Newsletters and articles
ChilOut Newsletters
Sign up for our free e-newsletter to stay up to date and informed on issues affecting children in detention. E-mail: with newsletter as the subject line.
October 2011- It's Time To Get Serious
September 2011(2)- The REAL missed opportunity
September 2011- Call to Action
August 2011- Children Out of Immigration Detention
February 2011 - Detention update
December 2010 - Christmas in detention
November 2010 - kids released? not quite
October 2010 - ChilOut reactivates campaign
Articles By ChilOut
Hypocrisy over Bali teenager as Indonesian children remain in jail
13/10/2011 Kate Gauthier (The Conversation)
Read online
Asylum policy debate: we're being conned
17/1/2011 By Kate Gauthier (The Drum Unleashed)
Snappy sound grabs aimed at marginal seat voters have taken the place of well-considered policy proposals. In short, we've all been conned into thinking there is an actual debate about asylum policy when it's really a political marketing campaign.
Read online
Big ideas: a sensible policy solution on asylum seekers
12/1/2011 By Kate Gauthier (The Punch)
The Labor Government has set itself up for failure by upholding the view that asylum seeking is a national security threat.
Read online
Compassion of Season for Littlest Detainees
30/12/2010 Opinion piece in SMH by Jessica Perini on ChilOut's Christmas Toy Drive
About two weeks before Christmas I decided to send an email to five friends asking them each to send one package to children in immigration detention across Australia. I thought maybe five, 10 or 15 children might benefit. The response I received was so extraordinary that today I am wondering if we managed to reach all 888 of them .
Read online
Asylum Seeker Policy in Australia: rights and wrongs
15/10/2011 by Kate Gauthier (Mosiac Magazine)
It is said that any civilized society can be measured by how it treats its most vulnerable people. Asylum seekers, vilified by the media and feared by the public, make an excellent target for unscrupulous public figures who seek to gain power or position through a culture of fear.
It is said that any civilized society can be measured by how it treats its most vulnerable people. Asylum seekers, vilified by the media and feared by the public, make an excellent target for unscrupulous public figures who seek to gain power or position through a culture of fear.
Suffer the little children
30/09/2010 by Kate Gauthier (CPD Thinking Points)
There are 628 children in immigration detention. The Government claims that kids are not held behind razor wire. But does that mean it is humane? ChilOut's Kate Gauthier unpacks the language vs the reality of asylum seeking kids in detention. (First published in CPDs Thinking Points)
There are 628 children in immigration detention. The Government claims that kids are not held behind razor wire. But does that mean it is humane? ChilOut's Kate Gauthier unpacks the language vs the reality of asylum seeking kids in detention. (First published in CPDs Thinking Points)
Election promises on boats will not pass parliament
30/8/2010 by Kate Gauthier (CPD Thinking Points)
In the lead up to the election, we saw both major parties making policy pledges to stop asylum boats. Kate Gauthier looks at the numbers in a hung parliament and considers whether either major party can live up to their election promises.
Bring Out yer Dead Policies - Coalition Asylum Strategy
10/8/2010 by Kate Gauthier (CPD Thinking Points)
Abbott has pledged to stop the boats at all costs, but his policies have been tested by previous Coalition Governments - and failed. Real questions remain about the effectiveness and implementation of the Coalition's line on asylum seekers.
It takes a bleeding heart to see the bleedin' obvious
30/7/2010 by Kate Gauthier chapter in More Than Luck, published by the Centre for Policy Development)
Most policy reformers, especially social policy reformers, like to tell governments where they should spend more money. But when it comes to asylum seeker policy, reform advocates are not asking the government to spend more money; we are begging them to spend less.
Read online