67. How Can We Treat Refugees Humanely? – An Australian Perspective

Refugees,  or more par­tic­u­larly asy­lum seek­ers arriv­ing by boat in Aus­tralian ter­ri­tory with­out prior autho­riza­tion, are a hot but­ton polit­i­cal issue in Aus­tralia. The pub­lic sen­ti­ment against them has hard­ened in the last sev­eral years, partly as a result of relent­less pop­ulist polit­i­cal rhetoric. In 2013 the Aus­tralian peo­ple elected a new fed­eral gov­ern­ment which has con­tin­ued to pur­sue an antag­o­nis­tic pol­icy against asy­lum seek­ers. In this envi­ron­ment, a Bris­bane dis­cus­sion group which is prin­ci­pally orga­nized by the present writer, decided that it would be inter­est­ing to con­duct a round table debate on the refugee issue. The analy­sis which fol­lows, together with the read­ing list, were part of the prepa­ra­tion for that dis­cus­sion. Note that the read­ing list draws heav­ily on cur­rent Aus­tralian jour­nal­is­tic report­ing since this report­ing in itself forms an impor­tant part of the pub­lic debate.

[Image source: see Nor­ton below]

 

Aus­tralia – Refugee & Pro­tec­tion Visa Requests 2013 (refer Ever­shed 2012) 

Aus­tralia – Pro­tec­tion Visas Granted in 2013 (ref. Dept. Immi­gra­tion)

Peo­ple born over­seas (refer Teno­rio 2013) 

 1. The terms of dis­cus­sion

This has been a tough topic to han­dle because it has so many strands and so many pos­si­ble per­spec­tives. The notes to fol­low are my own angle at the moment and should be taken only as a start­ing point. The long read­ing list at the end con­tains many more argu­ments, his­tor­i­cal and cur­rent.

There is a prob­lem even debat­ing an issue like refugee pol­icy and prac­tice with­out being inef­fec­tual. Every­one has an opin­ion and a vote. Fre­quently opin­ions are emo­tional but many off the cuff the opin­ions exhibit a lack of per­spec­tive and back­ground under­stand­ing. Specif­i­cally, in any dis­cus­sion includ­ing the word “refugee” and “humane”, the word “should” is likely to colour every para­graph. The word “should” is a cloak to cover the naked con­science of decent peo­ple, and the hypocrisy of oth­ers. The word “should” is too often an eva­sion of respon­si­bil­ity, and in the end can be a bar­rier to help­ing any­one, for “should” typ­i­cally sug­gests promises with­out a real world like­li­hood of solu­tion.  Per­haps “should” is best avoided.

2. Who is “we”?

“We” can refer to our­selves as indi­vid­u­als, or to some sup­posed model of “an Aus­tralian” in the cul­ture, or to the actions of gov­ern­ment agents or politi­cians as rep­re­sen­ta­tives of a pop­u­la­tion. “We” can refer whole nations, or sup­posed cul­tural group­ings, such as “West­ern­ers”. “We” can even refer to the whole of human­ity. The ambi­gu­ity of “we” is sig­nif­i­cant in any dis­cus­sion of refugees, as the focus of ref­er­ence slips even in our own speech. 

3. Per­sonal human­ity applied to refugees

The ques­tion of treat­ing refugees humanely, or not, is mostly easy at a per­sonal level (you, me). Indi­vid­u­als will treat refugees face to face humanely, or not, accord­ing to the per­son­al­ity of that indi­vid­ual, when and how the encoun­ter occurs, the per­sonal sense of secu­rity of both indi­vid­u­als, pre­vail­ing cul­tural atti­tudes, gov­ern­men­tal & edu­ca­tional encour­age­ment (or not), recent media events, the actual eth­nic ori­gins of a par­tic­u­lar refugee, and a host of other fac­tors.

In fact rel­a­tively few Aus­tralians encoun­ter refugees while know­ing that they are refugees. In dis­guised encoun­ters the actual refugee will be treated as any indi­vid­ual, for bet­ter or for worse.  As mem­bers of vol­un­tary orga­ni­za­tions some Aus­tralians may reach out in a more sys­tem­atic way to help. As mem­bers of some more insu­lar or self­ish sub-cul­ture, oth­ers may express hos­til­ity in a more sys­tem­atic way. What is sanc­tioned polit­i­cally will reflect these local com­mu­nity divi­sions. The com­mu­nity will  always have this kind of dis­tri­b­u­tion of atti­tudes, although the mar­gins may swell or dimin­ish depend­ing upon events of the day. 

It is notable that Aus­tralian immi­gra­tion deten­tion cen­tres have delib­er­ate poli­cies of sep­a­rat­ing detained refugees and oth­ers from con­tact with the gen­eral Aus­tralian pop­u­la­tion. This is achieved by remote or off­shore loca­tion, as well as pris­oner-like exclu­sion from con­tact in the name of secu­rity. An unspo­ken objec­tive of such sep­a­ra­tion appears to be the pre­ven­tion of per­sonal rela­tion­ships devel­op­ing between detainees and the gen­eral pub­lic. The pol­icy has a par­tic­u­larly bru­tal effect on chil­dren.

4. The national humane or inhu­mane treat­ment of refugees

a) At a national level, at first glance it might also seem rel­a­tively straight­for­ward to treat refugees humanely if we are talk­ing about indi­vid­u­als already in Aus­tralia who have been accepted as refugees for reset­tle­ment (not that it is treated in a straight­for­ward way by actual gov­ern­ments). In prac­tice, the insti­tu­tions of gov­ern­ment – pretty well any gov­ern­ment any­where in the world – are not ter­ri­bly good at accom­mo­dat­ing the per­sonal dra­mas, let alone trau­mas, of peo­ple under stress. This clum­si­ness, which can be bru­tal to indi­vid­u­als, comes from the par­tic­u­lar lim­i­ta­tions of gov­ern­men­tal employ­ees tasked with man­ag­ing sit­u­a­tions, from the insti­tu­tional and finan­cial frame­works within which they oper­ate, and from the polit­i­cal lead­er­ship of whichever admin­is­tra­tion hap­pens to be in power. No magic wand will ever trans­form this equa­tion per­ma­nently. It can be tem­porar­ily influ­enced by pub­lic opin­ion and the actions of opin­ion lead­ers of the day. 

b) At a national level, in terms of who, how many and in what man­ner to accept refugees, for any gov­ern­ment which wishes to actu­ally remain in office, the issue can be fiendishly dif­fi­cult. In imple­men­ta­tion, it also depends upon what the agents of that gov­ern­ment con­sider to be humane. A review of the his­tory of deci­sions on immi­gra­tion since the 19^th Cen­tury will show repeated cycles of gen­eros­ity, para­noia and exclu­sion. Peri­ods of rel­a­tive open­ness can gen­er­ate heated pub­lic reac­tion which takes care­ful man­age­ment to dis­si­pate over time. Nev­er­the­less, cumu­la­tively Aus­tralia has accepted a sig­nif­i­cant num­ber of asy­lum seek­ers: “From 1945 to the early 1990s more than half a mil­lion refugees and other dis­placed per­sons were accepted into Aus­tralia” (Wikipedia 2014, Asy­lum in Aus­tralia).

