Few realise that in the 1960s the Australian government planned to relocate the entire population of Nauru to an island off the Queensland coast, writes Jane McAdam.
The Australian system's lack of transparency is helping perpetuate ongoing human rights abuses and what amounts to torture in remote offshore detention centres, write ethicists including UNSW's John-Paul Saggaran in a special issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics.
Both major parties support offshore processing and boat turnbacks. But public opinion is not so clear-cut. And nor are the policy choices, writes Claire Higgins.
Seventy-five medical academics and community leaders have signed an open letter to the Prime Minister condemning the "unethical" treatment of asylum seekers and likening the Pacific Solution to a medical experiment that puts participants in harm's way without consent.
This week's High Court judgment on the legality of offshore detention on Nauru has been reported as a “win” for the government. However, things may not be that clear-cut, writes Madeline Gleeson.
The High Court's comprehensive rejection of a challenge to Australia’s offshore processing regime in Nauru means our future treatment of asylum seekers will be governed by the politics of the day, writes George Williams.