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The Forum > Article Comments > Asylum seekers: the uncertainty and the separation > Comments

Asylum seekers: the uncertainty and the separation : Comments

By Susan Metcalfe, published 22/10/2009

Australia should not be deliberately causing further harm to asylum seekers under any circumstances.

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Yesterday UNHCR released their report 'Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries' for the first half of 2009. The report noted that asylum applications in industrialized nations had risen by 10 percent in the first half of 2009 compared to the same period last year. High Commissioner António Guterres said, "These statistics show that ongoing violence and instability in some parts of the world force increasing numbers of people to flee and seek protection in safe countries...There is an acute need for countries to keep their asylum doors wide open to those who are in genuine need of international protection."
The evidence is overwhelming that the increase in boat arrivals we are seeing is the result of dramatic increases in people fleeing violence.

Susan Metcalfe
Posted by Susan M, Thursday, 22 October 2009 8:49:17 AM
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I do get just so sick of the rubbish these bleeding hearts expect us to swallow, when ever they prattle on about these illegals.

First they tell us that they are poor refugees, fleeing, starvation, torture, & persecution at home.

Then you tell us they are physiologically damaged, when we put them into a rest camp, while we try to find out just who the bl@@dy h@ll they are.

Give us a break love. For many of them, the living conditions in these centres are better than they have experienced at home, for most of their lives. They have food shelter, clothing, entertainment, & medical care, to a very high level. If it weren't for you bleeding hearts bleeting at them that they are being badly treated, many would happily stay in such luxury, for the rest of their lives.

Hell love, throw in a couple of cans of beer a day, & you would need much stronger fences. Not to stop the detainees breaking out, but to stop about 10% of our population, trying to get in, to experience such comfort.

Have you ever thought of getting a life, & perhaps a new violin?
Posted by Hasbeen, Thursday, 22 October 2009 10:18:20 AM
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Come on down to innovative Australia: holding the torch for new & creative ways to display hate and ignorance in the South Pacific ;-)
Posted by E.Sykes, Thursday, 22 October 2009 10:41:41 AM
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Susan Metcalf. What you are asking from the Australian Taxpayer is that we must be responsible for all and any refugees. I don't feel the resposibility is mine/ours. The responsibility rests with all governments to force countries like Sri Lanka, to accept responsibility for their own people. Perhaps with help from the likes of Australia.
You mention that medical attention is not the best in detention. Do you have your eyes closed, medical attention to Australians is not the best either, even though we pay through our taxes and pay into private health funds. Taxpayers who have to use Medicare are put on a list which could take months, and Medicare doesn't always cover health care. Our Aboriginals are faced with dreadful health care, do you think its OK to put illegals ahead of these people.
Most of the health problems for those in detention happened before they arrived here, but its much more news worthy to say we caused it. The refugees use this tactic to gain sympathy and force entry into this country.
If these so called refugees are Tamil Tigers then they should not be accepted into this country, they are Terrorists.
What our government should do instead of paying Asian countries to look after these people, they should be sent back to Sri Lanka and we should help that government rehouse and look after these people properly. They themselves have no qualms about beginning hazardous journeys with their children and expect everyone else to accept the responibility for their behaviour.
Posted by MAREELORRAINE, Thursday, 22 October 2009 11:32:36 AM
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E.Sykes

That foolish, offensive statement destroys your credibility in one go. You malign Australia for doing what all other countries are similarly doing, insisting on choosing who enters their borders to settle.

For umpteen years Australia has brought in new records of migrants and to the extent where its own population has had to accept a reduction in living standards as evidenced by continually high housing prices and high taxes to create new infrastructure for the burgeoning population of migrants and their extended families.

While you have the gall to suggest that Australians are racist, by far the greatest majority have willingly made way for new arrivals to displace themselves and their children in employment and flex their cultural traditions to make them feel accepted and comfortable. We even encourage multiculturalism - how many immigrants can say with any conviction that their country of origin does the same?

While you might scoff at the attempts by successive governments to deal with the crime of people smuggling and ensure only genuine refugees enter, you have no constructive solutions to offer. Again, many countries are in the same position as Australia and we are doing nothing different to them, except giving numerous opportunities and allowances for the frauds and criminals to take advantage of our humanity and generosity.

What about some constructive suggestions on how to deal effectively with countries that deliberately displace whole populations as an act of war or politics? What would you do to prevent people smuggling?
Posted by Cornflower, Thursday, 22 October 2009 11:35:52 AM
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Thanks for another well-written article, Susan. We need informed writers, such as yourself, to provide some balance and perspective to counter the fear and hate-driven misinformation and ignorance, which unfortunately dominates so much of OLO thinking when it comes to the vexed issue of asylum-seekers.

It is indeed timely to be reminded of the horrors and the ongoing legacy of Nauru - and of Howard's inept and immoral Pacific Solution - now that Kevin Rudd seems hell-bent on creating his very own 'Indonesian Solution'. The calm reassurances and the valuing of human dignity of our current immigration minister, Chris Evans, are very welcome, but are in grave danger of being over-ruled by the odds-each-way rhetoric and policy preferences of Kevin Rudd and his so-called 'tough but humane' approach.

If Australia is to offload its responsibilities onto Indonesia, it must greatly increase the assistance given to this populous and comparatively poor island nation to house and process the huge numbers of asylum-seekers it's being asked to deal with. Currently, the majority of asylum-seekers there face the truly awful choice - of either being left in limbo in appalling conditions for years on end - or of being deported back to danger.

We must also urge Indonesia to become a signatory to the Refugee Convention. The current government there seems to be acting decently, but there's no guarantee that will continue. We must also do more to monitor, pressure and assist governments in places like Sri Lanka to protect the rights of persecuted minorities so that they're not forced to flee their homeland for safety.

Hasbeen

Your sneering and patronizing tone only further reinforces your complete ignorance and disregard for the suffering being experienced by millions of displaced people throughout the world. Instead of telling well-informed people like Susan to get a life, why don't you venture out of your comfortable little existence for a change and find out what's really happening out there in the wider world.

BTW, quite apart from everything else about your posts, referring to female writers as 'love' truly stamps you as a dinosaur you are.
Posted by Bronwyn, Thursday, 22 October 2009 11:52:57 AM
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