c) Pol­i­tics is the art of the pos­si­ble. Polit­i­cally, some­times less for the moment is more over time. Some­times polit­i­cal rhetoric is a cover for oppo­site actions. The man more respon­si­ble than any other for devel­op­ing and expand­ing Australia’s mod­ern immi­gra­tion pro­gram (post-WW2) was Arthur Cald­well, who as Immi­gra­tion Min­is­ter in 1947 stood up in par­lia­ment and declared: “I can promise the Aus­tralian peo­ple that we will never have a choco­late coloured Aus­tralia”. In pri­vate he stud­ied man­darin. From 1947 that pro­gram has been based upon a mix of human­i­tar­ian refugees and eco­nomic migrants, with the divi­sion between these cat­e­gories often unclear in par­tic­u­lar cases. In addi­tion to reg­u­lar migra­tion, in Aus­tralia (as in almost every coun­try) there are a num­ber of visa over­stay­ers, a small per­cent­age of whom become long term ille­gal res­i­dents. “The esti­mated num­ber of peo­ple who have over­stayed their visas and are in Aus­tralia at any one time was about 53 900 as at 30 June 2010. The num­ber of over­stay­ers equates to about 0.02 per cent of Australia’s pop­u­la­tion” (the most cur­rent Depart­ment of Immi­gra­tion Fact Sheet 2013, see ref­er­ence below). The basic drill for over­stay­ers is that they are deported and barred from return­ing for 3 years after repay­ing the cost of depor­ta­tion.

While asy­lum seek­ers arriv­ing with­out per­mis­sion by boat (a rel­a­tively small num­ber of peo­ple) has been used ruth­lessly as a tool for inflam­ing polit­i­cal pas­sions, there has been polit­i­cal bipar­ti­san agree­ment on the value of gen­eral immi­gra­tion. The over­stayer issue has remained below the polit­i­cal radar alto­gether.

Waves of immi­gra­tion from unfa­mil­iar eth­nic sources have always met a degree of com­mu­nity resis­tance, usu­ally fol­lowed by accep­tance over the course of the fol­low­ing gen­er­a­tion. For exam­ple, refugee arrivals from Europe after World War II were first den­i­grated as “refos”. The care­ful pro­mo­tion of mul­ti­cul­tural tol­er­ance has removed any offi­cial impri­matur to pri­vate prej­u­dice, and this has been extremely impor­tant in keep­ing the peace. How­ever, cur­rent pop­ulist polit­i­cal exploita­tion of the “boat peo­ple” issue threat­ens that peace and sways pub­lic opin­ion, with pub­lic prej­u­dice not assisted by the oxy­gen of anony­mous Inter­net com­ment. An incom­ing Aus­tralian fed­eral gov­ern­ment (2013) has unfor­tu­nately con­tin­ued to ride this surge of pub­lic prej­u­dice, appar­ently for ide­o­log­i­cal rea­sons, and even to the extent of renam­ing the Depart­ment of Immi­gra­tion as the Depart­ment of Immi­gra­tion and Bor­der Pro­tec­tion. Wel­come to Fortress Aus­tralia. That is, the div­i­dends of tol­er­ance over the last two gen­er­a­tions are in some dan­ger of being lost. Recov­ery might be dif­fi­cult.

5. The Uncon­trolled Entry of Asy­lum Seek­ers by Sea

a) At a national level, the offi­cial accep­tance of refugees has been com­pli­cated by three extra­ne­ous fac­tors. The first extra­ne­ous fac­tor has been an issue since Viet­namese refugees began to arrive in the late 1970s. That fac­tor is the uncon­trolled arrival within Aus­tralian bor­ders of asy­lum seek­ers on boats. In the case of Viet­nam, that sit­u­a­tion was even­tu­ally brought under con­trol by nego­ti­at­ing a “con­trolled depar­ture” agree­ment with the Viet­namese gov­ern­ment. Between 200,000 and 400,000 Viet­namese asy­lum seek­ers per­ished at sea before this sit­u­a­tion was sta­bi­lized. Note that there has been a recent increase in the num­ber of Viet­namese boat peo­ple again, and the Viet­namese gov­ern­ment has been show­ing renewed resis­tance to accept­ing peo­ple who have fled and then been rejected by des­ti­na­tion coun­tries. As a result Aus­tralia is now hold­ing these peo­ple incom­mu­ni­cado in immi­gra­tion deten­tion (ref­er­ence: Brum­mitt 2013). 

b) The sec­ond com­pli­cat­ing fac­tor in refugee arrivals is fairly recent. That is the involve­ment on both a large scale and small scale of orga­nized crime in estab­lish­ing “under­ground rail­roads” for the undoc­u­mented trans­fer of indi­vid­u­als across national bor­ders. These under­ground rail­road trans­fers involve many kinds of clients, with many kinds of motive, and the busi­ness is world­wide. For exam­ple there are trans­fers of fake stu­dents, undoc­u­mented work­ers, sex slaves, fake refugees, and so on. 

From a crim­i­nal per­spec­tive, the “peo­ple trade” has much in com­mon with the drug trade, and it is likely that the same prin­ci­pals are often involved. Also in com­mon with the drug trade is that large num­bers of gen­uine or inno­cent per­sons become col­lat­eral dam­age. Given the his­tory of the drug trade, it is also rea­son­able to sus­pect that cer­tain seg­ments of gov­ern­ment in var­i­ous coun­tries develop a vested inter­est in “the prob­lem” and seek to per­pet­u­ate it. This is almost cer­tainly the case in Indone­sia for exam­ple. The present Aus­tralian gov­ern­ment with its “sov­er­eign bor­ders” pro­gram has set itself the task of break­ing the busi­ness model of the human traf­fick­ing of asy­lum seek­ers by orga­nized crime. Clearly the gov­ern­ment is unsure how to break this trade, and by using dis­tressed indi­vid­u­als as pawns (just as the peo­ple traders do), large num­bers of gen­uine refugees become col­lat­eral dam­age. No humane solu­tion to this dilemma is in sight. 

