Refugees

Hansonism’s back – and we’re not just talking about Pauline appearing as a sometime wannabe journo for Today Tonight. Her ideas are still spreading like the clap.

Remember this?

I and most Australians want our immigration policy radically reviewed and that of multiculturalism abolished. I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians. They have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate. Of course, I will be called racist but, if I can invite whom I want into my home, then I should have the right to have a say in who comes into my country.

Continue reading "Australia, you have nothing to fear but fear itself" »

Welcome to this week’s I Call Bullshit, a regular column where we take a look at codswallop and propaganda, logical failures and brain farts. The big news today is the Government’s plan to pay families to look after asylum seekers.

Last year, to ease pressure on detention centres, the Government started releasing more people into the community on bridging visas – but there’s still not enough room.

So now they’re going to use the Australian Homestay Network - a network of households who have already signed up to look after international students. The Government will cover the costs of room and board – about $140 per asylum seeker per week.

Continue reading "ICB: House the homeless before asylum seekers?" »

Imagine an Australian child is orphaned overseas. The local Government appoints him a legal guardian. The first thing the guardian does is take the boy to jail-like conditions in a remote location where he will stay indefinitely.

Would our headlines call this barbaric? Would there be outcry: children shouldn’t be treated this way? Surely he needs a comforting environment, surely there’s a better place for the boy than a detention centre? Why does he need to be so far from people who speak his language, people who could give him some support? Doesn’t he need a carer, maybe a counselor more than a guard?

It would no doubt be a scandal.

Continue reading "Locking up children is not making us safer" »

I’ve just returned from two weeks visiting some of Australia’s most remote detention facilities. In eight different centres across Christmas Island, Curtin, Perth and Darwin I met with hundreds of asylum seekers caught up in Australia’s policy of indefinite detention.

If people in Australia were able to replicate my harrowing trip and come to any conclusion other than detention is a cruel, expensive and unnecessary farce of a policy, I would be shocked. Unfortunately, one of the problems with these centres being so remote is that most Australians will never get this opportunity.

So let me tell you what I saw.

Continue reading "A harrowing look inside Australia’s detention centres" »

It just sounds so damn unfair doesn’t it – free TVs!!!!!

But those up in arms about the “welcome packs” of household essentials being used to fit out community housing for asylum seekers this morning are ignoring a few basic truths. Truths that include: a) it’s cheaper to house asylum seekers in the community than in our overcrowded detention centres and b) those awaiting rulings on their refugee claims are not allowed to work to buy essentials for life themselves.

The list of basics, which includes everything from a bed to a colander, has been designed to ease the passage of the approximately 1600 asylum seekers who currently live in community detention.

Continue reading "We need to help asylum seekers help themselves" »

At a recent protest outside the electoral office of Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon said Australia was mishandling the refugee issue, and it was the “lack of a humanitarian approach and failure to abide by international obligations” that was causing problems.

Another refugee advocate at the protest said, “You don’t have to be an Australian to have human rights.”

Human rights should be the lens through which we consider the economic, cultural and geographic implications of increasing our intake of refugees and asylum seekers. It is about enacting people’s basic rights to freedom, choice and safety.

Continue reading "It wouldn’t kill us to save more lives" »

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.”

Continue reading "Take more asylum seekers to ensure fewer boats" »

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.

Continue reading "A year after Christmas Island, another tragedy at sea" »

When the Reverend Seth Kaper-Dale took over the running of the Reformed Church of Highland Park, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, he didn’t realise that most of his Indonesian Christian congregation was living illegally in the United States.

Now, after almost a decade of battles, a deadline is pressing hard on 73 members of his church, who are being told to go back to Indonesia.

This may seem like an old story; and one that is happening far from Australia. And it is, on both counts. But these Indonesians, living in fear in New Jersey, still somehow seem to me like Australia’s neighbours.

Continue reading "Our American dream, our American nightmare" »

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.

Continue reading "Biggest moments of 2011 #17 No laksa for you!" »

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.

Continue reading "Stop the planes!" »

On the northern tip of Queensland, a young woman from the Philippines worked up to 18 hours a day for a married couple. She looked after their three small children, cleaned their house at night, and worked in their store in the day.

The woman, known in court as Ms G, was repeatedly raped by the husband, threatened, abused and exploited. After numerous appeals, in February 2010 the husband was jailed for slavery offences. The wife was also convicted, although she has since lodged another appeal.

These workers are Jills of all trades: cooking, cleaning, caring for kids, the elderly and the sick. Domestic workers – nannies, maids, au pairs, “the help” - make the lives of Australian families easier. But sometimes the lives of these workers are unbearably hard.

Continue reading "Slavery is alive and well in our own backyard" »

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.

Continue reading "Parties were politicking while people were still trapped" »

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.

Continue reading "Utopia and a Third World in the First World" »

Don’t laugh - but Julia Gillard is staking her leadership on her abilities as a salesperson.

The prime minister is gambling that she can sell voters on the idea that all asylum seeker boat arrivals from now on are Tony Abbott’s fault.

She thinks she can be more successful at this than Abbott will be in trying to foist the blame on to her and the Government every time another group of boat people disembarks on Christmas Island.

Continue reading "Gillard’s dreaming and Abbott’s scheming" »

I love living in the Territory. I enjoy our laid-back way of life, our sense of community and relaxed attitude toward blinkers and pyrotechnics. I’ve even grown quite fond of the crocs.

But some of the comments I’ve heard recently regarding asylum seekers are a whole other type of croc. A crock of shit.

Seeking asylum is not illegal. There is no queue. And yes, your taxpayer money is being wasted - by offshore processing and mandatory detention.

Continue reading "“Stop the boats” is a pathetic bogan slogan" »

The Government has an asylum seeker policy it can’t implement and by later today it might not even have that.

It has reached a legal and political impasse in its management of boat people, and the Opposition appears set to make that into a crisis by upending what until recently had been bipartisan policy.

For the first time in 10 years Australia might be taking on shore all the people who arrive in our waters looking for refuge.

Continue reading "Abbott joins Gillard between a rock and a hard place" »

In yet another extraordinary exclusive, The Punch has unearthed a transcript of Prime Minister JULIA GILLARD and Immigration Minister CHRIS BOWEN’s secret meeting with Opposition Leader TONY ABBOTT asking him to pass new asylum seeker laws…

JULIA: Thank you for coming everybody. It’s wonderful to finally have a spirit of cooperation and bipartisanship on this difficult and sensitive issue.

