Wednesday 15 December is now another date on the calendar of refugee tragedy. We remember the SIEV X catastrophe in 2001, and the explosion on the boat in April last year. The deaths off Christmas Island on Wednesday are a reminder of the dangers faced in coming to Australia by boat. Yet still people come. We might learn some of the reasons by listening to the refugees.
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Over the last 20 years, politicians from both sides promoted the fiction of 'good' and 'bad' refugees. Good refugees are plucked by the Government from 'camps'. They wait in the 'queue' and calmly accept that if they are lucky, they will be offered resettlement. Bad refugees are those who take the initiative and risk of fleeing in order to seek resettlement and 'take the place' of a good refugee.
WikiLeaks recently released reports of both major parties seeking political advantage from the treatment of asylum seekers.
Some people will risk their life in a boat seeking asylum. Others will come by air. The lucky few will win the refugee lotto and be picked from their temporary home, which may be a camp or a small flat in a city in Asia or the Middle East (nearly half the world's refugees now live in cities).
All who meet the definition of a refugee, are refugees. How someone arrives should not affect how we treat them.
For a while under the Coalition there were five different types of visas for refugees, depending on how they arrived. It is not a matter of saying 'they should all stay', but there needs to be a transparent process that is fair and abides by the rule of law.
Some will not meet therefugee definition. However, we need to give those who do, and their families, a real chance for their future.
Resettlement is the least favoured option for refugees. Refugees want to go home, see their family, live in a country where the language and customs are familiar, where they can safely bring up their children and live their lives.
Sadly, it takes years, often decades for people to be able to return home. Some never feel safe enough, even after 30 years. Some experience exile for generations