Australia the Lucky Country unless you are an asylum seeker
Over the parliamentary break, knowing that an expert panel was working on recommendations to break the political deadlock, I was hopeful. Asylum seeker and refugee advocacy groups were making submissions and at least one of the members of the panel had a long history of a humanitarian approach to asylum seeker policy. Surely sanity would prevail?
Manus Island (Photo credit: ARM Climate Research Facility)
I have been so shocked at the final outcome it has taken me days to write anything. As I start drafting this, I have no plan for this article, I am just writing. Many people with much broader experience in this field than I have written much in the past few days and I’ve read as much as I can. Ordered to bed by my doctor with a chest infection, reading has actually been possible.
“We do need to do as much as we can to dissuade people from embarking on dangerous boat journeys to Australia, but we have a responsibility alongside that to not further damage people who are escaping persecution and are the victims of trauma and torture.”
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/to-hell-and-back-20120817-24e78.html#ixzz23rIHayV0
I agree. I live with the aftermath of mandatory detention. I listen to my husband cry out in his restless dreams. I live with the residual pain of his journey every damn day. The politicians do not. Yes, of course, gradually he is healing but it doesn’t happen overnight. To those who say asylum seekers are “economic refugees” (simply fleeing poor countries for a better life) I can’t speak for all but I do know without a doubt my husband was never one of those. He pores over news reports from his homeland and is horrified at developments. While he is happy here, I know there will always be a part of him that would prefer to be back there driving change. This is not possible. As it is not possible for so many others who flee.
Off-shore processing has always been out of consideration for me for those who actually get here, to Australia. Mandatory detention just has to be the case with off-shore processing. So people risk drowning to get here, then we ship them off to Nauru or Manus Island (under the new legislation) for an indeterminate period of time. Limbo. Psychological problems. Drugs given by Australia to control the depression caused by Australia. Tents, lack of water, horrendous conditions.
Run-down and termite-infested wooden houses of the old detention centre are surrounded by overgrown bushland.
News Ltd photographer Gary Ramage accompanied RAAF engineers to inspect the detention centre today.
He described the surrounds as “unliveable”.
“I can see about 30-40 demountable buildings that are in bad condition. Most are full of termites,” he said.
“A major reconstruction operation will have to take place if a new facility is to hold refugees.”
Yet we are happy to do this? We, as a nation, feel this is an acceptable way to treat our fellow-man? Clearly some of us do, because the legislation passed. We voted for the politicians that passed this into law.
The report was commissioned because the politicians couldn’t agree on a policy. Tony Abbott, leader of the opposition, has “stop the boats” as his catch-cry, as if the boats are some terrible plague upon the nation. This isn’t even remotely true, of course, but it makes good press – repeatedly. There is considerable evidence to suggest that Nauru and Manus Island are not going to “stop the boats”. People will always flee persecution and war, no matter what the cost. Australians, safe in their comfy armchairs watching Tony Abbot and his ilk demonize innocent people, think the risk of drowning is horrific. To an asylum seeker it is simply risk of transit, a risk that must be taken to reach safety.
So why, seven years later, did he pay a small fortune to a people smuggler, leave his wife and three children, and risk his life on a leaky boat a second time to try to come to Australia? Because, he says, the prospect of death at sea or prolonged detention in Australia — even a return to Nauru — was better than living every minute of his life in fear in Afghanistan or Pakistan.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/to-hell-and-back-20120817-24e78.html#ixzz23sB6tHtH
The full recommendations of the final Report of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers are, according to the panel, to be adopted in their entirety. That is, Manus Island and Nauru are only a small part of the overall plan. The fear among many is that FULL implementation of recommendations will not happen.
English: Nauru satellite picture (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Michael Gordon interviewed Paris Aristotle, A Change of Heart, to discover how he came to support Nauru and Manus Island after so many years of campaigning against such solutions. The interview is well worth reading. I think Paris may well live to regret his support, but we shall see. I understand his change of heart, definitely I do: I don’t have faith Astralia will implement the full recommendatons of the report, a situation that saddens me.
While the whole reason, supposedly, for this legislation was to save desperate people from drowning, I did read that not once was that mentioned in the bill that was passed.
Many Australians, I know, felt the passing of this legislation was a very sad day in the history of Australia.
Please share your thoughts. You may like to join the Amnesty International protest: Tell Abbott and Gillard: don’t punish refugees in my name
Related (on this site):
- Asylum Seekers in Australia: more of the same
- Unbalanced article fuels moral panic
- Australia’s refugee intake – Budget 2012
- Detention Centres dysfuntional
- Amnesty International report on Australian detention centres
- Asylum seekers win and lose
- Ranjini needs our help to encourage the government to find a better way
Other Related articles:
- Cost to fix Nauru, Manus ‘unknown’ (dailytelegraph.com.au)
- Inspectors find Manus Island in run-down state (abc.net.au)
- Islands of the damned (Brisbane Times)
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Sorry to read this… truly sad news.
