Subject:
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Re: Views on asylum seekers?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 4 Sep 2001 03:40:42 GMT
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Viewed:
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385 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Ross Crawford writes:
> And where do they get housed while they're waiting for a house to become
> available / be built. Remember we're not talking 438 anymore, but maybe
> millions. And Australias problem isn't limited to 438 either - they've been
> coming here illegally for years. The only difference this time was that the
> ship was contacted before entering Australian waters, and asked to stay away.
> The captain refused.
As I understand the situation, Australian search and rescue informed nearby
ships (including the Tampa, a Norwegian cargo freighter) that an Indonesian
vessel was in distress. The Tampa picked up the refugees from their sinking
boat in the Indonesian search and rescue zone at a location that was
considerably closer to Christmas Island (an Australian territory) than any
Indonesian port. The captain of the Tampa asked Australian authorities what
he should do, and they gave no clear direction -- so given that the refugees
he had just rescued were (a) in medical need, (b) unable to be accomodated
on a cargo ship and (c) threatening to throw themselves overboard if they
weren't taken to Australia, the Tampa sailed towards Christmas Island.
> > > A detention centre?
> >
> > No. That wouldn't be much of a welcome.
It's the welcome they receive now.
> snip snip
> We can only
> build and operate so many detention centres, so that accomodation suddenly
> disappears, and the refugee who's applied legally has to wait even longer. I
> don't think this is fair.
Why not just let them all live in the community at large? Why should they be
locked up like criminals?
> > > I'm happy to accept genuine refugees,
Of course, a lot turns on how you define the word "genuine". The present
Australian government would like a definition that is a lot more restrictive
than that of the UN treaty.
> > and if they make their application before entering the country, even though they may
> > have to wait a while,
I think a life-threatening journey that puts the few remaining members of
your family in debt for years would be an awful prospect: I suppose living
in a displaced persons camp on the Afghani-Pakistani border is just that
much worse. I'm not sure that filling out the correct forms and taking the
luck of the draw in a Western-government approved quota is too high on the
priority list.
> > > it allows the government to plan the extra accomodation needed. People who jump
> > > the queue in my book deserve no sympathy, refugee or not.
I'd be interested to see where this rhetoric of "the queue" first appeared.
It implies some sort of calm, orderly process, where pushing, begging and
desperation are a little unseemly. "The queue" sounds like a pleasant
alternative to the squalor of a refugee camp or detention centre.
> > What if they're starving or something? Don't some people have a valid reason
> > to jump queue or otherwise expedite the process?
>
> I find it hard to believe they'd be starving if they've just paid several
> thousand dollars for a place on one of these boats.
Leaving aside the question of economics, I can think of a few reasons why
even "wealthy" people might want to leave their home. Religious and ethnic
persecution come to mind.
On a more constructive note, hopefully, I think that these massive
migrations of people reflect the lack of opportunities that are afforded
them in their home countries. If developed economies put some more of their
effort into economic and humanitarian aid, there might be less of a need to
patrol borders so rigorously. I think Vietnam and South China are good
examples. As burdens of social repression have lifted people have not been
driven to other countries in the hope of finding a decent life.
--DaveL
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Views on asylum seekers?
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| (...) WHERE in the general community? Tents? Caravans? Maybe some can afford houses, but the houses still have to be found. There are currently many thousands in detention centres in Australia, and I dare say many thousands in other places waiting (...) (23 years ago, 5-Sep-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Views on asylum seekers?
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| (...) And where do they get housed while they're waiting for a house to become available / be built. Remember we're not talking 438 anymore, but maybe millions. And Australias problem isn't limited to 438 either - they've been coming here illegally (...) (23 years ago, 4-Sep-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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