 |
Messages of Hope
|
Un-Australian & Un-Christian !
|
We pride ourselves as Australians in always giving a bloke a "fair go". It seems we are slipping away from this and our government, and certainly our opposition, have forgotten this key Australian value when it comes to asylum-seekers.
Those arriving by boat are very few in number compared to those arriving by plane - around 5%. Our media has not helped by portraying them in a very negative way and mixing them up with those who provide the transport. It is now well known by those who have done any research that people fleeing dangerous places by boat are more likely to be genuine refugees than those arriving by other means.
It might be salutatory to realise that most of us or our forbears were "boat people". My great grandfather arrived on the "William Hammond" at Port Adelaide in 1854. Mr Hieu Van Le AO, Lieutenant Governor of South Australia, was born in Vietnam and fled to Australia with his family by boat. So did many other Vietnamese. They were treated with compassion and hospitality by Australia. Why the difference now?
Members of this church regularly visited Iranian and other asylum-seekers in Baxter Detention Centre. These people were kept in detention for up to 5 years and all we visited were found to be genuine refugees and eventually granted asylum. Many of them are now Australian citizens and some have become members of our church. However the trauma of those years has scarred many.
From a purely economic viewpoint the cost of keeping asylum-seekers in detention is also unacceptable. In 2007(1) it cost over $500,000 to process a person on Christmas Island, $1,830 a day per person on Christmas Island compared to $238 a day at a centre in Australia. For a stay of any length the cost is horrific, not to mention the cost of the trauma to those detained.(2)
Being “illegal” is also a misnomer. Under international law people fleeing persecution and other dangers people have a right to seek refuge in another country. Australia is a signatory to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees(3) so has an obligation to receive such people, even if they have no papers. The allegation that these people are queue jumping is not only dishonest but wrong. There are no queues as such. For the Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka, coming in boats is the only option. There are no Australian authorities nor UNHCR currently in place to process them.
The great myth is that our governments can somehow stop the boats! This is nonsense and made worse by the antics of the opposition claiming to be able to do so. It’s like the weather. Who can stop the rain? The numbers of people fleeing is largely dependent on the situation in those places; the greater the danger or persecution the larger the number fleeing. Using a boat to get to Australia is extremely dangerous and because asylum-seekers know this it only underlines people’s desperation and perhaps courage. Most Australians have no idea of the horrors that these people have endured and are fleeing from. If we did we might change our attitudes.
Rev Alistair Mcrae, President of the Uniting Church in Australia, has said of the call to turn back the boats, "They are dangerous policies that seek to exempt Australia from its legal and moral obligations to act as a decent global citizen. Increasing the offshore resettlement program is a good move in and of itself but is no substitute for meeting our obligations under the Refugee Convention to assess the claims of those who arrive on our shores.”(4)
Instead of our politicians trying to race each other to the bottom, could we please see a more humane and less costly solution? Could we please have a government with the guts to show some true leadership and not pander to the cries of the ignorant? Could we please act as true "good Samaritans" and not put the boot in? Those that passed by on the other side had their excuses. What excuses do we have? None really!
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. . .
- Jesus: Matthew 7:12a (NIV)
Shalom, Peter
1. Asylum seekers, the facts in figures - Crikey, 17-4-2009
2. Australian Medical Association, December 2001
Medical Journal of Australia 2002(8)402-405
3. Convention relating to the status of refugees - Wikipedia
4. Uniting Justice - Media release: 100706mr-refugee policy
General References
UNHCR Statistics
Fact Sheet 61 - Seeking Asylum in Australia
|
|
|
<< Latest Message Previous Messages >>
See Archived Messages >>
|