It took me a few days to write anything at all about it, Elizabeth. Sad, inhumane, short-sighted, knee-jerk reaction…………… just terrible. I know Australia can’t accept the millions of displaced people around the world, however in the case of people arriving here by boat, the numbers are so few really.
Always amazes me how we manage to grant asylum to high profile sports people at the drop of a hat if they are capable of representing us internationally. Are those people not “jumping the queue” as the boat people are accused of doing? I don’t see us shipping any of those off to deserted islands to wait for years for a decision…….
It’s about time that every human being realized that their houses last longer than they do and the land owns us, not the other way round. Views from space show no map boundaries, less so in Sagen’s Pale Blue Dot picture. There really are no countries, no national borders, these, like money are based on nothing more than human belief, backed by men with guns, protecting these questionable concepts. Human beings migrated constantly in the early days of our species. The human race has become corrupted by the hijacking of global freedom by new tribe formations. The future, perhaps not far away, with global famine looming and economic meltdown on the way, very soon, is one in which there aren’t enough guards nor enough bullets to stop the impending mass migration of people from areas of famine to better lives. I believe in a global common wealth, meaning that every human is born to inherit the things the earth has to offer, crops, land and water and until we cast off the yoke of capital and money and go back to the land we will never be able to be truly humane. Those racist politicians will find an armchair in a comfortable house a poor hiding place when the tide is not just the bearer of boats with refugees, but the tide is a human one, a tide of change. A human tsunami is coming to wipe away the corrupt world of capital. For now it’s as much to say that anyone who shuts the door on a hungry and needy human, whether that door is at the entrance to a house or the entrance to a country, is guilty by omission of murder and treason against humane ethics. I’ll go to the Amnesty site and sign my name and support this matter with pleasure. God be with you.
Thank you Richard. I wish more felt as you do. We, as a species, can be such ” me, me, me” creatures, wanting to keep out anyone different.
awful news i know. i am ashamed of this government
All we can do is raise our voices. Even changing government is not going to help until we get genuine Liberals again. At the moment we have wannabe GOP.
Do not be sad but keep fighting in whatever reasonable means you can.
It seems more important now than ever to keep up the call for a real solution.
Eventually reasonable people will see the light. As was once said – “Better to light one candle than live forever in the dark,”
Peter, I like the candle analogy very much. If we all light just one candle, perhaps we can encourage others to come forth from the darkness.
Australia the Lucky Country unless you are a legal immigrant worker. Most of us come from same locations as asylum seekers, but unlike them we don’t get any support or benefits or even slightest tax breaks from government. Houses we rent have worse conditions than detentions centers, Australian people won’t rent us anything decent, yet we have to pay for them at least 30-40% of our income. We don’t leave of welfare, we work longer and heavier than locals, yet we paid less and promotion is far possibility. Our rights are mostly on paper, we live for years separated from our families, my friend had to wait 9 months for his wife to get a visa, despite providing all fees and documents. We are the people who make things move in this country, yet everyone despise us. White trash complain about bloody immigrants being everywhere, even though our taxes pay their centrelinks. Middle class claim we still their jobs, even though we do the hard and dirty works they dislike,while they are the managers. So called refugees and their supporters blame us too, according to them if there were less of us there would be more place for refugees, and it doesn’t even occur to them that less us means less money in your budget, from where their benefits come.
I am so sick of these double standards, exploitation, racism and discrimination towards working immigrants is totally ok, while everyone is whinging about poor boat people all day. If only personal experiences count, then I personally know people who came by boat and got accepted as refugees, but in reality are nothing but crooks and Australian government takes money from me to pay them. That is indeed really really sad.
Asef, I am sorry you have these experiences to share and I know it can be very hard for new migrants to establish themselves in a new country – any country. An Australian friend of mine moved to the USA and it took him 5 months to get a job. Why? Same reasons as many are given here, he feels: his accent and no local experience. I wote about the local experience issue here: http://oyeniyicommentary.wordpress.com/2011/05/14/skilled-migration-local-experience/.
I have no doubt some “crooks” slip through simply because there are crooks in all walks of life. Accountants and lawyers steal trust funds from clients, priest abuse children, police take bribes: the list goes on. However we don’t treat all as crooks just because of a few. We need to apply this logic in this instance as well.
