Freilich Lecture in Bigotry and Tolerance: Professor Penelope Mathew on 'Where to from here? Australia’s role in refugee protection'

Professor Penelope Mathew

Where to from here? Australia’s role in refugee protection

Australia’s handling of the asylum-seekers on board the Oceanic Viking has sparked vigorous and ongoing debate. In her inaugural lecture as the Freilich Foundation professor, Penelope Mathew will take a look at Australia’s past and present policies against the backdrop of global refugee movements. She will assess these policies for compliance with accepted international human rights standards, and evaluate their utility in dealing with the problem of forced migration. She will suggest ways of changing the national conversation about the issue. Active audience participation in a new national conversation will be encouraged during and after her presentation.

Penelope Mathew has taught at the law schools of the University of Melbourne, The Australian National University and The University of Michigan (USA). She has published widely in the areas of international law, human rights and refugee law. Her main area of expertise is refugee law and she has worked with and for refugees in many capacities. Penelope began her career in the field as a volunteer lawyer with the Refugee Advice and Casework Service in Melbourne and the Jesuit Refugee Service in Hong Kong’s refugee camps. Since then, she has provided legal advice on behalf of asylum-seekers involved in cases before the Australian courts and appeared many times before Senate inquiries concerning amendments to Australian legislation dealing with refugees and asylum-seekers. In 2001, she advised the regional office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Canberra on the legal issues regarding the “Pacific Solution” – Australia’s interception of and "processing" of unauthorized boat arrivals’ claims to refugee status in offshore detention centers. She was also a participant in the third expert panel on refugee law organized by UNHCR during the Global Consultations on the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. She has trained refugee status decision-makers and she is a non-judicial member of the International Association of Refugee Law Judges, and an associate rapporteur of its human rights nexus working group. In 2008, she was presented with an International Women’s Day award by the ACT government for her outstanding contribution to human rights and social justice.