TONY: Just out of curiosity, was that a guillotine above the door?

JULIA: Not at all Tony. Now if you could just stand a little bit to your left…

Continue reading "A desperate plea from the PM to the Opposition Leader" »

I was sitting with some friends and students in the outer western suburbs of Sydney the other day. We were chatting about the High Court’s decision on the Malaysia Solution and offshore processing of refugees.

The general feeling was that it was about time someone demanded that Australia meet its international obligations and stop dumping them onto other countries. While there was not much sympathy for Gillard, nor was there any support for Tony Abbott’s posturing.

Someone actually quoted their Greek grandmother, who compares Greeks and Italians - saying, “they are the same, but different”. My question: “Would you vote for Tony Abbott if an election was held tomorrow?” was met with a resounding ‘no’. So is Gillard finished?

Continue reading "Gillard can win the next election in three easy steps" »

A straightforward decision by the High Court: the government’s “Malaysian solution” was illegal. But that simple decision is surrounded by a kaleidoscope of complexities, conundrums and challenges. Julia Gillard has to find a way through the maze, and come out of it with a policy which will not cause key elements of her support base to rebel against her.

The maze is complex indeed. The Greens are demanding that all asylum seekers be vetted in Australia. This would be a massive “pull” factor, which goes against the oft-stated aim of the government to stop the boats.

But with the Greens holding a balance of power in the Senate, and one Green, Adam Bandt, holding the tenure of the government with his single vote in the House, there will have to be some real ducking and weaving.

Continue reading "Gillard is up the creek in dire need of a paddle" »

The Government’s choice now is to bring asylum seekers onto the mainland – maybe even into the suburbs – or find a fresh way to park them somewhere off-shore.

That choice is simple, but the politics and legalities are wretchedly complex as Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott deal with last week’s High Court ruling.

And it now seems increasingly likely that the ultimate decision, and in fact Government and Coalition policy, will have to be made by the High Court.

Continue reading "Both sides courting disaster over asylum seeker policy" »

Should we ban the live export of asylum seekers?

In a compelling majority, the High Court seemed to think so, issuing a permanent injunction against the Commonwealth Government, barring them from pursuing the current proposal to trade asylum seekers with Malaysia.

Despite numerous changes to the Migration Act over the decade to expand administrative power, the Act could not be used to justify the transaction of asylum seekers as if they were export goods.

Continue reading "Facing terror, violence and fear? Join the queue" »

The taut grimace on Chris Bowen’s babyish countenance said it all.

This was as tough a task as the widely respected Immigration Minister had confronted in politics. He admitted as much.

The High Court, the body with which one cannot quibble and from which there is no remedy, no higher court of appeal - even for a federal government - had cut down his Malaysian people-swap in the most cavalier fashion.

Continue reading "Malaysia ruling sweet music for some, dirge for others" »

“Breaker, breaker Rubber Ducky, looks like we’ve got us a convoy… “. Well, actually we’ve got eight of them now and soon the wheels will be turning across the length and breadth of Australia in what promises to be the biggest mobile protest we have ever seen, with the Labor Government and an early election as the targets.

The “Convoy of No Confidence in the Federal Government - Coalition of Industries” will rumble towards Canberra next month from every mainland state.

What originated as a plan for a peaceful protest starting from Darwin and calling for an early election has gone viral in the space of less than a week. Organisers, the National Road Freighters Association, soon realised from expressions of interest and promises to participate that Darwin would not be able to cater for the expected numbers, and routes have now been planned for eight separate convoys including several in Queensland and others in all mainland states.

Continue reading "Telling the Government to go and get trucked" »

The government’s failure to “stop the boats” is an albatross around its neck and the issue is driving the political agenda. Their asylum seeker problem is two-fold. Scores are dying trying to reach Australia by boat and the government is losing support by its failure to stop those who don’t. However, the solution to both problems is simple - a blanket ban on accepting boat people as refugees.

Australia and Malaysia have tentatively agreed to exchange 800 boat people for 4000 confirmed refugees. The underlying assumption is that asylum seekers will be deterred from making to voyage to Australia by the prospect of ending up in Malaysia. Although the Greens have spit the dummy over Malaysia’s human rights record, the inhospitality of partner countries is the very reason these agreements may deter some boat people from coming.

Yet the Malaysian agreement doesn’t go far enough to fully deter asylum seekers and entering Australia will be a lottery with enticing odds. You don’t need to have an abacus to calculate that if arrival trends continue - 6535 people having arrived in Australia by boat last year - the vast majority will have an opportunity to stay in Australia. 

Continue reading "Stop groupthink: A blanket ban will stop the boats" »

Hot on the heels of its successful documentary about asylum seekers, Go Back to Where You Came From, SBS will soon be broadcasting the sequel.

Entitled Go Back to Suburbia You Stinking Racist Bogan, this innovative program will shatter the myths surrounding low-income Australians in marginal seats and their attitudes towards asylum seekers.

In a ground-breaking journalistic exercise five university-educated reporters who live in the inner city will be given a packed lunch and a GPS and deployed to suburbs such as Penrith, Frankston, Logan, Rockingham and Salisbury, where they will meet “real people” and get “the real stories” behind the brick veneers.

Continue reading "Next up: Go back to suburbia you stinking racist bogan" »

I’ve always half-liked the Labor Government’s Malaysian solution on asylum seekers. I like the half that involves bringing an additional 4000 refugees from Malaysia to Australia. It’s a small additional burden that our rich little country is very capable of bearing.

It’s quite a clever strategy, too, in light of new research showing humanitarian arrivals are generally younger and more likely to live in regional areas, thereby helping to counter our rapidly ageing, urbanised population.

But I abhor the other half of the equation – the part that involves sending 800 asylum seekers to Kuala Lumpur, where 90,000 mostly Burmese are already rotting in a refugee quagmire in the hope of a better life they’ll never get.

Continue reading "Malaysia’s no dumping ground for our refugees" »

Roderick Schneider was one of six participants in the ground-breaking SBS show Go Back To Where You Came From, the first episode of which screened last night. In a Punch exclusive, he shares some of his thoughts on the experience of completing an asylum seeker’s journey in reverse:

When setting out on the refugee journey in reverse for SBS’s “Go Back To Where You Came From”, all we were told was that we would be following the path of refugees who come to Australia.

