Briefings – serie

In April this year, Michael Gordon was the first journalist to gain unrestricted access to the refugee detention center on Nauru. There he interviewed more than half of the 54 asylum seekers then on the island. His article, based on these interviews, for +ó--The Good Weekend+ó-- magazine drew an enormous response from readers. +ó--Freeing Ali+ó-- expands beyond that article to tell the story of Ali Mullaie, an Afghan asylum seeker, since granted refugee status in Australia, who spent three and half years detained on Nauru. Ali gained widespread attention for teaching computer skills to Nauruan school children. Michael Gordon backgrounds his profile of Ali and his fellow detainees with a discussion of the impact of the detention center and the 'Pacific Solution' on the people of Nauru and their country, a country that recently had a change of government and suffers from an economy in ongoing decline. +ó--Freeing Ali+ó-- also includes Michael Gordon's photographs of detainees and the Nauruan landscape.

Climate change is predicted to dislocate millions of people in regions already vulnerable to economic, political and environmental disruption. Already some communities, notably Pacific Islanders, are under direct threat of displacement due to climate-related factors. ""Stormy Weather"" looks at the effects of climate change as experienced by the people of Tuvalu, a tiny, picturesque Pacific nation. It looks at how the international community should respond to climate-related migration in Asia, the Pacific and Africa, and argues that Australia - in a region in which 60 per cent of the world's population lives and where the human implications of climate change will be played out - has a particular interest in ensuring that this new challenge is met. This title examines the dynamics and implications of climate- migration. It considers the effects of climate change at a micro level and paints a vivid picture of life in a small Pacific nation. It draws out the wider implications for Australia and countries across Asia, the Pacific and Africa.