http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/harry-minas/ Harry Minas is Director of the Centre for International Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, Director of the Victorian Transcultural Psychiatry Unit and a member of the Council for Immigration Services and Status Resolution, which advises the Immigration Minister. Minas was a foundation member of the Council’s predecessor, the Immigration Detention Advisory Group, which advised ministers from Philip Ruddock onward, and was the first Chair of the Detention Health Advisory Group. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/abbotts-asylum-seeker-policy-is-out-of-its-mind/ At the press conference announcing his hard-line policy on asylum seekers Tony Abbott declared himself ‘a big risk to people smugglers’. While he claimed that ‘if I get elected, people smugglers will go out of business’, Abbott stressed that ‘my argument is not with desperate people who want a better life’. If only it were that simple. The reality is that the Opposition’s policy constitutes a grave risk to traumatized people who will, if the policy is implemented, be traumatized further. Temporary protection visas will be reintroduced for irregular maritime arrivals who are found to engage Australia’s protection obligations, as well as for others. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Harry Minas) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/abbotts-asylum-seeker-policy-is-out-of-its-mind/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/abbotts-asylum-seeker-policy-is-out-of-its-mind/#item3279 Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:55:03 +0000 Harry Minas | Author bios | The Punch