Aaron Bunch Journalist with Australian Associated Press | Collection of published work | + 61 484 008 119 | abunch@aap.com.au
Reuters
U.S. officials meet asylum seekers at Australian-run camp, possibly restarting “dumb deal”
March 21, 2017 Colin Packham, Aaron Bunch CANBERRA/PERTH (Reuters) – U.S. officials began taking fingerprints of asylum seekers in an Australian-run camp on the Pacific island of Nauru on Monday, signalling that vetting of applicants for resettlement in what U.S. President Donald Trump called a “dumb deal” has restarted. Australia agreed with former U.S. President Barack […]
Rocks, rip tides kill tourists on Australian beaches
March 9, 2017 Jonathan Barrett, Aaron Bunch Notices in several languages emblazoned with the symbol of the skull and crossbones caution against the risk of being swept off the rocks at Maroubra Beach in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. But the warnings were not enough to prevent Nepali university students Shristi Bhandari, 23, and Sudeep Uprety, 26, from […]
Scores of detained asylum seekers take Australian cash and return home
March 2, 2017 Colin Packham, Aaron Bunch SYDNEY (Reuters) – Dozens of asylum seekers held in a detention center in Papua New Guinea have elected to accept cash from Australia to return to their home countries, officials and refugees said, the largest exodus from the South Pacific camp in four years. Australia has ratcheted up efforts […]
Australia calls ambassadors home to reshape foreign policy, trade
March 2, 2017 Aaron Bunch, Tom Westbrook SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia will call home all of its overseas ambassadors for a meeting, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Wednesday, as it reshapes its foreign policy to balance ties with long-time ally the United States and China, its largest trading partner. It is the first time Australia […]
Australian rock band Midnight Oil to play first world tour in 20 years
February 17, 2017 Jane Wardell, Aaron Bunch SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian rock band Midnight Oil said on Friday they will play their first world tour in 20 years, vowing to continue their political activism during the six-month, fifty-show world tour. The tour, scheduled to begin in mid-April, will take the band to 14 countries, including […]
Exclusive: Australia increases pressure, cash offers for PNG asylum seekers to return home
February 15, 2017 Colin Packham, Aaron Bunch SYDNEY (Reuters) – Officials at an Australian immigration center in Papua New Guinea are increasing pressure on asylum seekers to return to their home countries voluntarily, including offering large sums of money, amid fears a deal for the United States to take refugees has fallen through. About a dozen […]
Australia, Indonesia making joint effort to protect WW2 wreck
February 14, 2017 Jane Wardell, Aaron Bunch SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia and Indonesia are sending divers to inspect the wreck of a warship torpedoed off the coast of Java during World War Two next month to determine how best to protect the site from looters who have stripped numerous other WW2 wrecks. The Australian cruiser […]
Trump’s refugee order triggers protests across Australia
February 4, 2017 Harry Pearl, Aaron Bunch SYDNEY (Reuters) – Thousands of protesters rallied across Australia on Saturday condemning U.S. President Donald Trump’s order temporarily barring refugees and nationals from seven countries and demanding an end to Australia’s offshore detention of asylum seekers. U.S. ties with Australia became strained on Thursday after details about an acrimonious […]
Exclusive: U.S. officials postpone interviews with asylum seekers held in Australian camps
February 3, 2017 Colin Packham, Aaron Bunch SYDNEY (Reuters) – U.S. immigration officials have postponed interviews with asylum seekers in an Australian camp on the Pacific island of Nauru since President Trump’s executive order on immigration, suggesting Washington is already blocking progress on a controversial refugee resettlement deal. The deal sparked a rare diplomatic spat between […]
Trump to honour refugee swap deal with Australia
January 29, 2017 Aaron Bunch, Harry Pearl SYDNEY (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed by telephone that his administration will honour a refugee resettlement deal with staunch ally Australia, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Monday. The previous U.S administration had agreed to resettle a substantial number of the 1,200 asylum seekers, mainly […]
Five years after the boom, battle rages over mining wages in Australia
November 23, 2016 Jonathan Barrett, Aaron Bunch SYDNEY/PERTH (Reuters) – Coal prices may be recovering, but there are no celebrations in the mining town of Collie, Western Australia, where workers are fighting Indian conglomerate Lanco Infratech (LAIN.NS) over plans to slash their wages almost in half. The move to cut pay at Lanco’s Griffin Coal mine […]