I certainly don’t blame migrants, this country was built on migrants. Once, I was in a taxi, the driver had a very heavy European accent (I am not sure which country) and as we drove through Richmond in Melbourne, he loudly bemoaned the number of Asians “taking our jobs”. Just, I reminded him, as many had bemoaned the arrival of Greeks and Italians in years past. I have heard it said that often it is the migrants to this country who are most against more migrants, whether they are skilled stream or humanitarian stream.
Asef, I hope that the longer you are here the better things become for you. I do agree about the “white trash” who live off ALL our taxes (mine too, don’t forget). If it is any consolation, of my staff, only one was born in Australia. Many of us do our best to encourage migrants to achieve.
As for taking money from you to pay them, refugees really don’t get very much at all and would need nothing IF commerical Australia gave them employment! So we are back to the situation of needing to give people a chance, no matter how they got here.
In Australia you can’t spend 5 months looking for a job as immigrant, you can’t even come here if you don’t have a job, days of skilled independent immigration without a job in reality are long gone. Migrant workers recruited from overseas start on temporary working visas, if you lose your job your visa gets canceled and you have to leave in 15 days. I know many cases when people worked hard for many years, got milked by Australia in all ways, from government taxes and fees to overpriced rentals, and had to leave abruptly because their company didn’t need them anymore. Working migrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh all over South Asia and Middle East get this kind of treatment by Australia without any complaints. Australian government requires you to work here in same company for years, before you can even apply for residency.
And that’s why working immigrants dislike other immigrants, at any time your boss can kick you out of your job and therefore country, and pick someone else.
Yes you also pay taxes, assuming you work and earn enough, but do we get same in return ? Immigrant workers obliged to all available extras and surcharges, yet we not entitled to any government aids or benefits. I have to wait months before my wife gets spouse visa, then two more years to get residency. Meanwhile her diploma is useless here, so she can’t work and has to study finance, Australian government doesn’t care that there are two if us now and I have to support both and pay full international uni fee, I am still taxed to full extend. Only special treatment I get in return for my taxes is compulsory “random” security checks every time I travel overseas on business trip, Australian customs have to pick me from the crowd, thanks to my name and face, and sniff me for hour down to my underpants. NO OTHER COUNTRY treated me like that, even Israel did it on first visit only. Thanks Australia!
Crooks or fake refugees don’t slip through the system, with current situation, they just comfortably walk in. In places like Pakistan or Iran there are specialized “travel” offices which for certain fee will supply you with everything needed to go on boat , including required life legend and corroborators in Australia. In fact current situation favors them over genuine refugees with no funds to pay smugglers. When Captain Emad, notorious people and drug smuggler, or hero in your opinion, decided to move his business to Australia, he didn’t choose Sydney or Melbourne as his new home, instead he preferred Canberra! It just proves where whole smuggling business is directed from, no wonder Australian authorities watched him leaving the country unhindered.
You say your husband is genuine refugee, then how can you possibly advocate green policies of uncontrolled, unchecked and unsafe intake, which says let in everyone who has money to pay smugglers, and forget about those who stuck in real limbo in refugee camps in Africa and Asia ?
Current government sends clear message to millions of struggling people in third world as well. If you want come to Australia you don’t have to work hard and study all your life, obey all the procedures and laws, instead, pay tiny fraction of that to people smugglers, and hit welfare jackpot in Australia.
Asef, I am not one who favours our 457 visas (or whatever the current number is) because I recognise there are some problems with it. I believe changes are in the pipeline, but I am not sure what they are.
My friend went to the USA on a spouse visa and yes, we paid full fees for Mr O to go to university too.
Migrants who come here on skilled migrant visas do not have a job when they arrive, I know many who arrived with a skilled migrant visa they have to find their own job when they get here. I believe those with state sponsorship may be different.
If you are aware of these “travel” offices in Paistan or Iran, you should report them to DIAC.
I might point out I have not mentioned Captain Emad in this article, you have raised him. Furthermore I make no claims as to he being a hero or anything else. I am not in the field of law enforcement and it would be inappropriate for me to comment.
There is no welfare jackpot, that is another urban myth I have addressed elsewhere on this site. I have NOT advocated “policies of uncontrolled, unchecked and unsafe intake” at all and the more you write, the less I am inclined to believe you are an immigrant as your English is getting better and better each comment you make!
You sound very unhappy with your life in Australia – why do you stay?
Please be aware that if you continue to place words in my mouth as you have done in this comment, I will not publish your future comments.
OK, firstly about part which offended you most, sorry it was unintentional , I just read in some advocacy sites that people smugglers are not criminals, but heroes. When you commented below that you believe that people traffickers doing right thing, I just assumed, apparently wrongly, that you share that view.
