My first comments described secondary movement asylum seekers as being asylum seekers who move from a first country of de facto asylum, moving long distances around the world through countries with little interest in persecuting them, in order to settle in affluent Western countries. The severe conditions occurring in a typical refugee camp were described and the question posed why refugees in such camps do not themselves become secondary movement asylum seekers.

My second comments noted that secondary movement asylum seekers have access to considerable financial resources compared to most of the world’s refugees, illustrated by the magnitude of the payment to people smugglers required by a large family group onboard sievx. The question was posed should secondary movement asylum seekers with substantial financial resources have taken precedence in Australia’s refugee program over refugees in much greater need in foreign refugee camps.

My third comments noted that 80% of secondary movement asylum seekers arrived in Australia without documentation, thus making verification of their stories of persecution a very time consuming, difficult and costly task. The extremely low acceptance rate of a group of secondary movement asylum seekers was noted when intercepted carrying documentation and processed under UNHCR procedures (as is done in refugee camps), contrasting greatly to the acceptance rates of secondary movement asylum seekers arriving without documentation when processed under Australia’s much more lenient legal procedures.

My fourth comments noted that people also leave dysfunctional third world societies for economic reasons, and that people smugglers attempt to bypass legal immigration controls by presenting economic migrants as asylum seekers. My fifth comments examined the Australian public’s attitudes to secondary movement asylum seekers and people smuggling, and noted that research indicated there was low public support for either apart from certain groups.

Open-minded readers can ascertain for themselves the “bigger picture” formed by the information presented, and can come to their own inferences and conclusions. However, consideration should be given to whether the information presented could at the least indicate that something was “not quite right” when Australia’s refugee program was captive to people smuggling and secondary movement asylum seekers.

Franklin

Notwithstanding Goebbels, no matter how often you repeat the mantra, it won't be any truer than the first time you said it.

Adrienne Millbank, a Monash University academic, wrote informative and well reasoned papers on asylum seeker issues. Her academic paper entitled “DARK VICTORY OR CIRCUIT BREAKER: AUSTRALIA AND THE INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE SYSTEM POST TAMPA “details the dysfunctionality of the international refugee system, in great part due to people smuggling and secondary movement asylum seekers. It is available for downloading at the following site:

http://elecpress.monash.edu.au/pnp/view/issue/?volume=11&issue=2

Also highly recommended by Adrienne Millbank is a research paper for the Social Policy Group of the Australian Government entitled “THE PROBLEM WITH THE 1951 REFUGEE CONVENTION”. It is available for downloading at the following site:

http://www.aph.gov.au/library/Pubs/rp/2000-01/01rp05.htm

Dr. Katharine Betts, an associate professor of sociology at Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria, has investigated and written at depth on Australian’s attitudes to immigration. An informative paper on the Australian public’s attitude to secondary movement asylum seekers is available at:

www.thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/tsc1203/article_1082.shtml

Alexander Casella was a senior official with the UNHCR and became a migration consultant. He wrote an informative paper entitled “Australia's asylum policy holds course” and a review of “Dark Victory” which can be found as following:

http://www.atimes.com/oceania/DF01Ah03.html

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/EJ25Aa01.html

Russell Skelton is an investigative journalist from “The Age” newspaper in Melbourne and spent some time in Afghanistan investigating the asylum seeker issue. Two confronting stories that he filed can be found as following:

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/11/12/1037080728677.html

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/08/22/1029114162991.html

Franklin

Thanks for the references.

One problem: I could not open the Betts paper - perhaps you have an incorrect address?

Another issue: Of the six papers I did open there was nothing more recent than 2003 and I've been through all that material years ago.

Can you recommend anything more up-to-date?