By Mel O’Brien

A month ago I wrote about the positive progress of the Australian government under Kevin Rudd. I mentioned in particular the changes the Rudd government has made to refugee policy, but still recognised the need to address the issue of mandatory detention of refugees. Well, the government was listening! This week Chris Evans, the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship made a speech at the Australian National University in Canberra outlining the government’s ‘New Directions in Detention- Restoring Integrity to Australia’s Immigration System’. Continue reading →