(Click on the, “Prime Minister Kevin Rudd joins ‘The 7.30 Report’” link, asylum seekers issue starts at 3.25mins and goes for 5mins)

On asylum seekers, Kevin Rudd speaking with Kerry, says:

“… Remember, that what we’re facing with – faced with in Sri Lanka is 260,000 people displaced because of a civil war, hundreds of thousands seeking to return to the part of Sri Lanka they used to live in. The matters I discussed with their President this afternoon and the particular needs which exist within that country for housing. But on top of that, if you’re dealing with these challenges…”

Click here to read transcript

ABC Online – Air Force plane joins ocean rescue

SMH – One confirmed dead in Cocos search

The Associated Press – Rescue under way after boat sinks off Australia

Radio Australia - Concerns for a group of people feared drowned in Indian Ocean

ABC Online – Passengers feared drowned in boat disaster

The Australian – Fears for boat with 40 on board near Cocos Islands – report

News.com.au – About 20 asylum-seekers still missing after boat capsized during rescue

ABC – Passengers feared drowned after boat sinks

The Australian – Search under way for 25 asylum-seekers after boat sinks off Cocos Islands

AFP – Sri Lanka protests at US plan to quiz military chief

Outlook – US to Interview Fonseka on War Crimes Issue: Report

BBC – US ‘to quiz Sri Lanka army chief’

Digital Journal – Sri Lanka Confirms US to Quiz Army Chief over War Crimes

Brisbane Times – Query over asylum seekers’ status

ABC Online – Indonesia must sign refugee convention: Greens

Sydney Morning Herald – Ready to risk lives and life savings

The Australian – Inertia as impasse enters third week

The Age – PM out of loop on Tamil asylum seekers

Sydney Morning Herald – Migration: the true story

12.30pm Monday 2 November. Immigration Department, Lee St (Railway Square end of Central Tunnel), City. 
Speakers include: Sylvia Hale (NSW Greens MP), Tamil Association, Ian Rintoul (Refugee Action Coalition). The bipartisan demonisation of asylum seekers has provoked feelings of deja vu among many people who thought we’d never again see Tampa-style dramas on the high seas. But as each day passes, it is becoming clear that Kevin Rudd’s ‘Indonesia Solution’ is every bit as inhumane (and expensive) as John Howard’s ‘Pacific Solution’. Despite the refugee rights movement winning victories such as children out of detention and the end of Temporary Protection Visas, it’s clear that we have a long way to go before Australia can claim it has humanitarian immigration and refugee policies.

Called by Refugee Action Coalition. Contact Ian on 0417 275 713

Sri Lanka Police and Sri Lanka Army soldiers beat a mentally ill Tamil youth and forced the youth to drown near the sea near Bambalapitya, Colombo, railway station Thursday. The youth was identified as Balavarnam Sivakumar, 26, of Ratmalana, according to media reports in Colombo, which belatedly listed the youth’s identity. “The entire country [Sri Lanka] watched in horror, as a group of heavily built men attacked the mentally unstable [Tamil] youth with wooden poles while he pleaded for mercy, when it was telecast on several news bulletins on Thursday night,” Daily Mirror said.  More

ABC – Opposition: Oceanic Viking costing taxpayers $75K a day

Daily Times – VIEW: Where is Australia? —Farish A Noor

ABC – Asylum seekers fear forcible removal

Jakarta Post – Indonesia demands time line for Sri Lankan asylum seekers

The Australian – Indonesia gives Oceanic Viking another week

Brisbane Times – Asylum seekers showdown averted for week

Refugee advocates in Australia are concerned that the Australian government may be co-ordinating action to try and force the Tamil asylum seekers in Indonesia to leave their boats.

While media statements this morning refer to the threat to forcibly remove the 78 asylum seekers on the Oceanic Viking, a statement from the 250 Tamil asylum seekers stranded in Merak, Indonesia says that the International
Organisation of Migration (IOM) is pressuring them to leave the ship by cutting their supplies. More 

The Age – Rudd must relent to avoid costly stand-off

The Australian – Tamils ‘concerned they will be removed’

Sydney Morning Herald – Tamils’ horrific treatment makes them desperate to leave

BBC – Indonesia ‘might expel’ refugees

The Australian – Indonesia ‘might expel’ refugees

The Australian – Caucus united on refugees

The Australian – Kids destined for detention: Jakarta

News.com.au – Chilli weapon ruled out in asylum seeker boat standoff

The Australian – The strange and puzzling case of Dr Kevin and Mr Rudd