http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/asylum-seekers/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +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/whos-side-are-you-on-an-upside-down-start-to-2012/ It’s the third week of January and we’re facing a long year in politics. With no federal election due until 2013 we could be in for a 12-month bout of deja vu, as ALP leadership speculation rumbles on, people keep giving Tony Abbott lots of free advice (because 54/46 two-party preferred is not impressive enough polling), and boatloads of asylum seekers keep setting off from Java. So nothing’s changed. Well, that would be too easy. Actually, as 2012 dawns the political landscape has become a bit skewwhiff. Robert Manne started it all just before Christmas, when he wrote a piece in The Monthly admitting what a lot of lefties had already started to think, but hadn’t yet been game to say - that while they hated John Howard’s Pacific Solution, it did, indeed, stop the boats. And with no boats there were no drownings, and upon reflection, that was a pretty good result. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whos-side-are-you-on-an-upside-down-start-to-2012/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whos-side-are-you-on-an-upside-down-start-to-2012/#item7533 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 The grace period for not politicising human tragedy is less than 24 hours. Both major parties are in full swing - misinforming the public, drumming up fear and spinning themselves out of any actual policy action. The fact remains that Australia does not have an ‘asylum problem’ but we do have a problem with our policy response. Receiving less than 1 per cent of the world’s asylum claims in a year is not a problem. People dying at sea is most definitely a problem, unfortunately not one unique to Australia or to Indonesia. The public debate around Labor vs. Coalition policy proposals can be likened to the saying: “When the finger points at the moon, the idiot looks at the finger.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/take-more-asylum-seekers-to-ensure-fewer-boats/ The grace period for not politicising human tragedy is less than 24 hours. Both major parties are in full swing - misinforming the public, drumming up fear and spinning themselves out of any actual policy action. The fact remains that Australia does not have an ‘asylum problem’ but we do have a problem with our policy response. Receiving less than 1 per cent of the world’s asylum claims in a year is not a problem. People dying at sea is most definitely a problem, unfortunately not one unique to Australia or to Indonesia. The public debate around Labor vs. Coalition policy proposals can be likened to the saying: “When the finger points at the moon, the idiot looks at the finger.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/take-more-asylum-seekers-to-ensure-fewer-boats/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/take-more-asylum-seekers-to-ensure-fewer-boats/#item7430 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 The grace period for not politicising human tragedy is less than 24 hours. Both major parties are in full swing - misinforming the public, drumming up fear and spinning themselves out of any actual policy action. The fact remains that Australia does not have an ‘asylum problem’ but we do have a problem with our policy response. Receiving less than 1 per cent of the world’s asylum claims in a year is not a problem. People dying at sea is most definitely a problem, unfortunately not one unique to Australia or to Indonesia. The public debate around Labor vs. Coalition policy proposals can be likened to the saying: “When the finger points at the moon, the idiot looks at the finger.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/killed-with-kindness-onshore-processing-is-a-deadly-policy/ Mark Latham is notoriously harsh and personal in his choice of language. It was one of the things which made him unelectable as prime minister and which saw him shred every friendship he ever had upon making his furious exit from parliamentary life. At the same time Latham can also make sense. His analysis may often be brutal and poorly-timed but it is often also right. He was 100 per cent right when he said on Sunday that the people who advocate the onshore processing of asylum seekers, on compassionate and humanitarian grounds, are creating a situation where desperate people will risk their lives at the hands of people smugglers in the dangerous hope of making it to the Australian mainland. Of course Latham could have easily avoided insinuating that the likes of Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young and the Labor Party’s Left Faction had effectively killed the 200-odd men, women and children whose bodies were still being picked out of the sea off the coast of Java. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/killed-with-kindness-onshore-processing-is-a-deadly-policy/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/killed-with-kindness-onshore-processing-is-a-deadly-policy/#item7414 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 The grace period for not politicising human tragedy is less than 24 hours. Both major parties are in full swing - misinforming the public, drumming up fear and spinning themselves out of any actual policy action. The fact remains that Australia does not have an ‘asylum problem’ but we do have a problem with our policy response. Receiving less than 1 per cent of the world’s asylum claims in a year is not a problem. People dying at sea is most definitely a problem, unfortunately not one unique to Australia or to Indonesia. The public debate around Labor vs. Coalition policy proposals can be likened to the saying: “When the finger points at the moon, the idiot looks at the finger.