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The reintroduction of the Complementary Protection Bill to Parliament this week ought be welcomed. Given the protests in Christmas Island, it is clear that the mandatory detention policy is also overdue for reform.
May I tell you about one refugee whom I met during the 20 years I lived and worked JRS? The story has no happy outcome, indeed far from it. But it may help to communicate some of the feelings that inspire many who accompany the refugees.
Groups concerned for asylum seekers are now faced with bad Australian policies on asylum seekers like the regional processing centre and a harsher regime of detention. They should reject the policies but cooperate with governments to minimise the harm caused to asylum seekers by them.
X people work hard. Y people are natural athletes. Z people treat the world like they own it. Q people are violent. R people are drunkards. S people mistreat women. V people are queue jumpers. Racial generalising becomes racist only if we accept its false premise.
According to the Coalition, 'bad refugees' who come on boats take places that could otherwise go to 'good refugees' who wait patiently in camps. Labelling refugees as 'good' or 'bad' according to how they arrive in Australia reflects an insular opinion that does not reflect what is happening worldwide.
Every day, Australians face north and scan the horizon. Has another boat arrived? But if our politicians and journalists want to see asylum seekers living in poor conditions, they need to look closer to home.
While many are concerned about returning to processing asylum seekers in poor Pacific countries, Nauru's caretaker president is eager to be involved. Australia should never again be engaged in dodgy deals with this Pacific neighbour. For Nauru, it's all about the money.
Julia Gillard insists that the centre in East Timor centre would be properly 'run, auspiced and structured'. For the Australian Government to ensure that such a centre respects the human dignity of asylum seekers will be difficult. Similar arrangements with Indonesia were not satisfactory.
As the election lather on the asylum seeker issue continues, let's ask, 'Why is it right to treat the honest, unvisaed boat person more harshly than the visaed airplane passenger who fails to declare their intention to apply for asylum?'
When the Government announced that its response to the National Human Rights Consultation would not include a legislative Charter of Rights, many activists despaired. I am more sanguine. We knew from the beginning that a Human Rights Act would be a big ask.
The Coalition's new asylum seeker policy returns to the policy it put into practice under Mr Howard, adding new nasties. The Government's asylum seeker policy is bad; the Coalition's is worse. It is designed to appeal to human baseness, not to human generosity.
133-144 out of 176 results.