Australia is to shut a former British missile testing base in the Outback that was converted into a notorious detention centre for asylum seekers.

The father of two Afghan boys who walked into the British consulate in Melbourne and asked for asylum has admitted he has not lived in his homeland for “many years”, it was reported today.

An Australian judge today said he was alarmed at a report on the mental health of two boys who sought asylum at a British consulate after fleeing an Outback detention centre for illegal immigrants.

About 300 supporters of asylum seekers attended a rally in Sydney today attended by Ali Baktiari, the father of two boys at the centre of Australia’s latest detention row.

IN a taped interview, one of the two brothers who unsuccessfully sought asylum at the British consulate in Melbourne yesterday described how he tried to commit suicide inside the Woomera detention camp.

Britain today rejected the applications of two young boys who sought asylum at the British Consulate in the southern Australian city of Melbourne, a lawyer said.

May Day protesters in Sydney seeking rights for asylum seekers today clashed with riot police resulting in dozens of arrests.

Riot police on horseback clashed with protesters today as demonstrations continued outside a remote Australian detention centre for refugees.

Hard-line Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock today hugged Australia’s six millionth migrant since the Second World War - a Filipino computer expert.

The Australian government is defending its treatment of Afghan asylum seekers held on the Pacific island of Nauru.

A protest in an Australian refugee detention centre escalated today with asylum seekers poisoning themselves and a hunger strike spreading to a second internment facility.

Australia today threatened to remove the children of some asylum seekers after youngsters involved in a hunger strike had their lips sewn together.

A dramatic increase in the number of asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat in recent months is proof that the government’s tough new measures to fight the problem are not working, the opposition Labour Party said today.

Asylum seekers at detention camps in Australia have fewer rights than convicted criminals, an independent government investigator said today in his annual report to parliament.

Australia had identified and passed to Indonesian authorities the name of the people smuggler believed to be behind the ill-fated boat which sank last week off the coast of Java immigration minister Philip Ruddock said today.

Australia’s government said today it will fly about 230 asylum seekers to a remote island in Papua New Guinea later this week, where they will stay while their applications for refugee status are processed.

A boatload of asylum seekers turned away from Australia by a navy ship had thrown children overboard in protest, Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said today.

Elite troops today boarded a Norwegian cargo ship carrying 438 refugees after its captain defied orders banning it from entering Australian territorial waters.

Hundreds of refugees have gone on a hunger strike aboard a Norwegian cargo boat, threatening to jump overboard if Australia continues to refuse them entry.

Australian local Governments are neglecting Aborigine affairs, especially programmes to curb alcoholism and domestic violence, a federal minister claimed today.

The Australian government today defended the use of tear gas and water cannons to break up protests at detention centres for illegal immigrants.