Will ending Melbourne’s lockdown trigger more of the refugee evictions initiated by the federal government?
A crisis is hovering behind the scenes of Victoria’s much-anticipated release from pandemic lockdown. In suburbs around Melbourne, the longed-for announcement that businesses and retail can reopen is expected to trigger the eviction from their homes of over one hundred refugees and people seeking asylum, who have been living in community detention while they await visa decisions. Already, the federal government has evicted some of these people from community detention around Australia, withdrawn their subsistence income payments and given them six months to leave the country. Read more