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Regina Lohr

Sydney migrant farmers exposed to chemical risks

For over 14 years, government authorities in the Australian state of New South Wales have allowed migrant market gardeners in the Sydney area to endanger their own health and potentially that of consumers through the unsafe use of agricultural chemicals.

Regina Lohr

Australian government announces tougher laws against asylum seekers

In the face of growing condemnation both at home and abroad, the Australian government has decided to step up its attacks on refugees. Not only will the mandatory detention of asylum seekers continue, legislation announced recently by immigration minister Philip Ruddock will ensure that conditions in the country's detention centres become even more intolerable.

Regina Lohr, Linda Tenenbaum

Desperate refugees break out of Australian detention centres

The arrival of the Olympic torch at Uluru in central Australia last week gave the mass media an occasion for a carefully stage-managed spectacle: the Governor-General handing the torch to the area's Aboriginal inhabitants, providing a picture of racial harmony and goodwill, for the benefit of a global audience.

Regina Lohr

Whyalla tragedy highlights Australian air safety concerns

In the worst aviation accident in South Australia for 28 years, eight people on board a twin-engine Piper Navajo Chieftain owned by Whyalla Airlines are believed to have died last week when their plane plunged into the Spencer Gulf, about 10 km south of Whyalla, after both of its engines failed.

Regina Lohr

Refugees held incommunicado in Australia, then violently deported

Some recent comments from refugees and detention centre staff, given rare media coverage, have provided a glimpse of the cruel measures that the Howard government in Australia is using in both detaining and forcibly deporting asylum-seekers.

Regina Lohr

Refugees resort to hunger strike in remote Australian prison camp

In a last ditch effort to draw attention to their plight, asylum-seekers imprisoned at a remote camp in Australia's far north-west have resorted to sewing their lips together to protest the deplorable conditions and denial of basic legal and democratic rights.

Regina Lohr

Australian government pressures Timor refugees to leave

The Howard government's contemptuous treatment of the East Timorese refugees in Australia further exposes the fraud of its “humanitarian mission” in East Timor. The refugees, whose temporary “safe haven” visas expired on December 8, are being subjected to mounting threats and intimidation in order to force them to leave.

Regina Lohr

Australian government threatens to deport remaining Kosovar refugees

Just five months after reluctantly accepting 4,000 Kosovar Albanian refugees from the US-NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the Australian government on Monday declared its intention to imprison and deport the remaining war victims who do not leave the country by November 30.

Regina Lohr, Mike Head

Australian government refuses visas to Liberian youth soccer team

Only weeks after denying visas to 51 delegates to the World Federation of the Deaf congress, the Howard government last month barred 12 members of a Liberian youth soccer team from visiting Australia. The Australian High Commission in Lagos claimed that the Millennium Stars were refused visas because there was no indication their visit was “genuine”.

Regina Lohr

Refugees feared drowned in Indian Ocean

Australian immigration crackdown claims new victims

Fourteen refugees from Sri Lanka are missing, believed drowned, in the Indian Ocean about 80 kilometres from the Australian territory of Christmas Island, after their vessel, an overcrowded Indonesian fishing boat, sank on Monday. The boat had been drifting since last Thursday when its engine broke down.

Regina Lohr

Refugees risk health and lives to reach Australia

In the wake of the economic breakdown in Asia has come a sharp increase in the number of refugees arriving illegally by boat in Australia this year. More than 700 have undertaken perilous voyages and endured terrible conditions on unseaworthy vessels. By the end of the year, the total will almost certainly surpass the previous record of over 1,000 in 1994-95.

Regina Lohr, Mike Head

Chinese refugee forced to have abortion after deportation from Australia

Amid the fanfare surrounding the arrival in Australia of the first 400 refugees from Kosovo, purportedly demonstrating the humanitarianism of the Howard government, details emerged of another case that highlights the true character of Australia's official attitude towards refugees.

Regina Lohr

Sydney hail storm victims face months of misery

Storms, hail and gale-force winds have returned to Sydney over the past week, bringing new misery to thousands of residents whose homes were devastated by a severe hail storm on April 14. Temporary tarpaulins thrown over wrecked roofs have ripped or lifted off in the winds, exposing already waterlogged ceilings, furniture and carpets to more rain.

Regina Lohr

Unemployment offices privatised in Australia

The conservative government in Australia has privatised the federal unemployment agency, turning the processing of jobless claims and referrals into a profit-making business.

Regina Lohr