c) The third com­pli­cat­ing fac­tor to refugee arrival is mostly coun­try speci­fic (although see also the ref­er­ence to Viet­nam above). The Repub­lic of Iran has noti­fied the Aus­tralian gov­ern­ment that it will not accept repa­tri­ated per­sons who have fled the coun­try, in spite of Aus­tralian attempts to nego­ti­ate a return agree­ment. (Since Aus­tralia is a party to a sanc­tions regime against Iran that lack of coop­er­a­tion might not be sur­pris­ing). This means that even if Aus­tralia rejects the bona fides of an asy­lum seeker as a gen­uine refugee, there is no way to deport that per­son. The cur­rent Ira­nian regime dis­trusts these indi­vid­u­als pre­cisely because they are usu­ally well edu­cated, mid­dle or upper class, and not at all enthu­si­as­tic about reli­gion in the con­text of a theoc­racy. That is, they are classed as actual or poten­tial polit­i­cal oppo­nents. The level of actual per­se­cu­tion in indi­vid­ual cases is dif­fi­cult to estab­lish. Ira­ni­ans have surged to the top of the list of asy­lum seek­ers. In gen­eral their level of dis­tress is prob­a­bly not com­pa­ra­ble to that of, for exam­ple, Syr­ian refugees at present. Many Ira­ni­ans apply for asy­lum after arriv­ing by air, after arrang­ing forged doc­u­ments through “agents”, while oth­ers fly to Jakarta and take a boat at great risk (this is cheaper). As refugees they are knowl­edge­able and artic­u­late about their rights, and for that rea­son are extremely unpop­u­lar with both Immi­gra­tion Depart­ment offi­cials and the Gov­ern­ment. Thou­sands are being held in immi­gra­tion deten­tion limbo. Recent attempts by the Min­is­ter for Immi­gra­tion to re-intro­duce tem­po­rary three year pro­tec­tion visas (as opposed to nor­mal per­ma­nent pro­tec­tion visas) may be trace­able to this prob­lem. From a coldly prag­matic per­spec­tive (regard­less of human­i­tar­ian issues) mid­dle class Ira­ni­ans will prob­a­bly be quite suc­cess­ful immi­grants, whether or not their arrival was legit­i­mate. Of course, many Ira­ni­ans have also already immi­grated to Aus­tralia on skilled migrant visas, or as post­grad­u­ate stu­dents.

6. The Global Dimen­sion of the Refugee Prob­lem

At a world­wide level, treat­ing refugees humanely, let alone resolv­ing  the source cre­ation of refugees, might be a wish to be worked for, but a bliz­zard of social, eco­nomic and polit­i­cal fac­tors local to many crises put the wish beyond anyone’s power to imple­ment well. The prob­lem is dou­bly intractable because of the crim­i­nal ten­den­cies of many national gov­ern­ments. The actual num­ber of peo­ple rec­og­nized as refugees glob­ally is a dif­fuse and expand­ing sta­tis­tic. Hartcher (2013, ref­er­ence list) quotes a UN fig­ure of 45.2 mil­lion, but there are hun­dreds of mil­lions more who need some kind of human­i­tar­ian pro­tec­tion sta­tus.

7. A Cur­rent Debate Focus

The treatment of refugees by governments, and in particular the Australian government, is probably where this debate can be most usefully centred. The following material comes directly from a Commonwealth of Australia Immigration Department fact sheet (https://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/60refugee.htm ). Since publication, Australia has had a change of government to one probably less sympathetic to refugees, though favourable to more skilled migration, so future statistics are likely to vary quite a bit :

Outcomes of 2012–13 programme:

In 2012–13, the Human­i­tar­ian Pro­gramme was increased to 20 000 places from 13 750 places in 2011-12. A total of 20 019 visas were granted under the Human­i­tar­ian Pro­gramme, of which 12 515 visas were granted under the off­shore com­po­nent and 7504 visas were granted under the onshore com­po­nent. See the tables below for fur­ther details on the 2012–13 pro­gramme out­comes.

Woman at Risk

In 2012–13, 1673 visas (13.9 per cent) of the Refugee cat­e­gory were granted to Woman at Risk visa appli­cants, exceed­ing the nom­i­nal annual tar­get of 12 per cent.

Appli­ca­tions

In 2012–13, a total of 50 444 peo­ple lodged appli­ca­tions under the off­shore pro­gramme com­po­nent com­pared with 42 928 in 2011-12.

Human­i­tar­ian Pro­gramme fig­ures

Human­i­tar­ian Pro­gramme grants by cat­e­gory 2008-09 to 2012–13
Cat­e­gory	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012–13
Refugee	64992	6003	5998	6004	12 012
Spe­cial Human­i­tar­ian (off­shore)	4511	3233	2973	714	503
Onshore1	2492	4534	4828	7041	7504
Tem­po­rary Human­i­tar­ian Con­cern	5	–	–	–	–
Total3	13 507	13 770	13 799	13 759	20 019

¹ Includes pro­tec­tion visas and onshore human­i­tar­ian visa grants that are count­able under the Human­i­tar­ian Pro­gramme.
² This fig­ure included a one-off allo­ca­tion of 500 refugee places for Iraqis.
³ Data in this table is reported as at the end of each pro­gramme year.

2012–13 off­shore visa grants by top ten coun­tries of birth
Coun­tries	Num­ber of visas granted
Iraq	4064
Afghanistan	2431
Myanmar/Burma	2352
Bhutan	1023
Congo (DRC)	489
Iran	471
Soma­lia	396
Sudan	319
Eritrea	185
Ethiopia	182
Other	603
Total	12 515

8. The Effec­tive­ness of the Aus­tralian Government’s Human­i­tar­ian Immi­gra­tion Pro­gram

a) In the con­text of a world­wide offi­cial total refugee prob­lem of 45.2 mil­lion, 20 thou­sand peo­ple admit­ted to Aus­tralia annu­ally is obvi­ously triv­ial. It is also obvi­ous that socially and polit­i­cally Aus­tralia can­not dimin­ish the total num­ber of inter­na­tional refugees in a mean­ing­ful way. For exam­ple, to take a mil­lion refugees per annum into Aus­tralia would totally dis­tort the Aus­tralian econ­omy and lead to mas­sive elec­toral revolt by the Aus­tralian pop­u­la­tion.

b) By choos­ing to accept a lim­ited num­ber of refugees from selected sources Aus­tralia has in the past enhanced its inter­na­tional rep­u­ta­tion (“soft power” is impor­tant) and in the long run advan­taged its econ­omy. In real­ity, this cherry pick­ing is likely to con­tinue. There is ample evi­dence that some cul­tural groups fit more quickly than oth­ers into the exist­ing Aus­tralian pop­u­la­tion mix, and over sev­eral gen­er­a­tions have a higher level of suc­cess. No gov­ern­ment is likely to make this explicit in its pol­icy, but all will make it a sig­nif­i­cant part of imple­men­ta­tion. For exam­ple, some of the worst refugee suf­fer­ing is now found in cen­tral Africa, but we are unlikely to see more than a token admis­sion of indi­vid­u­als from that region. Syr­ian refugees with sig­nif­i­cant skills are likely to find a warmer wel­come than Afghanis with few skills, although both will be hand­i­capped for entry by con­cerns about extreme reli­gious ten­den­cies. Such “hid­den rules” in refugee pol­icy might seem unpalat­able in cof­fee table dis­cus­sion, but they are not going to van­ish under any Aus­tralian polit­i­cal regime.

c) Any gov­ern­ment will only devote lim­ited resources to a refugee pro­gram. It is there­fore a prac­ti­cal ques­tion as to how well these lim­ited resources are actu­ally deployed. In fact, regard­less of the human­i­tar­ian feel­ings of politi­cians and admin­is­tra­tors (or the lack thereof), argu­ments from eco­nomic effi­ciency can be one of the most pow­er­ful tools for keep­ing their actions sane. 