I anticipated exposure to extreme poverty and people who had been subject to persecution in their home country while on the journey. What I didn’t anticipate was the undertone of the questions asked of me when I returned.

First, there was a comment made (and it’s been made repeatedly since) that as the documentary is on SBS it will merely be “preaching to the choir”. The premise of this statement is that SBS viewers are all better educated on refugee issues, and people who only watch commercial television are ignorant. It’s ironic that people who generalise that others are ignorant do so based on something as insubstantial as a person’s preferred television channel.

Continue reading "A tough stance on refugees doesn’t make me a racist" »

As a chartered aircraft carries Tony Abbott into Nauru this weekend he will have asylum seekers on his mind, but his first glimpse of the island should remind him of another type of refugee.

It could be that in 20 to 30 years the 10,000 folk of Nauru (maximum height above sea level: 65 m) will be climate change refugees looking for somewhere dry to live.

As the Opposition Leader lands seeking a pledge that under an Abbott government Nauru would again be available as a processing centre for boat people detained on the western flank of the Australian continent, the locals might be preparing a few demands of their own.

Continue reading "Pacific solution: Abbott may live to Nauru the day" »

Look, I didn’t want to interfere but it seems the Government just can’t do it without me, so here it is. Please pass on to your local spin doctor.

1. Stick to your guns

Honestly kids, I just can’t say this enough: People would much prefer an honest person saying something they disagree with than a liar telling them what they want to hear. The ALP’s policy is for a more humane approach to asylum seekers and abiding by our international obligations under the UN charter.

Continue reading "Solving the asylum seeker problem in three easy steps" »

Talkback radio, that eternally squawking companion, last week carried the more disturbing sound of a grown man weeping.

As the gruff voice melted into tears, I imagined he must be talking about the poor cows we’d seen on Four Corners, half beheaded and in infinite pain. Or the uncertain fate of the asylum seeker children.

Nup. He was upset about Port Adelaide. SA’s poor, crippled football team. It seems we all only have a finite amount of caring in us; we have to limit how much we care and what for, or we would fall apart. Some of us pour all our caring into sport, or plants, or train timetables, and have nothing left afterwards.

Continue reading "Who ate all the compassion pie?" »

What is the Malaysian Solution?
The “Malaysian solution” refers to a policy recently announced by the Gillard Government whereby up to 800 asylum seekers trying to enter Australia will be sent to the back of the queue in Malaysia. In exchange, Malaysia will send 4000 genuine refugees to Australia over a four year period.

Is there a queue?
The notion of a queue has been criticised as an oversimplification. The number of displaced persons is vastly higher than the available resettlement places and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that operates the scheme does not have a presence in some of the most dangerous locations. Nevertheless, it is hoped that being sent to the back of a queue that doesn’t exist will act as an added deterrent.

I’ve heard that the refugees we get from South East Asia aren’t genuine
In fact they are on of the few things you can get in South East Asia that is. Curiously, thousands of Australians travel to South East Asia especially to get fake DVDs, fake designer jeans and fake sunglasses but when it comes to refugees we are sticklers for authenticity.

Continue reading "A busy person’s guide to the Malaysian Solution" »

Population stability in Australia today is all about immigration patterns and policy, not about some notion of enforced family size.

If it weren’t for sky-high levels of immigration we would already be well on the track to population stability, as are a number of other much wiser OECD countries.

At least the Burke review did not re-endorse Rudd’s “unapologetic” call for massive population growth.

Continue reading "We need to stop the cult of endless growth" »

So, apparently we Aussies are one of the most tolerant nations in the world when it comes to migrants and ethnic minorities. That’s according to the OECD’s latest Society At A Glance.

Pardon me, but it’s been hard to tell lately.

The barrage of bigotry that has passed for public discourse on multiculturalism, asylum seekers, Islam and pretty much any issue touching on brown-skinned newcomers has been exhausting and depressing.

Continue reading "Today’s ‘threat’ is tomorrow’s model citizen" »

Human rights abuses happen everywhere, including Australia. Amnesty International has today released a report on human rights, which is critical of Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers and Aboriginal people. Claire Mallinson discusses the report’s findings and takes a look at the effect of digital media on the fight for human rights.

When Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released after 15 years under house arrest late last year, one of the first things she commented on was how she had missed the digital revolution.

That may be so, but the digital revolution did not miss her. When she stepped out on to the balcony of her home she was greeted by a sea of supporters, mobiles phones held aloft and eager thumbs pressing buttons. Within seconds her picture could be seen on web sites, the internet and 24-hour news channels around the world.

Continue reading "Human rights at home and away" »

The Federal Government now has a clear policy direction on asylum seekers: Confuse them so much they go elsewhere.

What the Government needs is a decisive way to stop desperate people getting into boats bound for Australia while maintaining our UN and human rights obligations to accept asylum seekers.

What they’ve got is a fear-induced policy spasm that tries to keep both sides (the turn-back-the-boaters and the open-armers) happy, but succeeds in pleasing neither.

Continue reading "The Government’s asylum seeker policies are all at sea" »

On Anzac Day, I along with about 150 protestors stood across from the Villawood Detention Centre where the crumpled remains of a burnt building, barbed wire and a security guard stood between us and them: the scourge of this naton, the ‘refugee’. The protestors chanted while a lone figure of a detainee on top of a tiled roof squatted, looking on despondently.

I wondered if he was thinking what I was thinking: That our brave soldiers who fought in Gallipoli and who today are fighting in Afghanistan, did so to protect our freedoms in the name of humanity. And ironically, while we celebrate those freedoms as a democratic nation, we are locking up people, depriving them of their freedom, their dignity and their common humanity, driving them to acts of insanity.

The Immigration Minister, the Prime Minister and the ALP at large may be caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the question of what should be done with asylum seekers; however, Australia not only as a signatory to the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, but as a democracy, should place human rights before politics.

Continue reading "Don’t blame Muslims for multiculturalism’s failings" »

Christmas Island, Curtin, Northern Immigration Detention Centre in Darwin, Maribyrnong, Perth, Phosphate Hill, Scherger and Villawood Detention Centre…

These are the welcoming arms of Australia for the few desperate individuals who make it into Australian waters seeking asylum. They are detention centres that could become “home” for indefinite periods of months or even years.

In the early hours of the morning Villawood Detention Centre was set alight, and protestors climbed up onto the roof of the centre.

