Immigration

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called on Immigration Minister Chris Evans to exercise his ministerial discretion to grant the Moeller family permanent residency as soon as possible, but says broader reform is needed to avoid discrimination against other migrants.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says a decision to reject a German family's application for permanent residency because their son has a disability should be overturned.

Dr Bernhard Moeller, working in Victoria on a temporary 457 visa, was told his 13-year-old son Lukas, who has Down syndrome, presented a burden to the Australian health system and so the family was refused permanent residency.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has lent support to comments by a
former human rights commissioner, backing his calls for more
investigation into Australia's treatment of asylum seekers.

Dr Sev Ozdowski, the former head of the Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission, has recommended deeper investigation into

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called on the Federal Government to ensure that the International Convention on the Rights of the Child is fully and consistently implemented across Australia, to ensure that children are truly protected from human rights violations.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young's call for a Royal Commission into immigration detention, to investigate the psychological impact of Australia's immigration policies on detainees, has been backed by a leading human rights expert.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has put the Federal Government "on notice" over the treatment of a group of boat people who have been transferred to Christmas Island, saying that it will be a test of the Government's new immigration policy.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young today urged the Rudd Government to inquire into the ongoing effects Australia's immigration policy has had on over 2,000 former imprisoned children and their families.

"Even though children are now released from detention, the psychological effects of the incarceration can go on," she said.

Listen to audio of speech here.

It is a great honour to be standing here today, not just in this remarkable place that is the Senate but at a time when the challenges that we face as a country and the decisions that we will make as representatives are more important than ever in determining the destiny of future generations. 

Today is the first day of spring, a day when we pull back the curtains and let the sun shine in after months of grey. May this spring mark the beginning of a new phase in Australia's history where fresh ideas and innovation are actively sourced and debated in an attempt to find solutions to our biggest challenge of all: balancing human needs with our finite and fragile environment.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has condemned the Federal Government and Opposition's refusal to investigate the psychological harm caused to children held in mandatory detention as inhumane.

Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle called for the Christmas Island immigration detention centre to be closed after it was revealed yesterday that the ongoing cost of detaining people in the detention centre will be over $1 million per person, per year.