The cur­rent bud­get for the human­i­tar­ian refugee pro­gram is hope­lessly dis­torted away from actu­ally assist­ing refugees. Here are the num­bers (see Bianca Hall, April 30 2013 in ref­er­ences):

” While the fig­ure is expected to be revised in the May bud­get, off­shore pro­cess­ing is cur­rently fore­cast to cost $2.3 bil­lion over the next four years.

The United Nation High Com­mis­sioner for Refugees’ regional spokesman, Richard Towle, said this was a mat­ter for Aus­tralia, but said: ”I would say, how­ever, that UNHCR’s global bud­get for this year is $3.7 bil­lion and with that money we’re expected to respond to the crises of Syria, Mali, Afghanistan, for 25 mil­lion glob­ally.”

Added to the cur­rent expenses is not only the enor­mous cost of off­shore deten­tion, but the bot­tom­less cost of a “sov­er­eign bor­der” solu­tion by the navy. Both of these are dri­ven polit­i­cally not by the needs of gen­uine refugees but by the strug­gle (“war”) to defeat the alleged peo­ple trade by orga­nized crime. The ‘war on drugs’, Amer­i­can style, is not a promis­ing model for an effec­tive solu­tion to human traf­fick­ing. There needs to be some very cre­ative think­ing put into this dilemma, and a search for solu­tions which do not put gen­uine refugees at risk. 

Immi­gra­tion deten­tion, if and when we decide it is unavoid­able, remains prob­lem­atic in many ways (see para­graph 9 to fol­low). From a finan­cial per­spec­tive, off­shore deten­tion is the least ratio­nal of all solu­tions. Sup­port­ing asy­lum seek­ers finan­cially onshore, either embed­ded within the nor­mal com­mu­nity or in closed deten­tion, does imply sig­nif­i­cant gov­ern­men­tal expen­di­ture, espe­cially when they are barred from employ­ment. How­ever this appar­ent expen­di­ture is recy­cled directly into the Aus­tralian com­mu­nity through the pur­chase of goods and ser­vices. The money goes around, which is what pro­vides the momen­tum for every­thing we do in a national econ­omy. A national econ­omy is not anal­o­gous to an individual’s house­hold bud­get (a point which less sophis­ti­cated vot­ers never grasp). Off­shore deten­tion in for­eign coun­tries does not gen­er­ate any­thing like the same stim­u­la­tion through recy­cling into the Aus­tralian econ­omy. A large part of the fund­ing haem­or­rhages as for­eign exchange expen­di­ture – a net loss. 

source: Mur­ray 2013 (see read­ing list)

9. Mak­ing sense of immi­gra­tion deten­tion

a) Where the Aus­tralian gov­ern­ment is involved in immi­gra­tion deten­tion of some kind, off­shore or onshore, there is also an intense need for cre­ative and humane solu­tions. It is no kind of  “solu­tion” to mul­ti­ply the psy­cho­log­i­cal dam­age accu­mu­lated by refugees by ware­hous­ing them under puni­tive con­di­tions. These peo­ple are not crim­i­nals, and it would be use­ful in Aus­tralian law to make it ille­gal to refer to them as crim­i­nals.

b) For those asy­lum seek­ers who are even­tu­ally given per­ma­nent res­i­dence in Aus­tralia, it is in the national inter­est that they enter as sta­ble and opti­mistic indi­vid­u­als, not peo­ple psy­cho­log­i­cally crip­pled from years of unpre­dictable, puni­tive incar­cer­a­tion. Where they are involved in a wait­ing period it would make absolute eco­nomic and human­i­tar­ian sense to have them involved in pro­duc­tive activ­i­ties which exer­cise or develop their skills.

c) For those asy­lum seek­ers whom the Aus­tralian gov­ern­ment does decline to accept into a human­i­tar­ian pro­gram, it is impor­tant both for com­mon decency and for Australia’s “soft power” rep­u­ta­tion that they be turned away in good con­di­tion and with­out a life­long resent­ment of this nation. After all, the Mid­dle East­ern wars in which Aus­tralia has med­dled hope­lessly for a decade have all con­tained a large ele­ment of blow­back based on local resent­ment from ear­lier, poorly con­ceived poli­cies. It would be in Australia’s inter­est to actively help these indi­vid­u­als to find and accept the best avail­able solu­tions to their per­sonal prob­lems.

Ref­er­ences

ABC (3 Feb­ru­ary 2014) “Human Rights Com­mis­sion to assess wel­fare of chil­dren in immi­gra­tion deten­tion”. Aus­tralian Broad­cast­ing Com­mis­sion web­site, online @ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014–02-03/human-rights-inquiry-into-asylum-children-in-detention/5233496

Aljazeera (24 Jul 2013) “Aus­tralia to probe refugee rape claims in PNG – Manus Island off­shore-pro­cess­ing camp claims emerge as PM defends new Papua New Guinea pol­icy in wake of boat tragedy.” Aljazeera news­pa­per, online @ http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/07/201372451716209209.html

Amnesty Inter­na­tional (2014) “Migrants and Refugees”. Amnesty Inter­na­tional web­site, online @ http://www.amnesty.org/en/refugees-and-migrants

Anto­lak, Ryszard (n.d.) “Iran and the Pol­ish Exo­dus from Rus­sia 1942”. Pars Times web­site, online @ http://www.parstimes.com/history/polish_refugees/exodus_russia.html

Aston, Heath (Novem­ber 16, 2013) “A hard fact to fol­low – An asy­lum seeker who was moved off Nauru to give birth has been kept away from her new­born.” The Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/a-hard-fact-to-follow-20131116-2xn65.html#ixzz2ko2xmLCK

Aus­tralia, Depart­ment of Immi­gra­tion (2013) “Asy­lum Sta­tis­tics – March Quar­ter 2013”. Fed­eral Depart­ment of Immi­gra­tion, online @ http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/asylum/_files/asylum-stats-march-quarter-2013.pdf

Aus­tralia, Depart­ment of Immi­gra­tion (2012) “Asy­lum Sta­tis­tics – March Quar­ter 2012”. Fed­eral Depart­ment of Immi­gra­tion, online @ https://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/asylum/_files/asylum-stats-march-quarter-2012.pdf

Aus­tralia, Depart­ment of Immi­gra­tion (2013) “Fact Sheet 86 – Over­stay­ers and Other Unlaw­ful Non-cit­i­zens”. Com­mon­wealth of Aus­tralia web­site, online @ http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/86overstayers-and-other-unlawful-non-citizens.htm