Continue reading "Mandatory detention conditions fuel the fire" »

Another day brings another Defence scandal, prompting a colleague of mine to quip that the people of Inverbrackie and Woodside are probably grateful now there are refugees in the housing estate rather than military personnel.

He said it with a smile, but serious intent.

The Adelaide Hills’ Inverbrackie Detention Centre has not been without its own scandals since it became home to families from Sri Lanka, Iran and Iraq.

First there was the Fruit Picking Incident. About six young asylum seekers scaled a fence - an internal fence, mind, they never got as far as the outside world - to pick fruit. They spent at least ten minutes picking cherry plums.

Continue reading "Everybody needs good neighbours" »

“Everyone has been accounted for…..we think.”

The chaotic events on Christmas Island last week were the clearest sign of dysfunction in Australia’s immigration detention system in close to a decade.

Had it not been for the recent devastation in Japan, images of rioting, tear gas, fires and general pandemonium on Christmas Island would have led every bulletin and been on the front page of every paper in the land. That they were not has bought the Government some breathing room, unfortunately, their response thus far appears to be largely in keeping with the ham-fisted ineptitude that has characterised their time in office.

Continue reading "Christmas Island is now a symbol of policy failure" »

You’ve heard a lot about the asylum policy debate in the media. The Government announces a new policy. The opposition denounces any new policy. Talk back radio goes back and forth about the best way to deal with this issue. If all this noise about asylum seekers makes you almost believe there is thought put into how to develop best practice approaches, think again. You’ve been conned.

For those of you who have seen The Usual Suspects, asylum seekers are Kaiser Sozé. A made up bogey-man criminal used to distract you from what is really going on.

It’s all just a political marketing campaign from both parties aimed at marginal seat voters. They use the boatpeople debate to define their party’s image. ‘Cruel to be kind’ for the Coalition, with ‘tough but humane’ for Labor. The reality is, when you analyse policies from both parties from a purely rationalist public policy angle, they both fail the test.

Continue reading "Both parties are all at sea on asylum seekers" »

The wretchedness of grief on display at the burial of two asylum seekers who perished at Christmas island, and the swift point scoring by Opposition spokesman on immigration Scott Morrison rebuking the government for flying grieving relatives to the event, illustrate the extent to which Australia’s refugee policy is driven by desperation. 

On the one hand, there’s the desperation of people fleeing for a better life, with all the tragedy that it entails. Then there’s the frantic effort of local people to save lives as the calamity unfolded on the shores of Christmas Island last year. Few could have been unmoved by the accounts of Christmas Islanders who helplessly watched the disaster evolve and who spoke emotionally of its lasting impact.

Desperation also drives the politics of refugee policy, something made patently obvious again this week.  After pausing for a nano-second during the Christmas Island calamity, the toxic political narrative seems set to lunge along its usual course.

Continue reading "Desperation is driving the asylum seeker debate" »

Apologising is tough work. Most of us are hard wired to defend our actions, even when deep down inside we know we were wrong.

There are certainly historical precedents that show politicians are reluctant - to the point of childish stubbornness - when it comes to saying sorry.

So here’s to Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison, who this morning apologised for his “insensitive” comments questioning whether we should foot the bill for families to attend the funerals of those who died in the Christmas Island boat tragedy.

Continue reading "When sorry seems to be the hardest word" »

I love Australia Day. I love celebrating what this country is all about. But you know what I hate about Australia Day?

I hate blonde-haired, blue-eyed yobbos prancing about in the Australian flag who intimidate people who don’t look like them.

I hate the drunk bloke who told me in Chinatown the other night that I had the personality of a rubber glove (fair enough, that’s his view) but then turns to my Sri Lankan-born son-in-law and says the problem with this country is “the coloureds”.

Continue reading "What I hate about Australia Day" »

How many people who describe asylum seekers as queue jumpers, “illegals” or part of some terrorist conspiracy have ever actually met an asylum seeker, and tried to work out whether it’s true? 

Given that we don’t actually have many asylum seekers in Australia, chances are it’s very few.

Why not talk to an asylum seeker? Pick one who’s exhausted their appeal, who’s now waiting at Villawood. Ask them why they’re now so desperate, that they go on hunger strikes, or they sew up their lips. Ask them whether they’ve actually had a fair hearing.

Continue reading "How many asylum seekers have you met?" »

This is the third in a series of essays adapted from the Centre for Policy Development book, More Than Luck: Ideas Australia needs now. The Labor Government has set itself up for failure by upholding the view that asylum seeking is a national security threat, writes Kate Gauthier.

It is said that any civilised society can be measured by how it treats its most vulnerable people. Asylum seekers, vilified by the media and feared by the public, make an excellent target for unscrupulous public figures who seek to gain power or position through a culture of fear.

In order to appear tough on asylum seekers – tough on the victims of human rights abuses – successive governments and political parties have enacted or proposed policies that severely curtail the rights of people fleeing war, persecution and torture.

The argument in favour of taking a punitive approach is that it discourages onshore asylum seeking. This is shown to be false by two issues.

Continue reading "Big ideas: a sensible policy solution on asylum seekers" »

In case you missed the news, there was a mass breakout at the Inverbrackie detention centre yesterday.

The controversial site, home to asylum seeker families, has been the source of local fears. Many are concerned about espionage, terrorism, and plummeting property prices.

The escape, however, shows that what they should really be worried about is plum pickers.

Continue reading "Government forced to defend detention security breach" »

Primary school education should include introducing each and every child to the following:

- A broad range of races and cultures, particularly Aboriginal people (young and old, from the city and the desert).
- People with disabilities.
- Men and women from each major religion, some of the minor religions, and some people without religion.
- Gay people of each gender and maybe someone inbetween.

Continue reading "Kids should be exposed to people from all walks of life" »

Tragedy anywhere in the world tends to bring out a generosity of the human spirit in Australians.

But when it involves asylum seekers on our doorstep the feelings among many Australians can be cold-hearted and callous, even to the extent that some of them say anyone who chooses to sail thousands of kilometres in a rickety boat in search of a safe haven should expect to face death.

The loss of at least 30 lives when a boat packed with asylum seekers tried to reach the shores of Christmas Island in stormy seas last week unleashed a wave of blame and finger pointing among most comments to online news sites. Many showed little sympathy for the boatpeople.

Continue reading "Cold-hearted approach to asylum seekers" »

Just to start: here’s a small taste of current commentary online in Australia: “This disaster was the ‘smoking gun’ of the ALP’s failed ‘border protection policies’ and now the claws are out!” says John.

