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Abbott's 'red arrows' asulym seeker ad is reminiscent of the 'reds under the beds' hysteria of the '50s and '60s. With an election on the way, the immigration policy reform agenda has been put aside as both Government and Opposition harden their policies.
On Monday night on ABC1's Q&A, Tony Abbott was asked about the recent wave of boat people including Hazaras fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan. At the end of one recent meeting in Indonesia, a 15-year-old Hazara named Ali came and told me his heart wrenching story.
Shaun Carney from The Age remarks that governments can be expected to treat refugee policy as 'just politics'. We have seen the consequences for the economy of tolerating 'business as usual'. It would be a pity to prostitute government in the same way.
Sister Carmel Wauchope is a Sister of the Good Samaritan and lives up to that name. Outraged by the conditions faced by asylum seekers in detention in Australia, she has spent years visiting detainees and advocating on their behalf.
Last week's changes to Australia's asylum policy remove the worst aspects of a cruel system. The real test is if the Rudd Government is willing to take on the causes of forced migration, rather than continuing to shift the burden elsewhere.
Yesterday's announcement of the Government's policy shift away from indefinite detention of asylum seekers brings Australia closer to UNHCR recommendations. It remains to be seen if it will have the courage of its convictions if more boats do arrive.
The text is from Professor Frank Brennan's 2008 Institute of Justice Studies Oration from 22 May 2008.
Australia's refugee regime may represent the Western world's worst practice. The Government has abolished flawed and dehumanising temporary protection visas, but a more substantial review is required to ensure asylum seekers enjoy equal protection under Australian law.
The power of the State can be exercised capriciously and unaccountably when the “Don’t ask; don’t tell” approach to government is immune from parliamentary, judicial or public scrutiny. It is the task of lawyers to make it more difficult for politicians to take this approach.
There are times when we Australians get the balance between national interest and individual liberty wrong, especially when the individual is a member of a powerless minority. One way of improving the balance is including the judiciary in the calculus, as has now happened in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
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