7, 9 and 10 was 'Media Watch isn't saying there aren't gangs in Noble Park or that there aren't some Sudanese there who cause trouble.
But the commercial networks' claims to have proof of African migrant violence were dishonest.'

4. The issue was raised by the Howard Government for political reasons
It has been claimed that the federal Government is trying to gain political advantage in the lead-up to the next election by the reasons now being given for scaling back the quota of African refugees.
Critics have suggested that the Government is essentially exploiting the racism of certain sections of the Australian electorate in order to gain a political edge.
In a report published on the Internet site of the lobby group 'A Just Australia' it was claimed, 'In the lead up to the Federal election, it appears that the Government has again played the race card. This time, the scapegoat is the Sudanese refugee community of Australia.
The Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, has stated that the refugee intake numbers from Africa will be reduced, in response to a claim that Sudanese have a "failure to integrate into the Australian community." This statement was released after a young Sudanese man was involved in a fatal assault. However this man was the victim, not the perpetrator.
"It beggars belief that the Minister would view being violently attacked as evidence that a person has not been integrated into the Australian community," National Coordinator, Kate Gauthier said. "Surely this should be seen as a sad indictment of the wider Australian community and not of Sudanese refugees. Is this really an issue of a lack of integration or a cheap pre-election way of playing the race card?''
A similar claim was made by Dennis Atkins in an article published in The Courier Mail on October 8, 2007. Atkins stated, 'Now, in the shadows of the election and after some excitement on Melbourne talkback about trouble and unease over Sudanese youths, Andrews cranked up the rhetoric.
He talked about delinquency, poor education standards, a refusal to fit in and aversion to work...
Andrews and Prime Minister John Howard denied there was anything racist going on but there was certainly some vilification. And it's hard to escape the notion that it was done deliberately to engender fear, hoping voters would "run to daddy" as political pros say.'

5. The Minister for Immigration's comments may foster racism in Australia
There has been concern expressed that Government ministers and the policies adopted by the Government have the capacity to shape public attitudes. Therefore, if, as some have claimed is the case with the Immigration Minister's statements regarding African refugees, a Minister makes what appears to be a racist comment, that may have the effect of sanctioning such views in the wider community.
As evidence of this a public meeting was called in Wagga Wagga after the Minister for Immigration's recent remarks in an attempt to end negative comments against some of the city's 300 African refugees. Sudanese community spokesman John Moi claims there have been incidents of vilification in Wagga Wagga since Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews' comments about some refugees from Africa having problems integrating. 'We have been hearing incidences on the street and the market places that the people are being called black people - "Go back to Africa",' Mr Moi has said.
Mr Akoc Manheim, the director of the Sudanese Lost Boys Association, a support group for African immigrants has claimed, 'On the streets, trains and buses, people now seem less tolerant of us. I myself used to walk at night, go for runs, but now I am very scared that I will be bashed. There is a lot of terror in our community at the moment.'
Mr Manhiem, who has extensive contact with fellow Sudanese Australians through his support program, said many immigrants had testified to a change in attitude since Mr Andrews announced no more African immigrants would be allowed into Australia until July next year.
Similarly, the president of Dandenong's Sudanese Community Association of Australia, Samuel Kuot, has indicated that his people now feared attacks.
Mr Kuot said Sudanese in Melbourne felt unsafe after being singled out by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews as being involved in crime and having problems integrating into Australian life.
Mr Kuot added, 'We came to this country and expected it to be safe, and if you bring someone you need to protect them - you can't turn against them.'

Arguments in favour of the current block on Sudanese refugees
1. Australia has already accepted a significant number of Sudanese refugees
It has been claimed that Australia has already been very generous in terms of the number of refugees from Sudan that it has been willing to accept. Australia has already accepted, or is processing, about 3900 Africans this year - 30 per cent of the total humanitarian refugee intake.
In a news report published in The Sydney Morning Herald on January 29, 2006, it was noted, 'Sudan is now Australia's largest source of refugees with most settling in Sydney. Last year 5561 were flown to Australia... 18,000 Sudanese [are] estimated to have settled in Australia in the past five years.'
In a media release issued on October 12, 2007, the Minister for Immigration, Mr Kevin Andrews, stated, 'Since 2001, the largest group of refugees and humanitarian entrants have been from Africa. This reflects our response to the conflict on that continent, especially in the Horn of Africa. The proportion reached 70 per cent of our total intake in 2003-4 and 2004-5.'
The Minister further claimed in this media release that Australia's refugee program was very generous by world standards. Mr Andrews stated, 'Australia takes more refugees than any country other than the United States. On a per capita basis, we are the most generous country in the world. Outside of Australia, Canada and the United States, only seven other nations have a similar resettlement program. Between them, these seven countries take only about one-third of the number that Australia does. In other words, Australia's refugee program is larger than the whole of Europe's.'