Then there’s Caz “… let’s ALL imagine that we have come out of a war torn country, (that our soldiers are attempting to fix, by the way) and have made it safely to Indonesia where our lives are not in danger and our children are being fed and receiving medical attention…....OK, you with me so far?” 

And Caz continues… “As a mother I wouldn’t care if I stayed in the camps for the rest of my life, there is no way I would risk my children’s lives on one of those boats.”

Continue reading "The myths and reality of seeking asylum" »

Julia Gillard certainly got it right by returning from holidays to take charge, but things tailed away after that.

First, there was her botched announcement of an all-party committee to jointly gather the facts about the Christmas Island tragedy. She had phoned Tony Abbott in Tokyo to float the idea, reporters were told. Yet within hours the Opposition claimed the idea had not even been raised with Mr Abbott in the call.

So what was the point? Was it just a way of diverting pressure for an independent inquiry? If so it was an egregious error. If the deaths of at least 30 people because of systemic failure is not cause for an independent inquiry, what is?

Continue reading "Labor’s moral and political failure on boats" »

This time last year, almost to the day, I was standing on the jetty at Christmas Island’s Flying Fish Cove.

It was dawn, on a perfectly still morning, and the sea was flat. Moored just inside the harbour was the infamous Australian Customs boat, the Oceanic Viking, waiting to disembark a number of asylum seekers from a vessel they had intercepted.

The images and footage of this week’s tragedy on Christmas Island showed a scene that could not have been more different from that calm morning in December last year.

Continue reading "A year ago on Christmas Island" »

The heartbreaking boat crash off Christmas Island is the tragic climax of the confused and contradictory approach to asylum seekers that is now strangling the Labor Party. This confusion was perfectly crystalised in a small item buried in the Federal Budget in May this year.

In an obvious attempt to throw a blanket on the issue, the Rudd Government had just announced a freeze on processing Afghani asylum claims, signalling it expected to shortly reclassify the war-torn Middle-East country as safe to return to.

Yet before any final decision had been made the Government quietly inserted $5.8 million to pay for two immigration officers to go to Kabul to repatriate deported asylum seekers.

Continue reading "How Labor wedged itself into a bad policy on boat people" »

Julia Gillard is not just between a rock and a hard place in the aftermath of the Christmas Island tragedy - she’s wedged between an angry Left and a rabid Right.

It was hardly unexpected that Andrew Bolt and his gang quickly trotted out the “blood on her hands” mantra after dozens of asylum-seekers met their awful deaths yesterday, but they’ve been joined by a loud chorus of refugee advocates claiming the atrocity could have been prevented with a softer government policy.

The only people not attacking the Prime Minister today are the Opposition, who’ve remained for the past 24 hours particularly civil towards Gillard and her Immigration Minister Chris Bowen. And Gillard’s announcement this afternoon of a standing group including the Opposition and representatives from the Greens to examine the fact of the boat’s sinking could well prolong that cease-fire beyond the usual limits.

Continue reading "The day both extremes almost met in the middle" »

Dr Waleed Alkhazrajy fled his native Iraq 15 years ago. Saddam Hussein’s regime had ordered him to cut off the ears of army deserters or brand their foreheads with a cross. He chose not to, which meant he had to leave or face torture or death.

Now an anaesthetist in Adelaide, he told The Punch what life was like on that boat.

Continue reading "An asylum seeker’s story: journey to Australia" »

Today’s horror below the cliffs of Christmas Island will produce a heated political debate over asylum seeker policy. It has been deferred for now, but it is inevitable.

The only uncontested point will be the fact that those on the wrecked boat believed that reaching land would give them a good chance of getting permanent refuge.

But it is not automatically correct to then argue that the Federal Government was responsible for the deaths because it didn’t eliminate the prospect of asylum.

Continue reading "Who’ll blink first and score points off Christmas Island" »

Last week, Australia accepted Mr Ibrahim Bushra Mohamed Ali as the Sudanese Ambassador to Australia.

The acceptance has been made in spite of the current crisis in Darfur, which is alleged to have been fuelled by the Khartoum government, and without apparent consideration of Australian Darfuris.

This move has distressed members of the local Darfuri community because of the legitimacy it affords Khartoum and out of fear for their own safety.

Continue reading "Waging war against aspirations for peace in Dafur" »

The last thing Adelaide Hills residents would have expected to hear this week was that their community would be home to Labor’s newest detention centre.

The ambush announcement by the Prime Minister on Monday to turn the defence housing site at Inverbrackie near Woodside in South Australia into a detention centre has caused enormous concern amongst local residents. 

Now, I know there are people out there who consider themselves morally superior to me.  So to them I make this point very clear to begin with - my issue is not with asylum seekers; my issue is with this Labor Government and the decisions it has made.

Continue reading "Labor detention centres coming to a town near you" »

Faced with the unexpected arrival of about 400 refugees in her town, I doubt she’d say “There goes the neighbourhood”.

She wouldn’t worry that the presence of asylum seekers would cause a dip in property prices, or complain that the kids (most of whom will be under five) will shoplift.

She wouldn’t argue that we should make male asylum seekers take the place of Australia’s own soldiers at war. And she wouldn’t say that we should demean refugees and make them suffer in order to deter more people from coming.

Continue reading "What would Mary do? Tips from a hometown hero" »

The Prime Minister made a major mistake on Monday when she said “I don’t think it’s the Australian way to have kids behind razor-wire.”

Whether it’s as a deterrent or something else, this has in fact, been the Australian way since the early 1990s. The announcement that more families and children will be moved out of detention centres was accompanied by another, that two new centre will be constructed near Adelaide and Perth.

The rhetoric of nationalism and security were once again set upon asylum-seekers.

Continue reading "The real reason you’re scared of boat people" »

Julia Gillard’s “more detention” announcement is no solution for asylum seekers.

The Labor government has announced that children and families are to be released from detention. If you thought so, look again. The announcement is a shameful sleight of hand.

A closer look shows that the government’s announcement falls a long way short of actually releasing children and families. Those that are
“released”, will live in the community under “residence determinations” with possible curfews and other restrictive conditions set by the Minister.

Continue reading "This is no solution for asylum seekers - it’s a con job" »

Earlier this month, I published an opinion piece on The Punch. It talked about Abdul, a refugee from Afghanistan, who I met on Christmas Island.

