SYDNEY: The UN refugee agency accused Australia on Monday of reneging on an agreement to settle some vulnerable asylum seekers held in controversial offshore detention centers, but Canberra said no such agreement existed.
Australia takes a hard line on asylum seekers, with those intercepted at sea sent for processing at camps on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island and told they will never be settled in Australia.
The UNHCR said Australia agreed to settle some of the near 2,000 men and woman held offshore in exchange for the agency helping facilitate a swap deal with the United States.
“We agreed to do so on the clear understanding that vulnerable refugees with close family ties in Australia would ultimately be allowed to settle there,” UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi said in a statement.
“UNHCR has recently been informed by Australia that it refuses to accept even these refugees.”
A spokeswoman for Australia’s Minister for Immigration told Reuters no such agreement existed.
The swap deal, which involves the United States taking refugees from the offshore centers while Australia accepts refugees from Central America, is designed in part to help Australia empty the offshore facilities that have been heavily criticized by the UN and others..
US President Donald Trump earlier this year branded the swap deal “dumb.”
UNHCR accuses Australia of backtracking on asylum seeker deal
UNHCR accuses Australia of backtracking on asylum seeker deal
Albanese announces bravery award for heroes of Bondi antisemitic attack
- The proposed honors would recognize those who are nominated and recommended for bravery or meritorious awards under the existing Australian Honors and Awards system for their actions during and after the attack
NEWCASTLE: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans Thursday for a national bravery award to recognize civilians and first responders who confronted “the worst of evil” during an antisemitic terror attack that left 15 dead and has cast a heavy shadow over the nation’s holiday season.
Albanese said he plans to establish a special honors system for those who placed themselves in harms way to help during the attack on a beachside Hanukkah celebration, like Ahmed al Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian Muslim who disarmed one of the assailants before being wounded himself.
Sajid Akram, who was killed by police during the Dec. 14 attack, and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram are accused of perpetrating Australia’s worst massacre since 1996.
Speaking at a press conference after a Christmas Day lunch at a charitable foundation in Sydney, Albanese described a Christmas defined by a sharp contrast between extremist violence and the “best of humanity.”
“This Christmas is a different one because of the anti-terror and the terrorist attack motivated by Daesh and antisemitism,” Albanese said. “But at the same time as we have seen the worst of humanity, we have seen the bravery and kindness and compassion ... from those who rushed to danger.”
The proposed honors would recognize those who are nominated and recommended for bravery or meritorious awards under the existing Australian Honors and Awards system for their actions during and after the attack.
’Difficult fortnight’
Just a day after pushing through the country’s toughest firearm laws, New South Wales state leader Chris Minns issued a plea for national solidarity, urging Australians to support their Jewish neighbors during what he described as a fortnight of “heartbreak and pain.”
“Everybody in Australia needs to wrap their arms around them and lift them up,” Minns said at the same press conference Thursday. “I want them to know that Australians have got their back. We’re in their corner and we’re going to help them get through this.”
Tougher gun laws
The gun reforms which passed through the New South Wales state legislature on Christmas Eve include capping individual gun ownership at four and reclassifying high-risk weapons like pump-action firearms.
The legislation also tightens licensing by reducing permit terms to two years, restricting ownership to Australian citizens, and removing the review pathway for license denials.
“Gun reform alone will not solve hatred or extremism, but we can’t fail to act on restricting access to weapons which could lead to further violence against our citizens, Minns said earlier in the week when introducing the proposed laws.
Other new laws will ban the public display of terrorist symbols and grant police expanded powers to restrict public gatherings in specific areas following terrorist incidents.
Albanese has also announced plans to tighten Australia’s already strict gun laws.