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-year-after-christmas-island-another-awful-tragedy-at-sea/ It’s almost exactly a year since the Christmas Island tragedy, when dozens of asylum seekers died on Australia’s doorstep. In an event which everyone predicted - but which no one managed to prevent - more boats came and sank. Now, there has been a tragedy on an even larger scale, with hundreds of asylum seekers feared dead after yet another overloaded, unsafe boat sank, killing people who were desperate for a better life. Christmas Island, and the spectre of another mass drowning, should have been the crisis that broke the political impasse. But it didn’t. There is an eerie sense of rigid paralysis in our politics when it comes to this issue. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-year-after-christmas-island-another-awful-tragedy-at-sea/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-year-after-christmas-island-another-awful-tragedy-at-sea/#item7407 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 The grace period for not politicising human tragedy is less than 24 hours. Both major parties are in full swing - misinforming the public, drumming up fear and spinning themselves out of any actual policy action. The fact remains that Australia does not have an ‘asylum problem’ but we do have a problem with our policy response. Receiving less than 1 per cent of the world’s asylum claims in a year is not a problem. People dying at sea is most definitely a problem, unfortunately not one unique to Australia or to Indonesia. The public debate around Labor vs. Coalition policy proposals can be likened to the saying: “When the finger points at the moon, the idiot looks at the finger.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/biggest-moments-of-2011-17-no-laksa-for-you/ What happened In a kooky swapsie deal, Australia and Malaysia entered into a “cooperative transfer agreement” on asylum seekers, only to have the deal trounced by the High Court. Under the Malaysia Solution the next 800 asylum seekers to arrive in Australia would be shipped off to Malaysia to join the ‘queue’ there. In return Australia would take an extra 4000 refugees from Malaysia. Refugee advocates were chuffed that we’d take extra refugees but dismayed at the idea of sending asylum seekers to Malaysia, where they were reportedly badly treated. Critics said it was both inhumane and ineffective, and many were pre-occupied by the maths of 800 for 4000. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/biggest-moments-of-2011-17-no-laksa-for-you/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/biggest-moments-of-2011-17-no-laksa-for-you/#item7315 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 The grace period for not politicising human tragedy is less than 24 hours. Both major parties are in full swing - misinforming the public, drumming up fear and spinning themselves out of any actual policy action. The fact remains that Australia does not have an ‘asylum problem’ but we do have a problem with our policy response. Receiving less than 1 per cent of the world’s asylum claims in a year is not a problem. People dying at sea is most definitely a problem, unfortunately not one unique to Australia or to Indonesia. The public debate around Labor vs. Coalition policy proposals can be likened to the saying: “When the finger points at the moon, the idiot looks at the finger.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/stop-the-planes/ There’s nothing like a leaky boat full of traumatised asylum seekers to spark fear and loathing in Australia. Why is that? Today’s news reveals that there are 13 times as many visa overstayers in Australia as there are asylum seekers in detention, but people arriving by planes – who are mostly Chinese, American, British or Malaysian - just don’t trigger the same gut reaction. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/stop-the-planes/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/stop-the-planes/#item7195 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 The grace period for not politicising human tragedy is less than 24 hours. Both major parties are in full swing - misinforming the public, drumming up fear and spinning themselves out of any actual policy action. The fact remains that Australia does not have an ‘asylum problem’ but we do have a problem with our policy response. Receiving less than 1 per cent of the world’s asylum claims in a year is not a problem. People dying at sea is most definitely a problem, unfortunately not one unique to Australia or to Indonesia. The public debate around Labor vs. Coalition policy proposals can be likened to the saying: “When the finger points at the moon, the idiot looks at the finger.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/parties-were-politicking-while-people-were-still-trapped/ Before the body count was even finalised politicians used the latest asylum seeker tragedy to regurgitate their entrenched positions on border control. At least seven people – including children - are dead. More are missing and thought to be dead, trapped in their boat which capsized off the coast of Java. Seventy people, from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan were on board. Forty or 48 had been rescued, depending on your news source. Authorities believe the boat was heading for Australia. See news.com.au for the latest information. Last night while the numbers were still murky, political imperatives were crystal clear. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/parties-were-politicking-while-people-were-still-trapped/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/parties-were-politicking-while-people-were-still-trapped/#item7055 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 The grace period for not politicising human tragedy is less than 24 hours. Both major parties are in full swing - misinforming the public, drumming up fear and spinning themselves out of any actual policy action. The fact remains that Australia does not have an ‘asylum problem’ but we do have a problem with our policy response. Receiving less than 1 per cent of the world’s asylum claims in a year is not a problem. People dying at sea is most definitely a problem, unfortunately not one unique to Australia or to Indonesia. The public debate around Labor vs. Coalition policy proposals can be likened to the saying: “When the finger points at the moon, the idiot looks at the finger.