There were 159 comments on my piece. Julia Gillard encouraged people to have an open, frank debate. I reckon an open, frank debate means calling bigotry when you see it, and some of the comments made on my blog, like this one:

…every leaking fishing boat [is] loaded with people who are unprocessed on issues like health, criminal element, terrorist infiltration or the blatant open fact of illegal entry…

....simply peddled fear and prejudice. But many readers had real questions.

Continue reading "A systematic rebuttal of the myths about asylum seekers" »

Julia Gillard has kept Labor in a winning position - but unsurprisingly, Labor has shed votes to the Greens after the new PM did a passable impersonation of a couple of notable recent conservatives on the border protection question. You can read Phil Coorey on the latest SMH-Nielsen poll here, an interesting take from Mal Farr in The Daily Telegraph on how Kevin Rudd might have handled the so-called Dili solution here,  and Peter Van Onselen on how both Labor and the Coalition have bungled the issue here. Below is my take on Gillard’s last week in which asylum seekers dominated.

There was something laughable about the ham-fisted symbolism of it all – our new Prime Minister Julia Gillard selecting western Sydney MP David Bradbury as her First Mate for a naval exercise off the coast of Darwin last week so they could be photographed scouring the Arafura Sea for pesky queue-jumpers.

According to Google Maps, Bradbury’s marginal seat of Lindsay is 3932km from Darwin. It contains two water features, the Nepean River and the Penrith Aquatic Centre, neither of which are navigable from the Top End.

Continue reading "Campaign countdown: she will decide who comes here" »

When Julia Gillard stepped to the microphone at the Lowy Institute on Tuesday morning she was hoping to neutralise border protection as an election issue. Instead she had the opposite effect.

East Timor’s President Jose Ramos-Horta was on Lateline last night showing how it’s done. His performance in sensible diplomacy and measured thinking made Gillard’s 24 hours of backdowns, rewrites and plan B’s look terribly amateur.

And instead of taking heat out of the issue, Gillard has handed Tony Abbott the ammunition he’s been desperately looking for since her elevation at the end of last month. Here’s how it’s played out so far.

Continue reading "Campaign countdown: the 2-day border protection plan" »

Something appears to have gone awry with our new Prime Minister Julia Gillard. By all accounts, those who know the PM hold her in high regard as a pleasant and personable woman. However, she seems to have forgotten her manners, given her bullish behaviour towards our northern neighbours in East Timor.

The diplomatic gaffe now unfolding from Ms Gillard’s Pacific East Timor Solution reflects Kevin Rudd’s own arrogant approach to foreign affairs.

The Labor Government 1.0 saw Mr Rudd announce his idea for an Asia Pacific Community, to our incredulous neighbours, a plan which never got off the ground thanks largely in part to Rudd’s failure to consult with Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and other ASEAN nations. It was trademark Rudd – no consultation on policy because Rudd knew best.

Continue reading "Gillard’s bad diplomacy is enough to drive you Xananas" »

Update 4.50pm: The Prime Minister appears to have got herself into serious hot water over her plan for a regional processing centre, just telling Brisbane radio 4BC that she never said where it was going to be. You can listen to the interview here. The Australian is also reporting East Timor’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has requested Gillard hold off calling him until her plan is more mature.

Julia Gillard took to the high seas yesterday in a bid to sell her new Dili Solution on boat people, but it was her voyage on HMAS Lateline last night that may have left her feeling a little green about the gills.

A slightly disheveled-looking PM was grilled by Tony Jones over the details of her plan for a “regional processing centre” for boat people and put in a less than glossy performance.

Under pressure from Jones over her failure to deal with East Timor’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao before announcing her bold plan, Gillard uncharacteristically fell back on bureucratic speak, putting words like “tasked” and “auspiced” on high rotation. (“Auspiced” - good grief).

Continue reading "Campaign countdown: Gillard’s boat springs a leak" »

Yesterday, after rampant speculation, Prime Minister Gillard announced the Australian Government’s new approach to asylum seekers.

This speech could have been used for yet another disappointing political point scoring exercise, but Amnesty International was hoping that the Prime Minister would use this opportunity to reframe the debate and remind Australians that seeking asylum is not a crime but a basic human right.

At 11:03 Julia Gillard started well by announcing an end to inflammatory politics about asylum seekers.

Continue reading "Gillard talked the talk on refugees, walks with a limp" »

Tony Abbott said yesterday that if he was Prime Minister he would introduce a policy that sends asylum seekers “back” if they arrive without identity documents.

When I heard this, my stomach turned.  Like every other lawyer who provides advice to asylum seekers, I know this approach ignores the realities of obtaining identity documents in countries where persecution is rife.

Sensibly, Julia Gillard rejected “turning boats back”, saying that it would set Australian customs and defence officials up for sabotage. She also pointed out “the practical reality that there is nowhere to turn boats back to.” But for me what gets lost in the asylum seeker debate is the fact that we are dealing with unique people, with unique stories to tell.

Continue reading "Why are we so afraid of people seeking asylum?" »

The groundwork for Julia Gillard’s speech today began four days ago when she started talking about fear (sorry, concern) that was understandable in the electorate (sorry, among people) about boats “looming on the horizon”.

Labor MPs too had legitimate concerns when they saw an election looming and had no convincing way of addressing voters’ worries about the boats.

The substance of Gillard’s announcements today was aimed at dealing with that. What we got was a promise that Sri Lankan asylum seekers will probably all be returned home, and an idea - let’s call it the Dili Proposal for now - to create a “regional processing centre” for people arriving by boat.

Continue reading "The Dili Proposal" »

If reports in this morning’s Australian are true - that Julia Gillard is intending to send asylum seekers back to their country of origin - then Australians should be very concerned that their Prime Minister and her government are so ignorant of international legal convention.

Put bluntly, to return asylum seekers to a location where they will more than likely face death or severe injury is a gross breach of the 1951 Refugees Convention to which Australia is a signatory. 

The report says: “hundreds of Afghan and Sri Lankan asylum-seekers are likely to be sent home under Julia Gillard’s tough policy agenda to deter boatpeople.”  Ms Gillard will apparently seek assurances from the governments of those countries that persons who are not judged to be asylum seekers by Australia will not be persecuted when they are sent back home.  From a diplomatic perspective, such assurances are a sick joke given the fact that Afghanistan’s Karzai government in Kabul is hopelessly corrupt and dishonest and has no control over the security of the country.