I am a resident who initially came to Australia on 457, I dunno how to prove it, and why you think otherwise, I can email you scanned copy of my visa with all details, if it really matters that much. Sorry for my English, I am a technical person more used to technical discussions.
Love it or leave it is fair enough point, probably that’s the reason why legal immigrants don’t complain much, if at all. You are right, despite all negativities, Australia is still better place than my homeland, I suppose it justifies this view.
Finally, I specifically used word “in reality” for skilled independent applications, you can get enough points without existing job in Australia, but for many years now, these applications take lowest priority and take years of processing , most of the time even if outcome is positive lucky person already moved ahead with other plans in his life.
I also know from personal encounters that what refugees get from Australian government is just enough to meet basic needs like food, accommodation, some education and legal fees. But that not different to what we get, after years of hard work, I still can’t afford a house, and almost all my income is spent on rent, food, education and legal fees. Sorry, complained again, for the last time. Thanks for giving your space to express some of the issues me personally and many thousands of immigrant workers like me face everyday.
No Asef, what I have said about people smugglers is not all are crooks – some actually do believe they are helping. I said SOME, definitely not all.
Refugees do not get enugh to live on in any way, shape, or form. Legal fees? You have to be joking!
Asef, I can’t afford a house! Why? Because it cost me an arm and a leg to fight to get my husband here. Yes, I have owned houses, in years gone past, but also it was easier then, houses were not as expensive. Now my husband is on an apprentice wage and we have 4 children. Plus we have debts from the battle. We struggle to pay the school fees, struggle to get the money together to pay for school excursions.
What I am trying to say, Asef, is it is not easy for any of us unless we are lucky enough to be independently wealthy and I can assure you I am not!
Your English was TOO GOOD Asef – and got better the more you wrote. I was starting to think you were a troll – trolls just try to stir up trouble by pretending to be something/someone they are not.
Another thought for you. While I accept your name and your face can cause discrimination in certain quarters (we all know this, it is no secret and I am not into pretending) be careful you don’t go into job interviews expecting it will be a problem. Many years ago, and still today, women were discriminated against in the workforce. I never thought about it and never suffered. Yet women who went into interviews thinking they wouldn’t get the job BECAUSE they were women invariably performed less well in the interview and consequently didn’t get the job. Their belief became a self-fulfilling prophecy. People with names, complexion, etc different from what they perceive to be the “norm” around them can often fall into this trap of believing they are being discriminated against when they are not.
Another example, re airlines. Ever been pulled aside for the bomb screening? Supposed to be random? Once, during a period of a lot of interstate travel, I got pulled out on EVERY SINGLE FLIGHT I took, five flights in a row. In the end I asked was I wearing the wrong colour lipstick. No, I’ve never been stripped to my underwear. However, never go through customs looking or being fearful that it is going to happen to me either. If you look as if you are concerned, then that makes the authorities suspicious, so again, we have this self-fulfilling prophecy happening.
All of us, Asef, can only do the best we can do. I know it can be difficult and I know it can be tempting to lash out.
I just want to see us accept our international obligations and treat people humanely – otherwise we may as well forget we are signatories to the Convention and just shut the doors and remove ourselves from participating in the world.
I feel flattered about my English
, though most of the credits should go to online dictionary and auto spell corrector. By the way you probably know that to get working visa applicant must score high in IELTS test, though I heard, just heard, that there are countries where there are ways to do it even if your English is not that good.
I have seen many immigrants trying to speak with aussie accents and be like locals, not that there is anything wrong with it , just I am not sure about motivations, but never the opposite. Apparently you have opposite experience, still I don’t understand why someone would pretend to be immigrant ?
I had all my personal belongings exposed lined up on the table by customs few times, while explaining over and over again purpose of my trip, two times had to go through extensive questioning, and the rest were just “normal” X-ray screening. As you said, some things you can’t change, so I didn’t really mind it, just felt bit alienated. It started to change recently, may be because customs realized that stereotypical thinking prevents them from doing their primary duty – protecting borders. My last two trips I was let in without any checks, so some progress there.
Anyways, well off topic.
