breaking news @ the Refugee Action Coalition:

The move by the Gillard government to excise the Australian mainland from the migration zone is “an absurd throwback to the draconian policies of the Howard government.”
 
“The blind application of the so-called ‘no advantage’ policy has led the government to implement yet another element of failed Liberal Party policy. Excising the mainland is a nonsense. Thousands of asylum seekers are arriving at excised places. The Minister can excise all the territory he likes, but the question is, ‘What is he going to do with the thousands of asylum seekers arriving at excised places who are languishing in Australian detention centres and on Nauru?’ ”said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
 
“The government is desperate to be seen to be doing something, but excising the mainland is worse than nothing. The government’s off-shore processing arrangements are already in tatters…”

click here for more on this story @ the Refugee Action Coalition

Human Rights Watch (see our interpretOr link roll) adds that the Australian and Indonesian governments should urgently take effective measures to protect migrant children at high risk of abuse while in Indonesia en route to Australia.