Howard Govt. Rudd Govt. Where's the Difference?

I know that I voted for Rudd because I wanted us to live up to our humanitarian obligations. We are a signatory to the United Nations Declaration that people have a right to seek asylum. I wanted asylum seekers not to be imprisoned, not to be treated as prisoners. I wanted us to stick up for Australian citizens imprisoned by other governments for political reasons, such as David Hicks was. I wanted us not to send back people who had spent all of their lives, bar a few years in Australia, to other countries out of convenience. We claim to be a multi-cultural society. We need to take the good and the bad with that.

Many asylum seekers work very hard to start afresh in a new country, and many are highly educated. We lack skilled workers in Australia, in all fields. Abbott (opposition leader) and others are using asylum seekers and immigration as a political hot potato. Yet, I do not believe that I was alone in voting for Rudd with the idea that he would be less draconian in his policies than Howard. He is an opportunist, but which politician isn't? And some things have changed in policy, but the opposition party claims that the prior governments policy of dealing with asylum seekers (lock em up, deny them legal access, send em back) was working and the would revert to it. Apparently Christmas Island detention centre is almost at capacity, and there is still a boat waiting in Indonesian waters. According to mainstream media surveys, the general public doesn't seem to have much sympathy towards asylum seekers, but neither does the mainstream media.

Why are people who have lived almost their whole lives being locked up, though? It is reminiscent of the Australian citizens (originally from Germany and the Philippines) who were locked up in detention centres and deported, under Howard, despite holding Australian passports.

As an aside, according to the UNCHR site, Iraqis, Afghanis and Somalis top the list of asylum seekers in the industrialized world (Oct 2009). Who, until recently, had troops in Iraq, and who still has them in Afghanistan? If we are going to contribute to destabilising the world, then we need to realise that there will be humanitarian consequences. We are a party to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and have been since 1951, also known as the Geneva Convention. We have global obligations, unless we want to become a rogue state and go alone. There is more information here, but that UNCHR site is the best source.

So the news story below shows that nothing has changed. The scary thing is, that this man has been held in a detention centre for 3 years, yet he has lived in Australia for 27 years and went through the Australian school system and so on. If he had become naturalised, I assume that his civil rights (I know we have no bill of rights in Australia) would be greatly abused by him being kept in detention for so long. The policy is misguided. If he has done wrong, try him by the Australian judicial system, which is the system that he has lived under for the majority of his life, anyway. The other thing, he is not alone. There are another five people in similar situations of prolonged detention - one for seven years. This policy of one rule for us, one rule for them - which I know has always been a policy towards immigrants and asylum seekers, and to a degree, some form of screening is necessary - will ultimately backfire. Whether your point of view be humanitarian, religiously humanitarian, in favour of democracy, or you just ascribe to decency, these policies fail those points of view without a doubt.

Man to be deported after 27 years in Oz

14:59 AEST Wed Mar 10 2010

By Karlis Salna

Authorities are seeking to deport a Cambodian-born man, raised and educated in Australia since arriving as a nine-year-old some 27 years ago.

The unidentified man does not want to return to Cambodia where six of his eight siblings are reported to have been killed.

He says he no longer has any family or other contacts in Cambodia.

A report by the Commonwealth and Immigration Ombudsman, tabled in the federal parliament on Wednesday, reveals his tragic past.

It includes time spent in jail, where he had a history of self-harm that continued after being placed in immigration detention.

In May 2009, a noose was discovered in his room at the Villawood Detention Centre where he has been for almost three years.

"He is recorded as having attempted self-harm a number of times when previously in gaol, including at least one attempt at hanging," according to the Ombudsman's assessment.

While the report concedes the man has not responded well to attempts at rehabilitation, it points out that having been in Australia for the majority of his life, he is basically a member of the community.

"It nevertheless remains relevant that Mr X came to Australia as a child of nine, was raised and educated here, and, despite his poor record as a member of the community, has been part of the Australian community for almost 27 years."

But despite having been here for much of his life, he is considered a non-citizen, and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship wants to "remove Mr X to Cambodia".

The ombudsman has recommended the man be considered for a suitable visa until a decision is made about his long-term immigration status.

He is one of seven individuals the Ombudsman has reported on.

Five of those included in the document have been in detention for more than three years, including one for almost seven years and another for five years and nine months.

Four of the detainees are being held at Villawood while the other three are in community detention.

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© AAP 2010

The news stories often disappear from Ninemsn, hence my duplicating it in full. A link has been provided.

the olive branch

A Palestinian walks next to an Israeli jeep with an olive tree on the lands of Jubbet ahd Dhib Theeb as part of a solidarity action to reclaim the lands in danger of confiscation by the settlers, on 01.02.1010. Around 20 Palestinians came to help farmers in a isolated area next to the settlement of Noqedim. 50 olive trees were planned to be planted but ithe [sic] solidarity action was stopped by settlers and Israeli soldiers. As soon as they started to plant, a car of armed settlers came with dogs and threatened the group, declaring that "this is our land". The Israeli army arrived and asked everybody to leave the area within 5 minutes, claiming that the owner should first go to the Civil administration to prove ownership. Journalists were also prevented to document. Palestinians living in this area are very isolated and subjected to constant harassment by the settlers. Photo by: Anne Paq/Activestills.org.

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A related story on the cutting down of olive trees by settlers.