Aus­tralian Human Rights Com­mis­sion (2014) “Asy­lum Seek­ers & Refugees”. AHRC web­site, online @ https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/asylum-seekers-and-refugees

Aus­tralian Human Rights Com­mis­sion (2014) “Immi­gra­tion Deten­tion and Human Rights “. AHRC web­site, online @ https://www.humanrights.gov.au/immigration-detention-and-human-rights

Babon, Andrea (23 July 2013) “What life can a reset­tled refugee expect in PNG?” The­Con­ver­sa­tion web­site, online @ http://theconversation.com/what-life-can-a-resettled-refugee-expect-in-png-16297

Bachelard, Michael (Jan­u­ary 11, 2014} “He knocked at the front door only to have it slammed in his face”. Syd­ney Morn­ing Her­ald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/national/he-knocked-at-the-front–door-only-to-have-it-slammed-in-his-face-20140110-30mkf.html#ixzz2q2WQIeAM

Bachelard, Michael (Novem­ber 8, 2013) “Mid-ocean stand-off as Aus­tralian cus­toms ves­sel tries to turn back asy­lum seeker boat to Indone­sia” The Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/midocean-standoff-as-australian-customs-vessel-tries-to-turn-back-asylum-seeker-boat-to-indonesia-20131107-2x4qs.html#ixzz2k0NDq0ya

Bachelard, Michael (Feb­ru­ary 6, 2014) “Aus­tralia turns back sixth boat car­ry­ing asy­lum seek­ers”. Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-turns-back-sixth-boat-carrying-asylum-seekers-20140206-323u7.html#ixzz2safbn0ha

Bachelard, Michael (Feb­ru­ary 7, 2014) “Wit­ness details burns claims”. Bris­bane Times, online @
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/witness-details-burns-claims-20140206-324pw.html#ixzz2sa0fPmh5

Baker, Mark (Jan­u­ary 18, 2014) “The human tide.” Syd­ney Morn­ing Her­ald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/world/the-human-tide-20140113-30pbc.html#ixzz2qhdu4XiN

Billings­ley, Anthony (30 Octo­ber 2013) “Mutual mis­ery: the Syr­ian refugee cri­sis, Lebanon and Aus­tralia”. The­Con­ver­sa­tion web­site, online @ http://theconversation.com/search?q=refugee

Birm­ing­ham, John (Jan­u­ary 21, 2014) “The Bal­lad of Admi­ral Mor­rison”. The Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/blogs/blunt-instrument/the-ballad-of-admiral-morrison-20140121-315c0.html#ixzz2qzA3XBMU

Bris­bane Times (25 Jan­u­ary 2013) “Top 20 Queens­land sub­urbs with over­seas-born res­i­dents”.  The Bris­bane Times, online @ https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=218216393830428101562.0004d3f013e518cbf4c70&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=-27.551199,153.021698&spn=0.106536,0.205994&z=12&source=embed

Broomhall, Susan (21 Jan­u­ary 2014) “The asy­lum seek­ers who fright­ened Eliz­a­bethan Eng­land”. The­Con­ver­sa­tion web­site, online @ http://theconversation.com/the-asylum-seekers-who-frightened-elizabethan-england-21743  

Brum­mitt, Chris (May 9, 2013) “40 years on, flee­ing Viet­namese take to seas again”. ReporterOn­line web­site, online @
http://www.thereporteronline.com/article/RO/20130509/NEWS05/130509509

Chan, Gabrielle (2 Sep­tem­ber 2013)”Asylum seek­ers in Aus­tralia fall by more than half in a month, says Burke  – Boat arrivals in August totalled 1,585, down from 4,236 in July, after announce­ment of ‘PNG solu­tion’”. The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/02/asylum-seeker-numbers-fall-tony-burke

Chan, Gabrielle (6 August 2013) “Asy­lum seek­ers can ‘set­tle and reside’ in Nauru but can’t become cit­i­zens –  Kevin Rudd clar­i­fies the agree­ment signed with Nauru after a Nau­ruan spokesman report­edly con­tra­dicted PM’s posi­tion.” The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/06/no-nauru-citizenship-for-asylum-seekers

Child­Out (8 Decem­ber 2013) “Dar­win Deten­tion : Dam­ag­ing Chil­dren”. Child­out web­site, online @ http://www.chilout.org/

Chulov, Mar­tin and Har­riet Grant (14 Jan­u­ary 2014 ) “EU must open doors to avoid Syr­ian refugee cat­a­stro­phe, says UN”. The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/13/syrian-refugee-catastrophe-european-union-united-nations

Cox, Emma (29 Jan­u­ary 2014) “Refuge and refusal: why the­atre about asy­lum seek­ers mat­ters”. The­Con­ver­sa­tion web­site, online @ http://theconversation.com/refuge-and-refusal-why-theatre-about-asylum-seekers-matters-21640

Crock and Ghezel­bash (25 Jul 2013) “What is a per­se­cuted Ira­nian to do?” The Drum, ABC web­site, online @ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013–07-24/ghezelbash-crock-making-iranian-refugees-disappear-by-decree/4840158

Dast­yari, Azadeh (18 July 2013) “Explainer: Australia’s oblig­a­tions under the UN Refugee Con­ven­tion”. The­Con­ver­sa­tion web­site, online @ http://theconversation.com/explainer-australias-obligations-under-the-un-refugee-convention-16195

Dou­glas, Robert (18 Decem­ber 2013) “See­ing refugee flows in a broader con­text points to a bet­ter way”. The­Con­ver­sa­tion web­site, online @ http://theconversation.com/seeing-refugee-flows-in-a-broader-context-points-to-a-better-way-21499

DrMemex (13 Jun 2008) “Escape From Woomera”. [demo walk­through of ‘Escape From Woomera’, an impor­tant Aus­tralian polit­i­cal game mod]. Youtube video, online @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYRJmQvXWSs

ECRE (2014) “Refugees in the Euro­pean Union”. Euro­pean Coun­cil on Refugees and Exiles web­site, online @ http://ecre.org/refugees/refugees/refugees-in-the-eu.html

Ever­shed, Nick (28 August 2012) “Where are Australia’s refugees and skilled migrants com­ing from?” The Guardian, online @
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/aug/28/australian-migration-refugees-map

Far­rell, Paul (7 Feb­ru­ary 2014) “Coali­tion finds fresh way to bring back tem­po­rary visas for asy­lum seek­ers”. The Guardian, online @
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/07/coalition-finds-backdoor-way-to-reintroduce-temporary-visas-to-refugees

Far­rell, Paul (7 Feb­ru­ary 2014) “ABC asy­lum seeker report­ing makes me ‘sick to stom­ach’, says David John­ston. – Defence min­is­ter says corporation’s ‘attack’ on Aus­tralian navy made him so angry he needed time to cool off”. The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/07/abc-asylum-seeker-reporting-makes-me-stick-to-stomach-says-david-johnston

