With the ABC airing an episode of their panel discussion program Q&A specifically on the issue of Asylum Seekers in Australia, I thought it was appropriate to clear up some basic facts that the media and it's coverage of the topic seem to miss.
Sidebar: I also want to direct this straight at the group of people that I like to refer to as the "FOWF Brigade". The FOWF Brigade are typically bogans who drive around in big cars or utes with stickers on the back expressing their narrow-minded views on various topics; their views on immigration are usually summed up in four little words: "F*** OFF WE'RE FULL".
1. It is entirely legal to ask another country for protection if your life is in danger in your own country.
This is one thing that the FOWF Brigade seem to forget. If you are being persecuted by your own government it is entirely legal for you to seek political asylum in another country, if you feel your life is at risk.
2. Arriving on a rickety boat from Indonesia is illegal.
Yes, only if you have not made appropriate clearances to enter into Australian Waters. It is also not illegal to arrive on our shores and ask for asylum either. Given that Australia is an island surrounded by water, aside from taking a plane trip, how the hell else are you going to get here? Besides, if the country you are fleeing from has restricted airspace due to it being part of a war-zone and you can't get a plane, what other option do you have?
3. When asylum seekers arrive, it is imperative and highly appropriate that we find out exactly who they are.
In a lot of cases, people will flee their homes with what little they can scrounge before, say, a bomb hits it. In that situation, there's not a lot of time to grab your birth certificate and your CV. So, by the time they get here, and they no identification, what can you do? You need to find out who they are.
We also need to find out what their story is - where they've come from, what the threat to their lives was/is, and what can be done to help them. Do they have anyone they know here? What do they hope to do once they're here? Can they support themselves and their families?
4. Detention centres are NOT bad (at least in theory).
When asylum seekers get here, we have to house them somewhere. We cannot just expect them to sleep on the street until we work out who they are. We do owe them at least some duty of care until their claims are processed. Secondly, while diseases like cholera and dysentery have been contained and vaccinated against in this country for years, we need to make sure that asylum seekers are healthy and not carrying any infectious diseases as well.
5. Asylum seekers are NOT queue jumpers.
Well, some may be. In the past, some people have been caught out. But, there are a lot of people who are genuinely seeking asylum, so by rights one cannot assume one way or another. The immigration queue is quite long, so I'm told, so I guess it's only natural that people will take an alternative route to get into Australia permanently, if they want to badly enough.
One of the major issues that seems to be the core of this debate is the conditions in which these people are forced to live, and for years at a time. I don't know why the processing of asylum claims takes so long. I don't know on what grounds an application for asylum may be rejected (which was the reason that a few people set fire to the Villawood Detention centre a few months back). However, I'd love to know the answers to some of these questions at some stage...
Xenophobia in this country is nothing new. Most of us didn't know what xenophobia was until v. Spy V. Spy issued an album with that title in 1987. But we shouldn't let the unfounded fears of a bunch of ignorant people impact on the policy decisions of the government.
More on this one later...
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