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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.
Kevin Rudd calls them the 'vilest form of people on the planet'. How dare these impoverished, yet slightly entrepreneurial fishermen let their social consciousness blind them from considering the interests of white Australians?
Before the mission was established here, the local Aboriginal community of 200 persons was forced to host 1000 convicts from the mainland for eight years. I daresay not all the convicts were easy-going beachcombers.
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'.
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.
Compared to that on Nauru, the Christmas Island detention facility might seem to be surrounded by calm seas. But it is exposed by distance, and if a storm of government hostility to asylum seekers blows again, the processes of determining claims there appear to leave asylum seekers dangerously exposed.
Georgina Pike on the plight of the Sri Lankan asylum seekers who have been sent to Christmas Island.
What matters is not where the 83 Sri Lankan asylum seekers will be processed – Christmas Island or Nauru – but the nature of their reception and processing.
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