During Migrant and Refugee Week 2018, Catholics are being asked to reflect on Pope Francis' 2017 call for a shared response to 'welcome, protect, promote, and integrate migrants, displaced people, refugees, and victims of human trafficking'.
As part of such a reflection it is important to consider how our society is heeding this call and putting it into action, and where we can do better. There are key things to be positive about.
The Australian government has increased the number of visas granted to UNHCR-recognised refugees from 16,250 to 18,750 in 2018–2019. Multiple state and territory governments have provided study and travel concessions to people seeking asylum who would otherwise not be able to afford and therefore avail of these basic rights. More than 140 local government areas and councils around the country have declared themselves Refugee Welcome Zones.
Thankfully, there has been vocal bipartisan opposition to Fraser Anning's performance in parliament last week, although such a response is something we should expect and not have to congratulate.
Nonetheless, on the whole, our leaders' approach to migrants and refugees has been far from welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating. For the first time in decades, an Australian government is actively challenging the multicultural consensus that has dominated the public and policy discourse on migration since the 1980s. In the international sphere, Minister Dutton's recent threat to pull out of the Global Compact for Migration is the clearest indicator of the government's current approach to migration.
Domestically, a new bill making it more difficult for migrants to become citizens is once again on the table. Moreover, specific migrant and refugee communities continue to be damagingly singled out for spikes in crime as has been the case with the poisonous rhetoric on the South Sudanese community in Victoria.
Many recognised refugees arriving by boat do not receive permanent protection visas. They have to restate their claims every three to five years, living in a situation of limbo and separated from their families, as if memories of persecution in chronically fragile states such as Afghanistan and Myanmar dissipate after these time periods. There is ample evidence to show that temporary protection visas do not deter future arrivals, but in fact worsen long-term settlement outcomes.
"What we are likely to see is a manufactured humanitarian crisis of unprecedented scale in our main cities."
More than 1500 people seeking asylum languish on Manus Island and Nauru, including 170 families and at least 158 children, as of February 2018. Although small numbers of people have been resettled in the United States, Australia has consistently rebuffed other options to end the crisis, such as New Zealand's offer to resettle 150 refugees. This is a policy that both the Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office and Jesuit Refugee Service Australia have recently condemned in no uncertain terms.
Extremely concerning is that the Australian government is also pushing ahead with plans to cut Status Resolution Support Service (SRSS), which is life-saving income support, specialist casework, and torture and trauma counselling services for up to 7000 children, women, and men seeking safety in the community who are waiting for their protection claims to be decided.
This remarkable policy of what Dr Eve Lester calls 'planned destitution' combines the most extreme instincts of neoliberal, nationalist and authoritarian thinking. Fundamentally, it derives from the Minister for Home Affairs' far reaching powers to determine the rights and entitlements of non-citizens such as people seeking asylum.
In many circumstances, such as in the case of SRSS cuts, this power is beyond review by parliament or the courts. Successive ministers have played with these rights with impunity under the pretense of deterrence and safe borders.
Under the ALP's No Advantage policy, most people in this group of 7000 were prevented from working, studying or putting forward their claims for protection. Then in 2015, the LNP reintroduced work rights, and a minority of people seeking asylum found jobs.
Now by being cut off all support services and expected to find safe and sustainable employment in a matter of weeks, these women and men are being thrown into the mix of Australia's increasingly tight job market under the economic and moral fiction they can and should compete with the rest of the labour force. The inequities of years of limbo put the lie to this calculus.
Like everyone else, people seeking asylum want to work. Although some may find temporary and casual jobs, others, like many Australians, will struggle to secure jobs. Many women and men likely to lose support are grappling with situations of increased vulnerability such as post traumatic stress disorder, histories of torture and trauma, lack of local experience, and language barriers, which will prevent them from working.
Implementing SRSS cuts to its full conclusion will cause families to become homeless, destitute, hungry and exposed to situations of harm. What we are likely to see is a manufactured humanitarian crisis of unprecedented scale in our main cities.
This is the political climate we must confront and take stock of during Migrant and Refugee Week. Let us continue to heed Pope Francis' call that 'we may all learn to love the other, the stranger, as ourselves [and] foster a culture of encounter in every way possible'. We can do this despite the current political climate, and also let our representatives know how we feel and why.
Carolina Gottardo and Nishadh Rego are Director and Policy and Advocacy Coordinator respectively for Jesuit Refugee Service Australia.