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/take-no-prisoners-approach-could-bite-abbott-on-the/ The conservative radio personality Alan Jones is regarded as the most powerful broadcaster in the country. So his appearance at Canberra’s National Press Club this week would have sparked interest even if his last foray to the capital had not been so embarrassing. Then, the self-appointed champion of an ageing wedge of disgruntled Australians, was caught in what he would define (if committed by Julia Gillard) as a lie - even if it was merely an ill-informed claim rather too confidently put. At the time, you may recall, he had railed to a smallish crowd of malcontents known as the ``Convoy of No-Confidence’’ gathered in front of Parliament House, that there would have been thousands more present if they hadn’t been stopped at the ACT border. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/take-no-prisoners-approach-could-bite-abbott-on-the/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/take-no-prisoners-approach-could-bite-abbott-on-the/#item6974 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 The grace period for not politicising human tragedy is less than 24 hours. Both major parties are in full swing - misinforming the public, drumming up fear and spinning themselves out of any actual policy action. The fact remains that Australia does not have an ‘asylum problem’ but we do have a problem with our policy response. Receiving less than 1 per cent of the world’s asylum claims in a year is not a problem. People dying at sea is most definitely a problem, unfortunately not one unique to Australia or to Indonesia. The public debate around Labor vs. Coalition policy proposals can be likened to the saying: “When the finger points at the moon, the idiot looks at the finger.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/utopia-and-a-third-world-in-the-first-world/ This week’s Q and A program featured Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, who has been an instrumental figure in drawing attention to the federal and Northern Territory Governments policies which are effectively stripping traditional Indigenous communities - ‘homelands’ - of funds. Aboriginal peoples’ rights to traditional lands, culture, informed consent and adequate housing are being undermined. Last week, Salil Shetty, the Secretary General of Amnesty International and I had the honour and privilege of spending time with Rosalie and the people of the Utopia Homelands on a fact finding mission. This was the first time I had travelled to Utopia in two years. I was struck by the fact that very little had changed. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/utopia-and-a-third-world-in-the-first-world/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/utopia-and-a-third-world-in-the-first-world/#item6953 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 The grace period for not politicising human tragedy is less than 24 hours. Both major parties are in full swing - misinforming the public, drumming up fear and spinning themselves out of any actual policy action. The fact remains that Australia does not have an ‘asylum problem’ but we do have a problem with our policy response. Receiving less than 1 per cent of the world’s asylum claims in a year is not a problem. People dying at sea is most definitely a problem, unfortunately not one unique to Australia or to Indonesia. The public debate around Labor vs. Coalition policy proposals can be likened to the saying: “When the finger points at the moon, the idiot looks at the finger.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Were-all-at-sea-without-a-strong-regional-vision/ Last week’s default to onshore asylum seeker processing is not a story of government incompetence. It isn’t even a story of partisan gridlock. At its heart this is about of our collective failure to grasp what it means to live in an interconnected world. We are yet to leave our foreign policy training wheels. My most visceral reaction to this announcement was a feeling that we’ve lost control over our ability to shape events in the national interest. The political stalemate highlights not only the Gillard Government’s current lack of an authentic asylum seeker policy, but also a broader paradigm that suggests our leaders don’t control the big decisions anymore. But we lost control long before last week. In the 10 years of the Howard Government, there were over 13,000 asylum seeker arrivals; in the course of the Rudd/Gillard Governments, there have been no more than 5,000. The perception of asylum seeker control in the Howard era was just that – a perception of control. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Were-all-at-sea-without-a-strong-regional-vision/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Were-all-at-sea-without-a-strong-regional-vision/#item6939 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 The grace period for not politicising human tragedy is less than 24 hours. Both major parties are in full swing - misinforming the public, drumming up fear and spinning themselves out of any actual policy action. The fact remains that Australia does not have an ‘asylum problem’ but we do have a problem with our policy response. Receiving less than 1 per cent of the world’s asylum claims in a year is not a problem. People dying at sea is most definitely a problem, unfortunately not one unique to Australia or to Indonesia. The public debate around Labor vs. Coalition policy proposals can be likened to the saying: “When the finger points at the moon, the idiot looks at the finger.”