Refugee policy needs to be about more than boats

It was always very hard living in Malaysia. I never felt safe there because I knew that at any time I could be arrested, detained and then possibly sent back to Thailand and then to Burma. There were so many times I was stopped by police but, luckily for me, the police would always accept bribes not to arrest me. Usually I would have to pay them all the money I was carrying at the time.

We do know that by early December 2006, when the men were offered a deal to return to Malaysia, the idea of forcible return had been taken off the table, although we cannot be sure why. The final toned down offer was a choice between returning to Malaysia voluntarily, to be processed by Australian officials and with no guarantee of an Australian visa if they were found to be refugees, or remaining to be processed in Nauru with resettlement to be sought in any country but Australia. But by then it was well known that other countries were averse to resettling Australia's refugees from Nauru and the men would simply be made to wait, until they were broken in mind and spirit, before coming to Australia.

The Rohingya men made it clear that they did not feel safe to return to Malaysia. But one man did finally succumb to the offer when he could no longer bear the separation from his children, who were then facing extreme difficulty. He simply broke down under the pressure and I can still remember holding his fearful, shaking hand as we coincidentally flew out from Nauru on the same plane. His only solace was found in the surprisingly positive signals he was receiving that his application would be successful from Malaysia and from knowing that the Malaysian Government had at least promised to tell UNHCR if they decided to deport him.

But his fear of returning to Malaysia was fortunately short lived when he was processed with remarkable speed by Australian officials and flown to Australia with a permanent visa. The men remaining in Nauru were left confused, as they grappled with Australia’s illogical policies. A cable on 20 December discussed the return offer that had been made to the men as a deterrent:

In considering the options for these men the Australian Government is mindful of regional efforts to combat people smuggling and deter irregular people flows. (section removed) In this light consideration of the return of the Burmese to Malaysia was given prominence.

But the "message" transmitted from this man’s return and fast-tracked resettlement seemed at best to be murky and, if anything, was more likely to have provided an incentive for boat travel - get on a boat and we will take you to Nauru for a few months, then fly you back to Malaysia, before bringing you and your family to Australia for permanent resettlement.

The thinking behind the deal seems as warped as the back slapping that later went on when an agreement was reached to swap refugees from Nauru with Haitian and Cuban refugees in the US in 2007. When that deal had been announced the so called people smugglers assumed that resettlement in the US was imminent for the 83 Sri Lankan men in Nauru and they immediately started calling to demand their final "arrival at destination" payments. The "message" that went out then was that if you get on a boat to come to Australia you will be taken to Nauru and given a green card to reside in the US.

The Coalition has never been able to admit that its addiction to short term political fixes for boat arrivals had led it into a contorted mess of policies and actions that were ultimately ineffective and that simply toyed, cruelly, with the lives of vulnerable human beings.

We can only be grateful that the Rudd government spared us the cost of a detour flight to Malaysia when the remaining Rohingya men were finally resettled in Australia at the end of 2007. But when the politics of asylum seekers intensified earlier this year the Rudd government itself could not resist the same kind of panicked spasms that were now the familiar trademarks of the Howard era, including suspensions on processing and tough talk of rejecting applications.

All but a few on the extreme left, along with those on the right who apparently enjoy the political opportunities offered by boat arrivals, want the boats to stop coming. But history tells us that no matter how much our politicians push and shove these human beings and twist themselves into irrational actions and empty sloganeering, boat arrivals are not so easily controlled and lulls will be temporary.

For too long now Australians have been drawn, over and over, into an exchange of sensationalist barracking over the illogical and punitive policy options presented by both sides. All we talk about are the boats, while the wider problems that force people on to the seas are ignored and the vulnerable, persecuted people are pushed only into seeking out more dangerous options, if not here then somewhere else. There is little truth in much of the heated commentary that fills our media space and little that is useful for Australia.

Julia Gillard needs to lead us out of an ea of short term political reactions and offer us a broader and more courageous view that embraces the facts and the human realities and ignores the Opposition’s calls for a return to failed and illogical policies. Otherwise, it will be déjà vu all over again.

If we are so desperate to talk about refugees and asylum seekers then the debate we need to be having is about how the world’s most needy can access the protection that they need. Is that not stating the obvious? UNHCR estimates that only one in ten of the people currently needing resettlement will ever find it - so where should all the others go?

There is much that we can debate, much that Australia could contribute to seeking solutions for people stranded throughout the region, but we have to be capable of talking about much more than just the boats.