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Morality, politics and asylum-seekers

By Scott MacInnes - posted Monday, 21 February 2011


In these and many other examples we have a choice: to give priority to the values we profess to live by or to betray our values in order to allay our irrational fears and to advance our personal or political interests. With regard to boat people, we have chosen the latter course, to our great shame.

Two things remain abundantly clear: the policies of both major parties are morally reprehensible and there is little prospect of them changing in the foreseeable future. What is now required from concerned citizens are alternative approaches that address not only the moral concerns but also the anxieties expressed by our fellow Australians.

Any realistic solution to this problem has to deal with both. The moral imperative is to ensure that we continue to provide a safe haven for asylum-seekers fleeing their country of origin and provide for the resettlement of genuine refugees. The political imperative is to stop the boats, put the people smugglers out of business and restore an orderly process, where people arriving on our shores gain no advantage over those waiting in refugee camps.

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No policy in the foreseeable future is likely to be ideal. Instead we will have to accept responsibility for a compromise. We need to honestly face the above realities of life in Australia, however unpalatable. Our efforts should be directed to looking for compromises that are more morally defensible and politically workable than the ones we have been living with for the past decade.

In that spirit, I offer the following proposals for discussion.

  1. Asylum-seekers who originate from countries in our immediate neighbourhood and arrive at our borders should have their applications processed in our community, after the necessary health and security checks.

    The same should apply to all those currently held in detention.

    There should be no ongoing mandatory detention.


  2. We should make it clear, through all possible means, that no future asylum-seekers from countries beyond our immediate neighbourhood who present at our borders will be settled in Australia, irrespective of their status.

    They must go through the same channels as the others we accept whose applications for refugee status are processed overseas.

    Such arrivals will be detained and deported without delay to countries with whom we reach agreements for this purpose.


  3. We should dramatically increase our baseline overall annual refugee/humanitarian intake to 0.125% of our total population, doubling our current commitment to about 27,500.

    Furthermore, we should agree to take an additional 5,000 refugees per annum from any country with whom we are involved in warfare, like Afghanistan.

    The above increases to our refugee intake would not affect the overall number of immigrants. It merely affects the mix.

    We should welcome these people with open arms, because all the evidence suggests they are likely to make a significant contribution to our community


  4. We must significantly boost our processing activities in UNHCR centres in the most appropriate countries (Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia) where asylum-seekers can apply for refugee status, under a clear process with minimum delays to reach our quotas.


  5. We will need to negotiate multi-lateral agreements with other countries to take the few asylum-seekers who will continue to arrive from other than neighbouring countries once our new policy becomes known. We could contribute to their resettlement or agree that for every one asylum-seeker they accept we will accept three refugees in return.

Although not ideal, the above reform package tries to make the best of our present moral and political malaise. It meets our primary obligation under the Refugee Convention to accept those fleeing persecution from neighbouring countries. It shows our compassion and commitment to alleviating the wider escalating world refugee problem by doubling our intake of people in need, providing they come through appropriate channels. It eliminates the preferential treatment of refugees who have the means to ‘queue jump’. It minimizes the risk of unsafe boat travel and eliminates the market for people smuggling, by sending a clear message about its futility and by facilitating access to speedier processing elsewhere. It ends the evils of mandatory detention.

One challenge will be convincing the UNHCR that, although Australia will remain in breach of its obligations under the Convention, this is a preferable option to the present unsatisfactory regime. There will be legal problems to overcome. It may also be difficult to persuade others to take responsibility for our ‘irregular’ arrivals when we should be accepting full responsibility for them ourselves.

If successful, however, such a policy might go some way to restore order and confidence in the process, take the heat out of the public debate and reduce the political opportunism that has resulted in policies that have so shamed our nation.

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And we just might arrive a little sooner at a point where those qualities of compassion, generosity and hospitality, so admirably shown to the victims of our bushfires and floods, are also extended to our treatment of asylum-seekers, who are in an even more perilous state.

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About the Author

Scott MacInnes has a background in teaching, law and conflict resolution. He is now retired and lives in Tasmania.

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