Australia's muddle over illegal immigration

Hosted by: AIIA NSW and Young Lawyers' International Law Committee

The event will start on: Tuesday, 08 March 2011 6:30 PM

And will end on: Tuesday, 08 March 2011 7:30 PM

At Baker & McKenzie, Level 27, AMP Centre, 50 Bridge Street.

Level 27, AMP Centre, 50 Bridge Street , Sydney NSW

02 8011 4728     nsw.branch@aiia.asn.au

Posted by: nsw   

As Italy seeks to use its forces to halt the influx of boats carrying illegal immigrants from North Africa, the debate in Australia over how to tackle the issues of illegal immigrants and refugees is at the forefront of the political and legal landscape.

Now, six months after the Federal election, the Middle East is yet again an arc of instability, creating potentially hundreds of thousands more refugees.  The legal sieve that passes for Australia's border security is out of control.

On 11 February, it was reported that the United Nations high commissioner for human rights is expected to visit Australia later this year, following recent criticism of our human rights record.

This comes as the Gillard government's plan for an asylum seeker processing centre on East Timor has received a fresh blow with the leaking of a document on ABC’s Lateline entitled a "Regional Assessment Centre Concept". This questioned how one of the region’s poorest nations could possibly deal  deal with the influx of so many asylum seekers, and pointed out that East Timor would be responsible for processing appeals. http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2011/s3127358.

The arrival of ‘boat people’ and the policy responses of successive governments has been a hot political issue since boats first began arriving in Australia in the 1970s. This has particularly been the case over the last two decades, which has seen the introduction of ‘hard-line’ policies, such as mandatory detention for unauthorised boat arrivals introduced by the Keating government, and the various policies of the Howard government, including offshore processing in Nauru

To discuss this critical aspect of democracy in international relations, the AIIA in NSW and the Young Lawyers International Law Committee are privileged to bring to Baker Mackenzie senior diplomats, journalists and lawyers. The discussion panel will consist of Sydney University professor, Mary Crock, whose specific research interests range from studies of the interaction between Parliament and the judiciary, to the legal rights of migrants and refugees.  She will be joined by Kerry Murphy, a partner of D’Ambra Murphy Lawyers working on all aspects of migration law including administrative and judicial review; and Pouyan Afshar, an associate at Baker Mackenzie. The session will be moderated by Colin Chapman, whose extensive experience in international journalism includes senior editorial executive positions at the Financial Times, the London Sunday Times. The Australian and the BBC. Colin is now vice president Asia Pacific, of STRATFOR, a private global intelligence company.

NOTE: This is a free event to members of the AIIA and guests. Refreshments will be served at 6pm. Please note it takes place at Baker & Mckenzie, Level 27, AMP Centre, 50 Bridge Street Sydney, and not at the Glover Cottages. We are very grateful to this significant law firm for its hospitality.