Continue reading "Doesn’t Julia Gillard know the law on asylum seekers?" »

Update: Today’s Newspoll results, as reported by The Australian, show Labor’s primary vote has leapt seven percentage points from 35 per cent after three days of Julia Gillard’s leadership.

During question time last week whenever the opposition attacked Kevin Rudd over asylum seekers Labor MPs would blow on invisible dog whistles. In retrospect that just looked like an early practice session for the Government’s new band.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s decision to abolish Kevin Rudd’s plan for a big Australia has as much to with concerns with over asylum seekers as it does over population.

Up until this point the Opposition had been cynically and successfully able to merge peoples concerns over asylum seekers and a Big Australia policy. Gillard knows this and yesterday’s announcement was all about whistling a new tune of her own.

Continue reading "Campaign countdown: Julia now whistling her own tune" »

When businesses take out advertisements making claims about how great they are or highlight the adverse characteristics of a competitor they are legally required to substantiate them in the fine print.

These rules do not apply to our politicians; such restrictions are seen to be against the interests of a healthy democracy. Put aside the archaic - and seldom enforced - rules about misleading Parliament, and lying, exaggerating and dissembling are tools of the trade.

But if ever an issue has challenged this convention it is the furore over asylum seekers, where another wave of arrivals is sparking another wave of public disquiet whipped up by another wave of political opportunism. And all these waves are based on lies.

Continue reading "We’re all at sea on the facts about boat arrivals" »

Tony Abbott wants to stop the boats.  Can we do this?

I was recently in Djibouti, a small country that is very important in the world of people smuggling because of its location.  Djibouti is wedged between Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, some of the most conflict-ridden countries in the world.  In contrast, Djibouti is relatively stable. Importantly it has a long coastline in the Gulf of Aden.  A fishing boat can reach Yemen in under two hours.

Despite its peace, Djibouti is a very poor country.  Women still cart water on their backs. The CIA Fact-book describes the country as “mostly wasteland”.

Continue reading "The boats can be stopped, if war and hunger are too" »

The decision to suspend asylum seeker applications for six months represents a superficial attempt to appear both hard-line and compassionate on people smuggling, and just in time for the Federal election.

It has been less than a month since with dry-cleaned suits, a full stomach and make-up for the cameras, three senior federal ministers announced a suspension of asylum seeker claims from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan for three and six months respectively.

Ever since then though, the policy has continued its descent into a shambles with over a thousand asylum seekers in a detention centre designed for just four-hundred on Christmas Island – in tents and demountables – and the reopening of Curtin Detention Centre.

Continue reading "Treating the symptoms of a political headache" »

In August 1939 a Jewish woman named Ilse decided to flee Nazi Germany. In the wake of Kristalnacht, the previous November’s violent anti-Jewish pogrom, the writing was on the wall for the Berlin resident.

After years of state-sanctioned persecution, including the removal of her citizenship, immediate emigration was now the only feasible option. Still, this was a difficult decision. Her highly assimilated, secular family had lived in Central Europe for centuries. They considered themselves German. Indeed, some had fought for that country during World War One.

Shortly afterwards Ilse found sanctuary in wartime London, seemingly paying a bribe to one of those pesky people smugglers (i.e. a Gestapo officer) to exit the barbarism engulfing the continent. Somewhat perversely, on account of a German accent, Britons viewed her ilk suspiciously. At war’s end, Ilse made her way to Australia with her young son – ironically as ‘ten pound poms’ – eventually settling in Melbourne, home to the largest proportion of Holocaust survivors in the world.

Continue reading "Asylum seekers - another lost opportunity" »

In light of last Friday’s announcement that the Australian Government has implemented a blanket suspension on the processing of new asylum claims by Afghan and Sri Lankan nationals, it is worth going back to basics and taking a moment to consider the human rights reality for many people living in those countries. 

It may not be pleasant to read, but it certainly places the government’s announcement in the international context in which it should rightly be considered, and gives an insight into the reasons people are fleeing.

On 24 January Sri Lankan journalist and political analyst Prageeth Eknaligoda disappeared shortly after leaving work at the Lanka-e-News office in Homagama, near the capital Colombo. He has not been heard from since. In the lead up to his disappearance, Prageeth Eknaligoda had been actively reporting on Sri Lanka’s presidential elections, had been critical of the Sri Lankan Government and had received threats.

Continue reading "A journalist vanishes, along with our compassion" »

For almost a year now the Federal Government has been running the line the influx of boats carrying asylum seekers was due to “push factors” in their countries of origin, not “pull factors” related to its policy.

The PM has enjoyed using phrases words such as “unapologetic” in his rhetoric about boat people, even once describing people smugglers as “the vilest form of human life”. This argument, that it’s “tough but humane” strategy was working, started to look a bit frazzled with the arrival last month of the 100th SIEV since Mr Rudd became Prime Minister.

According to Laurie Oakes this morning: “Suspension of all new asylum seeker claims by people from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka is a major policy shift. If it doesn’t get the attention of people smugglers, the Government hopes their customers will hear the message.”

Continue reading "Push me, pull me: the asylum seeker story" »

After twelve months of racial intolerance and a clamp-down on live music, is Melbourne about to lose what’s left of its cultural and community flavour?

As Melburnians, we tend to differentiate ourselves as more community and culturally-minded and less greedy than other Australians.  So how is it that one of our leading community venues is looking to bring an end to one of Melbourne’s most successful experiments in community dining?

That’s right, the Abbotsford Convent has refused to renew the lease on Lentil As Anything , the innovative not-for-profit restaurant that has been the heart and soul of the convent for the last five years. Is Melbourne letting go of its once famous community culture for profits?

Continue reading "Melbourne’s soul is in danger of disappearing" »

With detention facilities on Christmas Island getting closer and closer to capacity, and a Federal election looming, the issue of desperate people seeking asylum on Australian shores remains a hotbed of cheap political point-scoring at the expense of some of the world’s neediest people.

Disappointingly, the term “queue jumper” is now so deeply entrenched in our nation’s vernacular that some Australian politicians use it interchangeably with the term “asylum seeker”.

Let me be clear and point out that two are not synonymous. In fact, the queue is a myth. 

Continue reading "There’s no such thing as a “queue”" »

Who knew the lower north shore of Sydney was a hunting ground for anti-immigrationists. This flyer popped up in mail boxes last weekend in more than one apartment block, in more than one suburb. Unauthorised of course, and probably the work of a nutter.

