An estimated 30,000 asylum seekers have been living for up to ten years under conditions of prolonged uncertainty in Australia, due to freezes and other delays in visa processing. In 2022 and 2023, many began to receive the welcome news that they were to be granted permanent visas. Thus, at short notice, people who had been living under conditions of prolonged precarity found that abiding fears around safety and protection could be set aside, and they were able to access the full range of social protections and supports available to other permanent residents.

This talk addresses the combined consequences of long-term physical and ontological insecurity for former asylum seekers in Australia. Drawing on clinical and social work among asylum seekers, I argue that many will experience new forms of precarity and ontological insecurity after the grant of permanent visa.

This event is presented in person and online. Zoom details below

About the speaker

Christine Phillips is Professor of Social Foundations of Medicine at the School of Medicine and Psychology, College of Health and Medicine. For over two decades she has been Medical Director of Companion House Medical Service, the ACT’s refugee health service, and was a co-founder of the national Refugee Health Network of Australia. She has worked as a consultant with the Australian Government, UNHCR and the World Health Organization over resettlement policies.

This series is spearheaded by the ANU Migration Hub hosted at RegNet, in collaboration with the School of Archaeology and Anthropology.

For online attendance, see Zoom details below

https://anu.zoom.us/j/86557701787?pwd=cnIreVB5eG8vNmlibWtHMjRKaEtIZz09 (Meeting ID: 865 5770 1787. Password: 836061)

Image credit: svetazi on Adobe Stock