Breaking the deadlock: Creating solutions for refugees

Compared with many other countries, the number of people seeking asylum in Australia is small, but issues around refugees and asylum seekers generate huge political heat. Discussion can seem futile as issues of law and principle clash with political expediency and entrenched positions.
Yet, as the world faces the largest number of displaced people since World War II, there has never been a more important time for informed and evidence-based discussion on this issue. This panel discussion started a conversation on what a just, lawful and humane approach could look like. 

Recorded live at the Sydney Opera House for the Grand Challenge on Refugees and Migrants.

The panel features Australian and international experts who work at the forefront of refugee and asylum seeker practice and policy.

Paris Aristotle AO is CEO of the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture Inc, also known as Foundation House, and has over 30 years’ experience supporting refugees and asylum seekers, particularly in the provision of services to survivors of torture and trauma. He has worked closely with UNHCR on refugee resettlement and served on a wide range of state and federal government bodies including the Prime Minister’s Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers in 2012. He became an AM in 2002, was awarded AO in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours and was named the 2017 Victorian Australian of the Year.

Guy S. Goodwin-Gill is Professor of Law at UNSW and Acting Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law. He is also Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and Emeritus Professor of International Refugee Law of the University of Oxford, and practises as a barrister from Blackstone Chambers in London. He has published widely in areas including international refugee law and human rights law and was the Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Refugee Law.

Emeritus Professor Gillian Triggs was the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission from 2012–17. She was Dean of the Faculty of Law and Challis Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney and was also Director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. Professor Triggs combined an academic career with international commercial legal practice in areas including World Trade Organization law and human rights.

Huy Truong came to Australia by boat in 1978 as a Vietnamese refugee. He has since developed a diverse business career as a management consultant, venture capitalist, corporate executive and entrepreneur. He is currently CEO and co-owner of the ALI Group and a Founding Director of Thrive Refugee Enterprise. He was a pioneer of the Australia e-commerce industry and was recognized as the Australian Financial Review Ecommerce Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000.