Far­rell, Paul and Oliver Laugh­land (24 Octo­ber 2013) “Claims of sex­ual assault rife in immi­gra­tion deten­tion, reports show  Dozens of seri­ous alle­ga­tions have been made by staff, adults and chil­dren in deten­tion cen­tres, accord­ing to inci­dent reports”. The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/24/claims-sexual-assault-immigration-detention  

Far­rell, Paul (30 Jan­u­ary 2014). “Asy­lum seek­ers who swear or spit could be sent off­shore, says leaked warn­ing”. The Guardian online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/30/asylum-seekers-who-swear-or-spit-could-be-sent-offshore-says-leaked-warning

Fit­ton, Daniel (July 19, 2013) “Num­bers don’t lie: PNG solu­tion flawed”. The Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/numbers-dont-lie-png-solution-flawed-20130719-2q8yr.html#ixzz2ZX3WSKBK

Flit­ton, Daniel  and Michael Gor­don (May 23, 2013) “ASIO backs down on threat rul­ing”.  Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/asio-backs-down-on-threat-ruling-20130522-2k0uz.html#ixzz2U4O8EEcf

Gawenda, Michael (Jan­u­ary 18, 2014) “A land of ghosts”. Syd­ney Morn­ing Her­ald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/world/a-land-of-ghosts-20140113-30pbe.html#ixzz2qhk6hAcV 

Gold­ing, Daniel (2 Sep­tem­ber 2013) “Videogames and pol­i­tics: Why was Escape From Woomera so divi­sive?” Aus­tralian Broad­cast­ing Com­mis­sion, Arts site, online @ http://www.abc.net.au/arts/blog/Daniel-Golding/videogames-politics-Escape-From-Woomera-130901/default.htm

Gor­don, Michael (Feb­ru­ary 7, 2014) “No trans­parency or effort to estab­lish facts about asy­lum seek­ers’ abuse alle­ga­tions”. The Bris­bae Times, online @
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/no-transparency-or-effort-to-establish-facts-about-asylum-seekers-abuse-allegations-20140206-324po.html

Gor­don, Michael ( Jan­u­ary 28, 2014) “Christ­mas Island detainees vul­ner­a­ble: Sen­a­tor Han­son-Young”. Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/christmas–island-detainees-vulnerable-senator-hansonyoung-20140127-31iy1.html#ixzz2re3IRbUG

Grant, Har­riet and John Domokos (14 Jan­u­ary 2014) “The refugee chal­lenge: can you break into Fortress Europe?” The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/ng-interactive/2014/jan/refugee-choices-interactive

Hall, Bianca (April 30, 2013) “‘Ashamed to be Aus­tralian’: doc­tor slams Manus Island cen­tre”. Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/ashamed-to-be-australian-doctor-slams-manus-island-centre-20130429-2iov1.html#ixzz2RtiQ6jd5

Hall, Bianca (Jan­u­ary 26, 2014) “Navy exam­i­nes staff links to racist group.” Syd­ney Morn­ing Her­ald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/national/navy-examines-staff-links-to-racist-group-20140125-31fbr.html#ixzz2rSKt9oaz

Hall, Bianca (Jan­u­ary 5, 2013) “Smug­gled pho­tos shed light on real­i­ties of Manus”. The Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/smuggled-photos-shed-light-on-realities-of-manus-20130104-2c8w0.html#ixzz2H3cLmglZ

Hall, Bianca (July 27, 2013) “In Deep Waters”. Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/in-deep-waters-20130726-2qq3x.html#ixzz2aCO9QuCq

Hall, Bianca (Octo­ber 20, 2013) “Min­is­ter wants boat peo­ple called ille­gals”. The Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/minister-wants-boat-people-called-illegals-20131019-2vtl0.html#ixzz2iDOHXD26

Hakimzadeh, Shirin (2006) “Iran: A Vast Dias­pora Abroad and Mil­lions of Refugees at Home”. MigrationInformation.org web­site, online @
http://www.migrationinformation.org/profiles/display.cfm?ID=424

Hartcher, Peter (July 23, 2013) “Stop the boats but not the peo­ple.” The Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/stop-the-boats-but-not-the-people-20130722-2qeqj.html#ixzz2Zp8iyDTO

Human Rights Com­mis­sion (Wednes­day 28 Novem­ber 2001 to Thurs­day 13 May 2004) “National Inquiry into Chil­dren in Immi­gra­tion Deten­tion”. Aus­tralian

Human Rights Com­mis­sion web­site, online @ http://www.humanrights.gov.au/national-inquiry-children-immigration-detention

Hunter, Emma (21 Novem­ber 2013) “My expe­ri­ence as a nurse on Christ­mas Island changed the core of my being”. The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/21/my-experience-as-a-nurse-on-christmas-island-changed-the-core-of-my-being?CMP=ema_632

Hurst, Daniel (29 Jan­u­ary 2014) “Tony Abbott attacks ABC for ‘tak­ing everyone’s side but Australia’s’ Prime min­is­ter takes issue with national broadcaster’s report­ing on asy­lum seeker claims and ‘trai­tor’ Edward Snow­den”. The Guardian online @ http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/29/tony-abbott-attacks-abc-for-taking-everyones-side-but-australias

Hurst, Daniel (31 Jan­u­ary 2014) “Asy­lum-seeker inquiry: cus­toms ‘don’t give a damn’ about media cov­er­age”. The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/31/asylum-seeker-inquiry-customs-dont-give-damn-media-coverage?CMP=ema_632

IRC (2014) “Fre­quently Asked Ques­tions About Refugees and Reset­tle­ment”. Inter­na­tional Res­cue Com­mit­tee web­site, online @ http://www.rescue.org/frequently-asked-questions-about-refugees-and-resettlement

Karim, K (Jan­u­ary 27, 2014) “Help me to immi­grate and take 4000 AUD imme­di­ately”. Air­Tasker web­site, online @ https://www.airtasker.com/tasks/help-me-to-immigrate-and-take-4000-aud-immediately

Kenny, Mark and Michael Bachelard (Jan­u­ary 25, 2014) “Probe into asy­lum seeker burns claim stalls.” Syd­ney Morn­ing Her­ald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/probe-into-asylum-seeker-burns-claim-stalls-20140124-31ecc.html#ixzz2rMTfu7A9

Kenny, Mark (Jan­u­ary 31, 2014) “Morrison’s con­vic­tion in the face of anger”. Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/morrisons-conviction-in-the-face-of-anger-20140131-31szj.html

Kesten­baum, David (Feb­ru­ary 21, 2013) “Three Ways To Totally Trans­form U.S. Immi­gra­tion Pol­icy”. National Pub­lic Radio (U.S.A.), online @ http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/02/21/172501563/three-ways-to-totally-transform-u-s-immigration-policy