But it’s an election year, and these things don’t tend to happen in a vacuum. During the next six months there’ll be a lot more of this rubbish peddled by those outside the political mainstream.

Scott Morrison has requested we be able to debate immigration without labeling people racist. That’s more than fair. But keeping the debate clean is a two way street.

Continue reading "Want to lose “racist” from the debate, lose the racism" »

Last week I returned from a visit to Christmas Island to Parliament where the Labor Member MP, John Sullivan, from Longman in Brisbane, interjected during a speech and called me a racist.

At the time, I was speaking to an Appropriations Bill that was seeking additional funds to make up for shortfalls in this year’s budget. Included in these shortfalls was $132 million for off shore processing of asylum seekers.  We were supporting the Bill.

I noted that the 100 per cent plus blow out in costs demonstrated the Government had failed to appreciate the impact of their policy changes on the detention population on Christmas Island, that is now at unsustainable levels.

Continue reading "You can’t debate immigration without being called a racist" »

This is an emotional week. It started with the National Prayer Breakfast in the Great Hall of Parliament House where the keynote address was from Gemma Sisia, the founder and continuing driver of the school of St Jude in Arusha in Tanzania.

It was inspirational. A rigorous selection process of children who are 5, 6 or 7 (not 4 ½ or 8) as Mrs Sisia emphasised, are selected on the basis of intellectual ability, work ethic and poverty. If they get in they get 14 years of free education. The aim is to produce a professional class of doctors, engineers, and architects etc, who will lead the Tanzaman nation. That is they will stay in Tanzania and help their own people.

Mrs Sisia, an Australian, who now obviously lives and works in Tanzania seeks financial support from all over the world with her last big donor being American.

Continue reading "Australians who need compassion" »

We have had the ‘Pacific Solution’, the Christmas Island solution, and now the Indonesian solution - it’s time for an Australian solution to the problem of asylum seekers making the desperate and dangerous voyage to seek the protection of our country.

Reasonable people would agree that - those who cynically exploit desperate asylum seekers for profits should be stopped; it is appalling to see women and children making dangerous voyages and putting their lives at risk; people fleeing persecution will give everything they have to get their families to safety; there should be an orderly and fair refugee assessment system and Australia must honour its international obligations.

The core problem is that those who embark on boats are desperate. Between 85 per cent and 98 per cent of people arriving by boat are ultimately accepted by Immigration to have legitimate refugee claims. That is, they have fled from serious harm in their home countries for reasons covered by the Refugee Convention.

Continue reading "Asylum seekers: time for the Australian Solution" »

I missed the last week of Parliament during the ongoing debate concerning boat people.

I was in Uganda at a board meeting of my favorite charity Watoto, a charity that rescues abandoned children and babies and gives them hope and a future.

I’ve been going to Africa every year for many years working with some of the poorest people on earth.

Continue reading "Refugees are dying while they wait in the queue" »

Of the 9.1 million people who the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) describes as refugees, there are 827, 323 with outstanding applications for asylum around the world. This compares to 9.6 million refugees five years ago and 912,291 people still seeking asylum. Five years prior to that, there were 11.5 million refugees worldwide and 1.3 million seeking asylum.

Looking at even more recent data, between January and August 2009, there were 226,069 asylum applications worldwide. During the same period in 2008 there were 226,857 applications.

So much for the Rudd Government’s claim that international push forces are the cause of 41 boat arrivals since last August with almost 2,000 people on board, putting their lives at risk.

Continue reading "Kevin Rudd has no idea what he’s doing on boat arrivals" »

Amnesty International flatly rejects the assertion that recent changes to Government policy have led to an increase in the number of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat.

Despite much sensationalist reporting on the issue of boat arrivals, the fact remains that only a tiny percentage of the millions of people seeking asylum choose to seek that protection on Australia’s shores.

Statistics published in June by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the international body responsible for addressing refugee issues worldwide, show that at the end of 2008 there were 827,323 pending asylum seeker cases worldwide. Australia was handling 2159 of these – which is substantially less than one per cent.

Continue reading "All sides of politics ignore facts of asylum arrivals" »

The Pacific Solution has been replaced by the Indian Ocean non-solution.

In the ABC documentary The Howard Years those responsible for the Pacific Solution said that the mandatory detention camps they inherited from Labor were almost bursting, due to the influx of boats.

We face the same situation with the Christmas Island Detention Centre rapidly filling up as the boats keep coming.

Continue reading "Increase in asylum seekers is a problem of Rudd’s making" »

No matter if you’re sitting in a boozed state in the back of a cab at 2am,  if you’re being taken on a half-hour “shortcut” or have to revert to sign language to say ``take the next left’’, always take time to share a nice word with your cabbie.

Those on the road we never feel guilty to rage at, honk or flick the bird, cabbies are fast becoming public enemy No.1 - And there’s no mystery as to why.

In hometown Brisbane it’s hard to get a driver who speaks English and doesn’t stare at you blankly when you ask them to drive you into town.  Their 12 hours shifts means they get bored with indicating, speed limits, right of way and other minor road rules and a simple ``to the airport please’’ usually provokes a frantic tom-tom tap-fest.

Continue reading "Try talking to your cabbie, you might learn something" »

It’s not a new adage that it takes a community to raise a child, but sometimes the simple assumptions we take for granted need to be brought back into the spotlight to reinforce their relevance.

If we’re to expect to be able to raise well-adjusted children who each have a sense of security and belonging, we need to be progressive in our definition of community – including in our consideration of where our individual responsibility to community starts and ends.

While Australia provides a safe-haven for many thousands of refugees seeking asylum every year, their relief can be short-lived if they fail to adjust to a life so completely different to any they have ever known.

Continue reading "Lost in translation: helping refugees find a voice" »

Once again, Australia’s focus has been on the so-called threat of boat people heading our way. Do we defend our borders? Are we soft on people smugglers? Is our way of life under threat?

It is a debate that has raged on and off for more than 30 years, since the first boats appeared off Australia’s northern coastline in the wake of the Vietnam War. There were many Australians who did not want to welcome those for whom we had sacrificed so many young Australians.

Good enough to defend, but not good enough to welcome. It was a time when a young man named Hieu Van Le set out on a perilous journey in search of freedom and opportunity.

Continue reading "The human story behind asylum-seeker hysteria" »