Barnaby swings iron-bar into asylum debate

29 September 2009

Comments by Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce and by Acting Opposition Leader Julie Bishop in today's media demonstrate a lack of understanding of refugee issues, said Zhi Yan, Acting National Coordinator of A Just Australia.

Senator Joyce is reported to have said that a large proportion of the asylum seekers on Christmas Island are 'economic migrants' rather than refugees, because they seemed 'very happy here' and because they were 'health-conscious'.

"I am appalled that Senator Joyce judges a person's need for protection on that person's apparent mood and health status," said Ms Yan. "People become refugees not because of how sad or sick they are, but because they have real protection needs."

"Refugees are seeking safety from persecution, violence, death and torture. Wouldn't you be happy if you escaped a situation of death and violence, and managed to make it to the relative (albeit precarious) safety of Christmas Island?" asked Ms Yan.

A Just Australia is also concerned that extremist views within shadow cabinet (and the odd eccentric parliamentary colleague) seem to reflect the belief that Australia is immune from world events. "Asylum seeker numbers have shot up worldwide in the last two years because of crisis situations like Afghanistan and Sri Lanka," said Ms Yan. "So it's hardly surprising that asylum seeker numbers are increasing in Australia as well. We're part of the world, aren't we?"

Other industrialized countries have also experienced significant increases in asylum seekers. For example, Italy had a 122% increase in asylum seekers in 2008 compared to 2007, Norway 121%, the Netherlands 89%, Turkey 70%, Switzerland 53%, Canada 30%, and France 20%, according to a 2009 UNHCR report. Yet in the same period, Australia saw only a 19% increase.

"Australia had just 0.3% of the world's asylum seekers in 2008," said Ms Yan, quoting UNHCR figures, "so it's really frustrating that the Opposition continues to push the line that we are being 'swamped'."

"In the last two years we've seen some significant reforms to Australia's asylum policies, bringing them back into line with our international human rights obligations," said Ms Yan. "Don't let fear tactics and political point-scoring drag us back to the Tampa era, back to a time where we can't be proud to be Australian because of the way Australia treats refugees in need."