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Keywords: Boat People

  • AUSTRALIA

    Stop Sri Lanka, not its refugees

    • Michael Mullins
    • 19 October 2009
    45 Comments

    The Rudd Government is pursuing the same unprincipled border protection strategy for which it criticised the Howard Government. It could better assist these refugees by asking the Sri Lankan Government why so many Tamils are fleeing the country, especially if the war is over.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Refugee hysteria breeding Pacific Solution 2.0

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 15 October 2009
    17 Comments

    A hysterical response to the arrival of boats in Australia could undo the progress we have made away from unjust policy. Most asylum seekers have already experienced serious trauma. To return to a temporary visa regime will separate families for years and cause anxiety.

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  • RELIGION

    Kevin Rudd and the problem of evil

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 23 April 2009
    25 Comments

    With uncharacteristic vehemence, Mr Rudd said people smugglers could rot in hell. This kind of language echoes the tabloid characterisation of people who have done foul deeds as monsters. The Christian view of evil is more complex.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Refugee crisis requires international effort

    • David Holdcroft
    • 21 April 2009
    3 Comments

    During the Indochinese crisis, the Fraser Government engaged in a policy of cooperation with other countries in the region. More than a million people were moved, and the boat people phenomenon in Australia ceased for nearly ten years.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Asylum seekers are not criminals

    • Sacha Bermudez-Goldman
    • 21 April 2009
    9 Comments

    If we regard asylum seekers as illegals who burn boats to force themselves on us, we might choose to close our doors to them. Rather than criminals, we should regard them as human beings in great need, deserving our respect and compassion.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Howard asylum seeker policy must remain history

    • Michael Mullins
    • 20 April 2009
    9 Comments

    The military misadventures of nations including Australia contribute greatly to the motivation of asylum seekers. Australian immigration policy must de-emphasise border protection in favour of being a 'good international citizen'.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Forward with fairness for asylum seeker policy

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 17 April 2009
    3 Comments

    The tragic death of several asylum seekers on a boat while being towed to Christmas Island again shows the dangers for people coming to Australia by boat. But it does not justify a return to the harsh policies of the past.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    What the people don't know

    • Jeff Klooger
    • 16 December 2008
    1 Comment

    The minister .. surveys his kingdom with an eagle's eye .. and an artichoke's heart .. those desperadoes in their plywood boats .. the public with their mortgages

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  • EUREKA STREET/ READER'S FEAST AWARD

    SIEV X, the boat that sank

    • Tony Kevin
    • 30 July 2008
    6 Comments

    Coming closer, one sees these are paintings of drowning people, headsor bodies suspended in metallic seawater. There are 353 images, mostly children and women, for it was mostly children and women who boarded the boat.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Haunted by the ghosts of SIEV-X

    • Rochelle Siemienowicz
    • 12 June 2008
    4 Comments

    Hope documents the fate of the people-smuggling vessel SIEV-X and the 353 people who died when it sank en route to Australia. The film suggests a parliamentary inquiry is essential into the Howard Government's handling of the tragedy.

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