Michael Gordon on Refugee - National Times

Michael Gordon

Plugging leaks in refugee boats policy

Michael Gordon A report from the retiring head of the Australian Human Rights Commission shines a light on the real reason our leaders have not found a way to respond to the issue of people who come to our country...

Michael Gordon

The national disgrace that is our asylum-seeker debate

Michael Gordon A month before Julia Gillard's mini-campaign in Sydney's outer west, Tony Abbott took his own mini-campaign to Melbourne's outer east, and reflected with justifiable pride on the diversity of...

Michael Gordon

Team Legal goes in to bat for desperate Sri Lankans

Michael Gordon Here's a poser to start a dinner table conversation: Name one Australian institution that has emerged from a year of dismal politics, dashed expectations and revelations of systemic failure with its...

Michael Gordon

Friendship hits a snag in a sea of confusion over boats

Michael Gordon Paris Aristotle and David Manne are good friends. They have been for more than 15 years.

Michael Gordon

The trouble with Labor's new-look Nauru solution

Michael Gordon If the comparison is with the early days of John Howard's Pacific Solution, the transfer of the first plane-load of asylum seekers to Nauru yesterday was a qualified success.

Michael Gordon

Gillard breaks old rule for a slow climb

Michael Gordon Prime Minister's negative rating was in basement territory for six straight polls, until this weekend.

Michael Gordon

New regime every bit as tough as Howard's but will it work?

Michael Gordon The big surprise of the blueprint crafted by Julia Gillard's expert panel is that it is even tougher, in key respects, than the plan Tony Abbott was prepared to back just six weeks ago.

Michael Gordon

Time to stop finger-pointing and start being constructive

Michael Gordon It's time Tony Abbott made it possible for Julia Gillard to implement policies to prevent asylum-seeker tragedies.

Michael Gordon

Like it or not, Indonesia seems part of a solution

Michael Gordon Many poor Indonesian fisherman are serving mandatory five-year jail terms in Australia, while most of the smuggler kingpins get off the boats before they're intercepted.