Lar­son, Krista (Feb­ru­ary 13, 2014) “‘Eth­nic cleans­ing’ fears in Cen­tral African Repub­lic”. Syd­ney Morn­ing Her­ald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/world/ethnic-cleansing-fears-in-central-african-republic-20140213-hvc55.html#ixzz2t9YP51js

Laugh­land, Oliver (20 July 2013) “Nauru deten­tion cen­tre burns down –  Riot destroys most of asy­lum-seeker pro­cess­ing facil­ity on island, with detainees being moved to sec­ond, incom­plete site.” The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/20/nauru-detention-centre-burns-down

Laugh­land, Oliver and Asher Wolf (12 Feb­ru­ary 2014) “Asy­lum seek­ers: con­sul­tancy behind graphic cam­paign holds $2m con­tract”. The Guardian online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/12/asylum-seekers-consultancy-graphic-2m-contract

Laugh­land, Oliver (23 Sep­tem­ber 2013) “Scott Mor­rison defends vow of silence on asy­lum seeker boat arrivals”. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/23/scott-morrison-border-policy

Laugh­land, Oliver with Paul Far­rell and Nick Ever­shed (7 Jan­u­ary 2014) “Manus Island reports reveal four months of suf­fer­ing for asy­lum seek­ers”. The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2014/jan/06/manus-detention-reports-four-months#undefined

Laugh­land, Oliver (11 Feb­ru­ary 2014) “Aus­tralian gov­ern­ment tar­gets asy­lum seek­ers with graphic cam­paign”. The Guardian, online @
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/11/government-launches-new-graphic-campaign-to-deter-asylum-seekers

May, Thor (1984) “The Price of Free­dom”. [true story of an escape by boat from Viet­nam]. Academia.edu web­site, online @ http://www.academia.edu/2430900/The_Price_of_Freedom_..the_true_story_of_a_Vietnamese_military_officers_escape_from_Vietnam_and_its_aftermath

Minas, Harry (8 Octo­ber 2013) “Get­ting the facts about refugee and migrant men­tal health in Aus­tralia”. The­Con­ver­sa­tion web­site, online @ http://theconversation.com/getting-the-facts-about-refugee-and-migrant-mental-health-in-australia-18902  

Mor­ton, Rick (Decem­ber 20, 2013) “Scott Mor­rison revokes cap on pro­tec­tion visas”. The Aus­tralian, online @
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/scott-morrison-revokes-cap-on-protection-visas/story-fn9hm1gu-1226787280842

Mur­phy, Cather­ine (March 5, 2013) “Free-for-all on for­eign­ers as lead­ers chase votes”. Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/freeforall-on-foreigners-as-leaders-chase-votes-20130305-2fhwh.html  

Mur­phy, Katharine (Jan­u­ary 24, 2014) “Coali­tion trum­pets bor­der pro­tec­tion suc­cess after no boat arrivals in 36 days.” The Guardian, online @
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/24/coalition-border-protection-success-no-boat-arrivals–36-days

Mur­ray, Glenn (Octo­ber 29, 2013) “The facts about ‘boat peo­ple’ – The gov­ern­ment & media are lying”. [con­tains some very explana­tory graphs] GlennMurray.com.au blog, online @ http://www.glennmurray.com.au/australia-boat-people-illegal-policy/

Need­ham, Kirsty (Octo­ber 3, 2011) “Surge in num­bers of Ira­nian boat arrivals”. The Age, online @ http://www.theage.com.au/national/surge-in-numbers-of-iranian-boat-arrivals-20111002-1l3x1.html

Nor­ton, Andrew (2010) “Sym­pa­thy and Scep­ti­cism on Refugees”. [note: this web­site is the source of the image show­ing atti­tudes in 2010 ] Per­sonal blog, online @ http://andrewnorton.info/2010/11/02/sympathy-and-scepticism-on-refugees/

Per­sian Tri­bune (June 3, 2013) “Canada to Wel­come 5,000 Ira­nian and Iraqi refugees Now in Turkey”. Per­sian Tri­bune Web­site, online @
http://www.persiantribune.ca/728/politics/canada-to-welcome-5000-iranian-and-iraqi-refugees-now-in-turkey

Phillips, Melissa (16 Novem­ber 2013) “Out­sourcing refugee pol­icy: the Aus­tralia-Indone­sia ‘peo­ple swap’”. The­Con­ver­sa­tion web­site, online @ http://theconversation.com/outsourcing-refugee-policy-the-australia-indonesia-people-swap-20333

Power, Julie (Feb­ru­ary 25, 2013) “Sur­vivors grab chance to help refugees adjust”. The Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/survivors-grab-chance-to-help-refugees-adjust-20130224-2eznh.html

Refugee Coun­cil of Aus­tralia (2013) “Sta­tis­ti­cal Pub­li­ca­tions and Tools”. Refugee Coun­cil of Aus­tralia web­site, online @ http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/r/stat-pub.php

Refugee Coun­cil of Aus­tralia (2013) “Global Refugee Sta­tis­tics”. Refugee Coun­cil of Aus­tralia web­site, online @ https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/r/stat-int.php

Reilly, Alex (20 August 2013) “FactCheck: are Australia’s refugee accep­tance rates high com­pared with other nations?” The­Con­ver­sa­tion web­site, online @ http://theconversation.com/factcheck-are-australias-refugee-acceptance-rates-high-compared-with-other-nations-17151

Reuters (Feb­ru­ary 7, 2014) “1100 migrants res­cued off coast of Sicily”. Syd­ney Morn­ing Her­ald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/world/1100-migrants-rescued-off-coast-of-sicily-20140207-hvbj7.html#ixzz2saapRuDr

Reuters (Feb­ru­ary 4, 2014) “UN appeals for Sahel aid as con­flict, cli­mate change take their toll”. Syd­ney Morn­ing Her­ald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/un-appeals-for-sahel-aid-as-conflict-climate-change-take-their-toll-20140204-31xye.html#ixzz2sJ6zDOZq

Siegel, Matt (Novem­ber 10, 2011) “Risk­ing It All to Reach Aus­tralia”. The New York Times, online @ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/world/asia/some-iranians-risk-it-all-to-reach-australia.html?pagewanted=all

Sig­ona, Nando (4 Octo­ber 2013) “Italy ignores real cause of Lampe­dusa refugee tragedy”. The­Con­ver­sa­tion web­site, online @ http://theconversation.com/italy-ignores-real-cause-of-lampedusa-refugee-tragedy-18928

Spinks, Har­riet (5 Feb­ru­ary 2013) “Des­ti­na­tion any­where? Fac­tors affect­ing asy­lum seek­ers’ choice of des­ti­na­tion coun­try”. Par­lia­ment of Aus­tralia, Social Pol­icy Sec­tion, Research Paper no. 1 2012–13, online @ http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1213/13rp01

Stephens, Kim ( August 17, 2013) “Queens­land reflects on its slav­ery past”. The Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-reflects-on-its-slavery-past-20130816-2s2bn.html#ixzz2cAYerJbj