I totally agree that everyone should do what they can. And that’s the trouble I have with this whole situation. For example report advises to increase humanitarian intake to 20.000, without explaining where this figure comes from. It definitely won’t make much difference to global issue, except to those lucky extra 7000 off course, but there will still be many more unlucky millions out there. Is that what we, as a country can afford ? I can’t see any figures for that. It doesn’t say anything about improving refugees integration after that. There is commonly referred figure of more than 80% refugees still being unemployed on welfare payments after 5 years, which creates discontent in public. No offense, but when you have family and kid on the way, you look at many things more selfishly. Would increase in intake mean that government going to put more tax pressure on me to fund the cost? With Australian labor market regulations and conditions, it will be more attractive for companies to hire cheap skilled labor from overseas, than invest in prolonged education of refugees who most of the time have very low levels of education. So private sector is out, government, i.e. us have to shoulder the cost. There is also a social cost, which is in long term more important than financial. I personally don’t like idea of ethnic ghettos, something Australia already started to experience.
Why don’t government conduct comprehensive research and find out how many refugees a year we can accept, relocate, reeducate and add to task force and at what cost to the tax payer. May be it will turn out that we can easily “digest” 50000 or even more than that refugees every year, without creating much social and financial disturbance. I don’t think anyone then would object against this increase. May be it will turn out that increasing intake will require tax hikes, if it is too much, then sorry, but I have a family in need, and can’t afford it. Again, selfishly, may be our of context, but why doesn’t Australian government pay any attention to struggles of legal economical migrants, whose conditions are getting tougher every year.
Bottom line, everyone agrees that we should do what we can, for some reason government doesn’t bother to come up with substantiated figure of what we really can, then choosing what we should would be easy I guess.
I find too Robyn that as I get older and after years of campaigning on various issues.. I see socities getting worse rather than better but I am also encouraged by how social media is helping to spread the word about love and pace..
Good point about social media, Helen. Battle fire goes up quickly these days and people know they “are not the only one”. Power to the people. On that note, I’ve resisted writing about Assange, our own citizen seeking asylum elsewhere.
I think times were different when we were young – maybe it is not us tht have changed, but the world around us…….
I am a fan of Wikileaks work.. Assange may well be highly sexed and take advantage of women, as many do who have “groupies” but I have read extensively about this case and it’s a right mess ! .. Have you seen this http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/07/19/3549280.htm
Yes, I did watch that. I also tend to subscribe to the groupie theory. He was a trophy – usually only one likes to “win” the trophy!
yes indeed.. it has been tremendous publicity for Wikileaks though.. I truly believe that the US would very much like to get their hands on him..
There was an article here today you might like. http://www.theage.com.au/national/us-in-pursuit-of-assange-cables-reveal-20120817-24e8u.html
Thanks Robyn.. I’ll post it on my facebook page
Robyn, like you, I was gob-smacked by the Houston Report. Even though I knew it was shackled by its terms of reference, I expected something more humane and less punitive rather than vice-versa.
I initially grasped at the straw of increased intake as some gold worth dredging, but the horrors of the prospect of a return to off-shore detention with its legacy of mental health damage and other punishments could not sustain such optimism.
Sadness and lament seem the only fitting response right now.
And then we must dust ourselves off and persist in working for change.
Thanks for your thoughts from the background of your advocacy and your family experience.
Thank you very much. I am sorry I’ve been absent from reading of late, but my life is like a whirling dervish most of the time these days. I’m so grateful you stopped by.
I never expected what we ended up with. Really, really sad.
Yes, dust ourselves off and fight on!
Robyn … I know your story and how true it is, but I think the majority of people are ignorant of the facts of individual cases. They judge and generalise and simply do not know the real reasons behind each case. I don’t know what the answer is, but my personal feelings are that anybody who is desperate will take whatever means possible to escape persecution and oppression. I think the people traffickers are at fault here and maybe there should be some means of assessment with the least amount of distress before these people are allowed to take advantage of those in need. In my own ignorance, I don’t understand why the refugees spend thousands of dollars on such means of entering the country. Desperation is the only answer I am able to come up with. It is all so very sad, but there was never a happier moment in my life than when I was able to hug your husband and tell him how pleased I was to see him. I wish I had all the answers, but I don’t.
Vera, I don’t have all the answers – in fact, I don’t have any answers really, other than knowing I don’t like this situation. I understand this is an attempt to stop people getting on boats, I get that. I accept the FULL report as a workable solution. I like the improved family reunion aspects. I do not like the no time limit. I don’t like the situation Ranjini is in.
I wish I did have answers and of course there will be some who say I shouldn’t open my mouth unless I have an answer. There are many who do have answers, yet they are not listened to. I can’t get past the feeling this was more about votes than saving lives…….
The only real answer, of course, is to improve conditions in the countries from whence these people flee. That is not something we can actually do, so the misery for many thousands will continue.
The people traffickers are indeed a major contributing factor, but even some of those believe they are doing the right thing, I believe.
Maybe as I get older, I want so much for the world to be a nicer place. It isn’t, sadly.