2. There in no on-going ban on Sudanese refugees
It has been noted that the current halt to the resettlement within Australia of Sudanese refugees is only temporary. It is not in any sense a modern re-enactment of something like the White Australia Policy as some critics have claimed. As of July 2008, Australia will again accept Sudanese refugees.
This point has been made by Herald Sun commentator Andrew Bolt. In an article published on October 5, 2007, Bolt stated, 'All that has been said is that the Government has already filled its quota this year for African refugees - 30 per cent of our annual intake of 13,000 refugees from around the world - and won't increase it.
That's a lot of refugees, actually, and not what you'd expect from a country rotten with racism. We're a generous people, really, which some seem terribly determined not to believe.'
The same point was made by a Herald Sun reader posting online on October 8, 2007. The reader observed, 'This whole Sudanese question, which is only a temporary measure taken by a responsible Government, has been blown so out of proportion by the media!
Because the Government considers that the country needs time to absorb the Sudanese who are here (and the ones here need time to learn about life in the Australian community) it has placed a halt on any further refugees from Africa being accepted up to June 2008. Instead it has assigned priority to Iraqi, Bhutanese and Burmese refugees. Certain sections of the media have seized this opportunity to beat it up into a "racist" argument.'

3. The temporary block is motivated by concern for African refugees
It has been claimed that the temporary ban currently placed on Sudanese refugees being admitted into Australia is prompted by concern for the Sudanese. It has been suggested that Sudanese refugees have particular difficulty assimilating into the Australian way of life. This point has been made by both the Prime Minister, John Howard, and by the Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews.
Mr Howard has claimed. 'I think assimilation or integration, whichever word you want to use, into the Australian community can from time-to-time be an issue," he said. We've been very successful in this country, we do integrate people very readily and it's just a question of taking a common sense approach and ensuring enough time in order to get people fully integrated into the community.'
In his media release issued on October 12, the Immigration Minister, Mr Kevin Andrews stated, 'The Australian Government's responsibility for newly arrived refugees does not simply end once they arrive in Australia. It also must consider and monitor how well those who have recently arrived are integrating into the community.
The Government has been aware that many refugees from parts of Africa have had difficulties settling in Australia. Many are young men in their teens and early twenties, most of these have low levels of education. Most have come from war and conflict including torture. Many have lived in refugee camps for up to and over a decade and all have come from a vastly different culture.
The unique challenges of this group have long been recognised and acknowledged. It is not surprising that some young men, without adequate English, and with low levels of education who drop out of school without a job, pose more challenges for us.
This year I have received advice from my department and from community organisations across Australia. It has been conveyed to me that recent refugee and humanitarian arrivals from the region of Africa are continuing to experience difficulty in successfully settling in Australia, and the result is high levels of community concern.'
The Immigration Minister has outlined in some detail the measures that will be taken to assist African refugees already in Australia. Mr Andrews has stated, 'In recognising the potentially disparate needs of recently arrived humanitarian entrants it was determined that a whole of government strategy was required. For example, a single humanitarian entrant may require English Language assistance, income support, vocational training, support to develop life skills, family relationship counselling, health services and education about legal responsibilities.
Following an examination of settlement services, an additional $210 million was allocated in this year's budget to enhance these programs. This is in addition to the $250 million a year the Australian Government normally spends on settlement related services.
This extra money is especially needed to enable young people to speak adequate English, to assist victims of torture and trauma and to simply teach people the basic essentials needed to manage from week to week.'
Summing up his position on African refugees, Kevin Andrews has stated, 'I am not seeking to demonise them. I am seeking to help them.'

4. The temporary block has been imposed to help Australia balance its refugee intake
It has been claimed that the Government's policy regarding African refugees is not an instance of racial discrimination. Rather, the current ban on African refugees is intended merely to rebalance Australia's intake of refugees. This claim has been made by the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard. The Prime Minister has stated, 'It's not in any way racially based but the program is just going to be rebalanced and one of the consequences of that is the reality that there will be no more people coming from Africa until at least July of next year.'
The Minister for immigration, Kevin Andrews, has noted, 'Now, there was pressure this year from people who have fled from Iraq and then secondly, we've got refugees in our own Asian region. There have been refugees that have fled from Burma to countries like Thailand over the last few years. Some of them have been in Thailand for a number of years and we're trying to meet the needs of some of those people as well.'
The Immigration Minister has further stated, 'The increased intake of Iraqis from the Middle East region follows an international conference on Iraq convened by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in April 2007 to discuss the situation in that country and how best to help those who have been forced to leave the country, many of whom are Christian.
This Conference "called upon all host countries, including those further afield, to continue providing protection, humanitarian assistance and hospitality to Iraqis until such time as conditions have been created to enable voluntary return in safety and dignity."
The increased intake from the Asia region is part of Australia's stated commitment to resettling Burmese refugees in Thailand and the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal as part of coordinated international efforts to resolve these protracted humanitarian situations. Since the early 1990s about 140 000 Burmese refugees have been living in camps along the Thai-Burma border, and 108 000 Bhutanese refugees have been living in camps in Nepal.'
In accord with this shift in policy, Africans are being replaced in the program by Iraqi refugees from camps in Syria and Jordan and Burmese awaiting resettlement in camps in Thailand.