Stew­art, Cameron and Paige Tay­lor (July 18, 2013) “Bor­der patrols at break­ing point over asy­lum boats”. The Aus­tralian, online @ http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/border-patrols-at-breaking-point-over-asylum-boats/story-fn9hm1gu-1226681034941

Tay­lor, Lenore (20 June 2013) “Julia Gillard work­ing on ‘regional solu­tion’ to slow asy­lum boats –  Gov­ern­ment rethinks asy­lum seeker pol­icy as back­benchers warn of polit­i­cal con­se­quences”. The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/20/julia-gillard-regional-solution-boats

Tay­lor, Lenore (4 Decem­ber 2013) “Scott Mor­rison uses min­is­te­rial decree to halt per­ma­nent pro­tec­tion visas –  Asy­lum advo­cates label move that will leave about 33,000 peo­ple on bridg­ing visas with­out work­ing rights ‘heart­break­ing’”. The Guardian, online @  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/04/scott-morrison-uses-ministerial-decree-to-halt-permanent-protection-visas

Tay­lor, Lenore and Oliver Laugh­land (16 Decem­ber 2013) “Asy­lum seek­ers liv­ing in Aus­tralia forced to sign code of con­duct –  Code of con­duct threat­ens can­cel­la­tion of visa and trans­fer to off­shore pro­cess­ing if asy­lum seek­ers fail to meet oblig­a­tions.” The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/16/asylum-seekers-living-in-australia-forced-to-sign-code-of-conduct?CMP=ema_632

Teno­rio, Robert (Sep 17 2013) “232 Mil­lion Peo­ple Left Their Coun­tries for New Ones—Where Did They Go?” http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/232-million-people-left-their-countries-for-new-ones-where-did-they-go/279741/  

The Royal Soci­ety (April 24, 2013) “Orig­i­nal Aus­tralians num­bered 1000 to 3000”. The Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/technology-news/original-australians-numbered-1000-to-3000–20130424-2ie2u.html#ixzz2RNEtl5Yu

UNHCR (2014) “2014 UNHCR coun­try oper­a­tions pro­file – Europe”. United Nations Refugee Agency web­site, online @ http://www.unhcr.org/pages/4a02d9346.html

Vasi­lyeva, Nataliya (Novem­ber 5, 2013) “Anti-immi­grant nation­al­ists rally in Moscow”. The Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/world/antiimmigrant-nationalists-rally-in-moscow-20131105-2wxse.html#ixzz2jilvPH2A

Whyte, Sarah (Feb­ru­ary 4, 2014) “ASIO warned over block­ing refugee access to lawyers.” http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/asio-warned-over-blocking-refugee-access-to-lawyers-20140204-31yj6.html#ixzz2sLwvREKg

Whyte, Sarah (Feb­ru­ary 11, 2014) “Greens, Labor aim to kill off new tem­po­rary visa”. Syd­ney Morn­ing Her­ald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/greens-labor-aim-to-kill-off-new-temporary-visa-20140210-32cnq.html#ixzz2syPUwo9z

Wikipedia (2014) “Immi­gra­tion to Aus­tralia”. Wikipedia online @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Australia

Wikipedia (2014) “Asy­lum in the United States”. Wikipedia online @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylum_in_the_United_States

Wikipedia (2014) “Refugee”. Wikipedia, online @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee

Wikipedia (2014) “Tem­po­rary Pro­tec­tion Visa (Aus­tralia)”. Wikipedia Web­site, online @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporary_protection_visa

Wikipedia (2014) “Viet­namese Boat Peo­ple”. [ The num­ber of boat peo­ple leav­ing Viet­nam and arriv­ing safely in another coun­try totalled almost 800,000 between 1975 and 1995 … Accord­ing to the United Nations High Com­mis­sion for Refugees, between 200,000 and 400,000 boat peo­ple died at sea …]

Wikipedia, online @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_boat_people

Wikipedia (2014) “Asy­lum in Aus­tralia”. Wikipedia, online @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylum_in_Australia

Wood, Stephanie (Decem­ber 16, 2013) “Abbott sacks asy­lum seeker health advis­ers.” The Bris­bane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-sacks-asylum-seeker-health-advisers-20131215-2zfg8.html#ixzz2naDLAdDD

Wroe, David (Jan­u­ary 10, 2014) “Turn-back angers Indone­sia.” Syd­ney Morn­ing Her­ald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/turnback-angers-indonesia-20140109-30kkh.html#ixzz2pwn85s5o

Wroe, David (Feb­ru­ary 11, 2014) “Lifeboats used to send asy­lum seek­ers back to Indone­sia only used once”. Syd­ney Morn­ing Her­ald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/lifeboats-used-to-send-asylum-seekers-back-to-indonesia-only-used-once-20140210-32cvc.html#ixzz2sxrl4q2F

The source of this doc­u­ment:

mee­tup group: Gen­tle Thinkers http://www.meetup.com/Gentle-Thinkers/

dis­cus­sion top­ics blog (for the list of pro­posed top­ics): http://discussiontopics.thormay.net/

top­ics already dis­cussed: http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/DiscussionTopics/DiscussionIndex.htm

 com­ments: Thor May – thormay@yahoo.com;

Thor’s own web­sites: 1. arti­cles at http://independent.academia.edu/ThorMay ; 2. main site: http://thormay.net

Pro­fes­sional bio: Thor May has a core pro­fes­sional inter­est in cog­ni­tive lin­guis­tics, at which he has rarely suc­ceeded in mak­ing a liv­ing. He has also, per­haps fatally in a career sense, cul­ti­vated an inter­est in how things work – peo­ple, brains, sys­tems, coun­tries, machi­nes, what­ever… In the world of daily employ­ment he has mostly taught Eng­lish as a for­eign lan­guage, a stim­u­lat­ing activ­ity though rarely regarded as a pro­fes­sion by the world at large. His PhD dis­ser­ta­tion, Lan­guage Tan­gle, dealt with lan­guage teach­ing pro­duc­tiv­ity. Thor has been teach­ing Eng­lish to non-native speak­ers, train­ing teach­ers and lec­tur­ing lin­guis­tics, since 1976. This work has taken him to seven coun­tries in Ocea­nia and East Asia, mostly with ter­tiary stu­dents, but with a cou­ple of detours to teach sec­ondary stu­dents and young chil­dren. He has trained teach­ers in Aus­tralia, Fiji and South Korea. In an ear­lier life, prior to becom­ing a teacher, he had a decade of find­ing his way out of work­ing class ori­gins, through unskilled jobs in Aus­tralia, New Zealand and finally Eng­land (after back­pack­ing across Asia in 1972). 

con­tact: http://thormay.net    thormay@yahoo.com

aca­d­e­mic repos­i­tory: Academia.edu at http://independent.academia.edu/ThorMay
dis­cus­sion: Thor’s Unwise Ideas at http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/unwisendx.html

How can we treat refugees humanely? © Thor May 2014