Two teens charged over stabbing death of 21-year-old
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ABC News
28 minutes ago
- ABC News
Tasmanian Refugee Legal Service reports rising number of LGBTQIA+ clients who 'fear for their life' if returned home
Holding hands, a kiss — they're simple and sweet displays of affection. But Sam* doesn't take them for granted. Sam comes from a country where being gay is considered "against the order of nature" and is enough to land them more than a decade in jail. They said it's a place where civilians "take matters into their own hands" and turn their neighbours in, where intimate details of someone's life are shamed in the media. It wasn't until Sam came to Australia as a teenager that they were free to explore their sexuality for the first time — albeit in secret from their parents. "I was more comfortable with just being myself and expressing that part of myself," they said. So, when their family's application for permanent residency was knocked back, and the possibility of returning loomed large, Sam took matters into their own hands. "I was like, 'no, I can't go back, I can't hide myself anymore,'" Sam said. LGBTQIA+ people with a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country based on their gender or sexuality can be considered refugees under Australia's Migration Act. Sam turned to the Tasmanian Refugee Legal Service (TRLS), arguing to the Department of Home Affairs that being gay exposed them to serious harm. Their application for permanent protection was successful. "I felt like a weight was lifted off my back, like I was so relieved," they said. Sixty-seven countries criminalise people for their sexual orientation, with punishments ranging from months behind bars to a life sentence. In some places, it's the death penalty. TRLS principal lawyer Patrick O'Connor said the danger often extended beyond the state, to hostility from families and the community and systemic discrimination in employment, housing, health and education. Mr O'Connor said the service was representing a growing number of clients in similar circumstances to Sam — as were his interstate colleagues — the majority coming to the end of student, work or holiday visas. And he believed there could be many more with legitimate asylum claims — potentially hundreds in Tasmania alone — that hadn't come forward, likely out of fear of retribution or because they didn't understand Australia's domestic law. Mr O'Connor is seeking funding to dedicate a lawyer to this caseload, and to run community workshops around Tasmania providing general legal education to help people understand the law, and make them feel comfortable approaching the service. "There's a lot at stake for the applicant," he said. "Providing legal representation is critical, and is life-changing, and can make all the difference." More community outreach and legal support is something Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania also endorses. But she said it was vital all new arrivals, not just from the LGBTQIA+ community, were taught gender and sexuality discrimination was not tolerated in Australia. "All people who have diverse gender identities and sexual orientations are vulnerable in the community, but for those who are from migrant backgrounds, from refugee backgrounds and from asylum seeker backgrounds, they're extremely vulnerable," she said. "They may be particularly wary of connecting with their cultural community here because they know that their cultural community won't accept them and will discriminate against them. Ms Long said it was vital that services understood how various aspects of someone's identity — including country of origin, race, ethnicity, language, gender and sexuality — intersected and supported LGBTQIA+ migrants accordingly. For Sam, the new-found security has "opened up a whole world of possibilities". *Name has been changed.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
ACT childcare safety practice could be the answer to a national approach, commissioner says
The revelation on Tuesday that a Victorian childcare worker had been arrested for over 70 alleged child sexual abuse charges sent shock waves through the entire country. It left state and territory governments scrambling to ensure the child safety protocols in their early childhood education and care sectors were effective. In 2015 the Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended that Working With Children Checks (WWCCs) across the country be both standardised and nationalised. A decade on they're still handled at the state and territory level, with different practices in different jurisdictions, but experts are calling for that to be changed. At present some jurisdictions WWCCs are a point in time check, updated only on the day they are issued with a list of offences from that person's criminal history. In the ACT the equivalent of WWCCs are Working With Vulnerable People (WWVP) checks, which already include ongoing assessment of a person's eligibility to work with vulnerable people. They can also involve national criminal history checks along with other relevant disciplinary and police information — and when someone is deregistered, protocol requires the national database for WWCCs be notified of that. ACT Children and Young People Commissioner Jodie Griffiths-Cook said the incident in Victoria was a "devastating reminder of our collective responsibility to do all we can" to protect children from harm. She said creating national consistency in WWCCs could help the childcare sector do that — and that including features of the ACT's WWVP registry could offer value to that proposed national scheme. "I certainly think this [incident in Victoria] is a real reminder of the importance and the value of having those kind of systems that speak to each other across our state and territory boarders," Commissioner Griffiths-Cook said. "If we're going to go down the path of having such a registry, we need to make sure we're also including some of the best practice features that we've got here in the ACT, like continuous monitoring of WWVP registry." Commissioner Griffiths-Cook said that continuous monitoring was part of what made the ACT well-placed to manage safety in its childcare sector, along with being a smaller jurisdiction. A national register of early childhood education and care workers is another safety protocol experts believe could improve child safety in the sector. Early Childhood Australia CEO Sam Page said a national registration scheme for educators, similar to the one used for teachers, had been on the agenda for several years. "We have registration for teachers, and we can see how that works," Ms Page said. "We're not waiting for teachers to commit a criminal offence. "If we see teachers struggling, if we see poor practice, if we see inappropriate behaviour, the teachers board can react to that quickly and proactively and prevent anything worse from happening. "That's what we need for educators as well." Another reform being considered for the childcare sector across different states and territories is a ban on using personal mobile phones in centres. Commissioner Griffiths-Cook said the risks of someone being able to inadvertently film or photograph a child was important to mitigate. ACT Education and Early Childhood Minister Yvette Berry said the territory government was "absolutely on board" with understanding what such a ban would look like. She said she was in talks with NSW Education and Early Learning Minister Prue Car following the state's review into its childcare sector to consider what parts of its recommendations would be appropriate for the ACT. Ms Berry said part of that was the consideration of introducing CCTV in childcare centres for added safety monitoring. She said while she understood why some might have concerns about the considered CCTV use and mobile phone ban, it would include ensuring there was appropriate policies around how they were used in services. Though updated policies and national registers could offer improvement to child safety, Sam Page said the safety of children still came back to the team of educators working with them every day in childcare services. She said the vast majority of those educators were totally committed to child safety and wellbeing, but that needed to be supported. "We need to support a culture of reporting and constant risk vigilance, so that if educators are concerned about another educator's behaviour — think they're crossing boundaries with a child or with their family — they can raise those concerns and those concerns will be taken seriously, and there will be a response to that really quickly. "Sexual abuse perpetrators are incredibly insidious, and we need every other educator to be alert to that risk and to be watching out for signs of risk and taking preventative action."
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Two female police officers allegedly assaulted on call-out in Bidwill, Sydneys
Two young female police officers have been hospitalised after they were allegedly assaulted while responding to a call in Sydney's west. A 23-year-old female officer was found lying unresponsive on Bunya Rd, near Daniels Rd, at Bidwill shortly before 6.30pm on Friday. She was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken to Westmead Hospital in a stable condition. A second officer, a 22-year-old woman, was also treated at the scene and taken to Mount Druitt Hospital. The officers, both attached to Mt Druitt Police Area Command, were believed to be attending a mental health incident at the time of the assault. A 19-year-old man was arrested at the scene and taken to Mt Druitt Police Station, before being transferred to Nepean Hospital. A crime scene has been established and investigations are ongoing.