5. It is necessary to impose quotas on refugees
It has been stated that quotas on the number of refugees taken into a country are necessary. A major reason for this is that refugees place a strain on the host country and so their numbers must be sensibly limited. This point was made by Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt is an opinion piece published on October 5, 2007. Mr Bolt stated, 'Governments from both sides have for many years set such quotas, and have no option, given there are 20 million refugees looking for homes ...
No one can deny that bringing in refugees is a more costly and risky game than bringing in educated and skilled professionals from countries much like ours.
Refugees rarely pay their own way, to be frank. Take the Sudanese. Many had their schooling disrupted by genocide and come from a very poor and tribal culture a world away from ours. Add to that the fact that they look different and no wonder it's a challenge for some to get going. No wonder the young men in particular hang out with each other for support, and show attitude rather than defeat.
These are not people like my parents and so many other post-war immigrants from Europe, who came here with some English, some skills, deep familiarity with Western ways and an ability to quickly blend in.
Those migrants knew many of our codes to getting on. They didn't need the kind of help that governments now must offer the Sudanese, including even teaching them to treat our road rules as, well, rules and our police as public servants, not public enemies.
It's for reasons like this that sensible governments make sure they bring in only as many refugees from any one area as they can hope to integrate.'

Further implications
The motivation behind the Government's dramatic shift in declared reasons for reducing the number of African refugees accepted into Australia is difficult to determine.
It is possible that the Immigration Minister's statements of October 1, 2 and 4 were made in good faith and reflect the concerns of the Government and the Immigration Department over the integration difficulties posed by and faced by African refugees. If on no other grounds than social and health issues, African refugees have a difficult path to tread and the Government may well have believed that it was necessary to slow down their rate of admission into Australia in order to better cater for those African refugees already in the country.
However, the Immigration Minister's remarks about African refugees' tendency to form gangs and his concern about their involvement in violent and criminal activity were extremely ill-judged. There appears to be no objective evidence to support the Minister's concerns about this supposed crime connection. The Victorian Police Minister and others have indicated that African refugees are not involved in crime to an extent that would cause alarm. Indeed there are some African refugee communities where the behaviour of these recent arrivals is unusually law-abiding.
On the question of gangs it has been noted that the Sudanese, in particular, are a communal people who like to gather in public places. Their height and skin colour then make them conspicuous which can cause anxiety among other racial groups.
What makes the Minister's comments concerning, apart from their apparent inaccuracy, is their capacity to feed racial ill-will within Australian communities.
On October 29, a nineteen year old Sudanese youth was found after having been bashed and left for dead on a nature strip in Noble Park. The young man died the following day in what appears to have been a racially motivated crime. The young men since accused of the attack are Caucasian.
The subsequent remarks of the Immigration Minister would have been unwise at any time. In the context in which they were made they appear little short of irresponsible.

Newspaper items used in the compilation of this sissue outline
The Australian: October 9, page 4, news item by Miranda Rout, `Unis unite to slam "racist" Andrews over African ban'.
The Age: October 8, page 11, comment (on claims of racism generally) by Voula Messimeri, `Consider our kaleidoscope'.
The Age: October 7, page 10, news items by Hyland and Walsh, `World takes cynical view of Africa ban / Hope for mother dims as refugee freeze hits home'.
The Herald-Sun: October 6, page 29, cartoon.
The Herald-Sun: October 6, page 24, analysis by Russell Robinson, `Putting a face to the refugee row'.
The Australian: October 6, page 27, analysis by Hart and Maiden, `Race to point finger of blame'.
The Age: October 6, Insight section, page 3, analysis (photo) by Farouque and Cooke, `Ganging up on Africans / A lesson in the ingredients of equality'.
The Age: October 6, page 4, news item by Jewell Topsfield, `Minister scoffs at Tampa talk'.
The Herald-Sun: October 5, page 28, comment by Andrew Bolt, `Big hearted and warm'.
The Herald-Sun: October 5, page 4, news items (with statistics on prisoners) by B Packham et al, `Fights, tensions fuel African ban / Spats settled on the street'.
The Age: October 5, page 11, comment by Selena Milovanovic, `Exploiting the misfortunes of Africans to win an election'.
The Age: October 13, page 8, news items by Farah Farouque and Andra Jackson, `For refugees, it's been a hard, dazed journey into the light / Sudanese refugees feel "thin sense of belonging"'.
The Herald-Sun: October 12, page 34, comment by Andrew Bolt, `It's time we got a grip' (with editorial, `Let's get the facts').
The Herald-Sun: October 12, page 4, news items by B Roberts et al, `Detective shaken by violent attack / Brumby blames alcohol'.
The Age: October 12, page 15, comment by J Olaf Kleist, `Demonising the weakest'.
The Age: October 12, page 15, cartoon by Spooner

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