Free Republic

REFUGEES fleeing war, violence and discrimination could be made to take English lessons before they reach Australia under a Government plan made public today. People who nominate refugees for visas could also have to prove minimum standards of financial competency and have a good track record of employment. They could also need a minimum period of residence in Australia, and have limits placed on the number of refugees they propose for resettlement. The Federal Government today released a discussion paper on Australia's humanitarian migration program. In the paper, it proposes expanding its Australian Cultural Orientation (AUSCO) program, which was piloted...

THE teenage sons of Australia's highest-profile asylum-seekers, the Bakhtiyari family, have apologised to the Howard Government for the "lies" they now say prompted their deportation. Alamdar, 16, and Montazar, 14, claim to have been "used" by refugee advocates and lawyers, who they say ruined their chances of remaining in Australia and forced their deportation to Pakistan in December last year. The boys came to national prominence in 2002 when refugee activists deposited them at the British consulate in Melbourne and demanded they be given asylum after facilitating their escape from the now-defunct Woomera detention centre. In an interview with the...

AMERICAN peace activist Scott Parkin arrived back in the US today under guard after Australian authorities detained him in a Melbourne jail for five days for being a "national security risk". The 36-year-old Texan history teacher was also given a bill for almost $11,700 after his brush with Australian authorities. Mr Parkin said he was made to feel like a terrorist and a criminal and remains baffled as to why six police officers "snatched him off the street" as he left a Melbourne cafe last Saturday. He said he was interrogated and spent the next five days in solitary confinement...