Annabel Hennessy

Two baby boys whose parents had been homeless and desperately seeking accommodation support have died within weeks of one another.

Last Thursday, a 16-year-old First Nations boy died after self-harming in pretrial detention in a West Australian prison. Even though he was under 18, the authorities held him at Unit 18 in Casuarina Prison—a maximum security prison for adult men.

In a landmark decision on Wednesday, Australia’s high court ruled that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful. The decision overturns a 2004 ruling that held that noncitizens without visas could be detained indefinitely, so long as the government intended to remove them as soon as “reasonably practicable.”

Click to expand Image The “knitting nannas” assemble outside the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, May 10, 2023.

Our treatment of asylum seekers tarnishes our global reputation.

Click to expand Image Barbed wire fence in Australia, February 10, 2023. © 2023 SCM Jeans/Getty Images

Click to expand Image A view of the Lotus Glen Correctional Centre. Located in northern Queensland, Lotus Glen Correctional Centre is a male

Last week, a 17-year-old boy died by self-harm in his cell at Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Western Australia. This tragic event was the second death of a child within the state’s youth detention system in less than a year.

Click to expand Image A young person holding onto a chain link fence. © 2024 Suriyawut Suriya/Getty Images

Click to expand Image Activists gather in Brisbane's ANZAC Square to protest the indefinite detention of refugees and asylum seekers in