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Further to the story below, there is a woman who is seven months pregnant on that boat. She was four months when the boat first entered Indonesian waters. Apparently the people on the boat are all highly skilled professionals, especially in the medical fields. Lord knows,Australia has a shortage of such individuals. A very good radio interview with one of the advocates can be heard here. It is the first interview of the programme.

these are human beings, they are not live cattle

Two Australian human rights workers recently expelled from Indonesia
Kevin Rudd was elected, I believe, not only because Australians were fed-up with the Howard government's inaction on environmental issues, but also because a sizable portion were disgusted with the Howard government's attitude towards people seeking asylum and the general erosion of human and civil rights masquerading as taking measure against terrorists. Some enhanced security is no doubt necessary, but not at the cost of deleting rights for all.

Well, initially it seemed Rudd was doing pretty well with the closure of processing centres in Narau and the abolishing of mandatory detention for most asylum seekers, and the abolishing of keeping children and women in detention camps. Christmas Island is still going strong, though, and there has been a stand-off with Tamil asylum seekers who refuse to leave a boat in Indonesian waters. The boat was intercepted at the request of the Australian government.

Our media just beats it up as an invasion of the hordes kind of issue. I have put the article in whole below, because, Ninemsn does not keep it's news up forever. As always, I go to the hard-hitting sites, right? Anyway, the last line from one of the refugee advocates really drives home how we should view the issue of asylum seekers, I think:

"These are human beings you know, they are not live cattle," Ms Curr said.

"The RSPCA would intervene if live cattle were being kept in these conditions."

This legendary generosity Australians are meant to have? As long as it's not in our backyard. But, with a less sensationalistic media slant and with a more human touch, the human would be acknowledged and accepted. Our times are probably softer than they were a thousand years ago. Softer in the sense of fairer, and more aware, more interested in human rights as outlined by the United Nations after the Second World War. I feel, however, that in many ways it is a far more intolerant and selfish world than it was say even twenty years ago. Mass media plays a large role in the fostering of such righteous ignorance I feel. After all, how many Australians actually know anything of the slaughter that just recently occurred in Sri Lanka and from which the Tamils were fleeing?


Deported Aussie says Indonesia fed up
17:13 AEST Sat Jan 30 2010
By Adam Gartrell

Two refugee activists deported from Indonesia say the Indonesian government is fed up with Australia's inaction on the asylum seeker standoff at Merak, and will never again intercept a boat at Canberra's request.

Saradha Nathan and Pamela Curr, who touched down in Sydney on Saturday morning, say the Indonesian government deported them as a warning to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to resolve the ethnic Tamils saga.

More than 240 asylum seekers were intercepted by Indonesia at Australia's request in October 2009, and do not want to come ashore because they fear they will be forced to wait years for resettlement.

They are refusing to disembark and have staged a hunger strike and threatened to torch their boat to draw attention to their plight.

Indonesia has asked for Australia's help to resolve the standoff, but Australia insists it is Indonesia's problem.

Refugee advocates including Ms Nathan and Ms Curr believe Australia should offer the asylum seekers a rapid resettlement deal like the one it used to coax 78 Tamils off the Oceanic Viking last year.

Ms Nathan, a Tamil community activist, and Ms Curr were in Indonesia to meet with officials to organise humanitarian aid for the Tamils.

They say they were intimidated, detained and deported for no reason.

They also claim the Indonesian government made false claims against them, including that they had entered a restricted zone around the boat where NGOs and media are no longer allowed.

"They keep changing the story," Ms Nathan told reporters at Sydney Airport on Saturday morning.

"They just wanted (a reason) to say humanitarian workers shouldn't be coming there, that the plight of the Tamils should not be observed."

Ms Nathan said officials from Indonesia's department of foreign affairs told her they did not want to warehouse Australia's refugees and are frustrated that the government hadn't taken responsibility.

"I think Indonesia is trying to give a message to the Australian government by harassing Australian citizens," she said.

Ms Curr said officials went further.

"The senior department of foreign affairs official was quoted in the BBC as saying this is the last time we will do this for Australia - they also said exactly the same thing to us in a private meeting on Friday morning," she said.

The official in question was Foreign Ministry spokesman Sujatmiko, who uses only one name.

The women have called on the Australian government to act immediately before the appalling conditions on the boat worsen.

"These are human beings you know, they are not live cattle," Ms Curr said.

"The RSPCA would intervene if live cattle were being kept in these conditions."


© AAP 2010

Another article on the processing times for asylum seekers on Christmas Island.

hey turnbull! pick on someone your own size

NOT my photo

Ladybird, ladybird fly away home,
Your house is on fire and your children are gone,
All except one,
And her name is Ann,
And she hid under the frying pan.

It was just going to be a bit of whimsy, however, another refugee boat has been intercepted off the coast of Australia. The mainstream media, and the leader of the opposition, is beating it up as deluge. An interview on rtrfm the other day with Lawyer and Board Member of the Refugee Council of Australia Liz Biok, stated that the number of boatpeople coming to Australia had not greatly increased, though worldwide there was an increase. The cause of this is the incredible hardships now in Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other troublespots, the trouble often exacerbated, or caused by many of the policies that we support (the last is my opinion, Biok did not state this). Not entirely, but this should be considered when we decide if we should accept or reject people. Likewise, we should consider that if our purpose in participating in overseas wars is to bring some form of what we perceive to be a better life to those regions, then we need to accept those who do not have a better life due to the very people, ideas, or belief systems it seems we are officially fighting against. Otherwise we are just hypocrites, and no-one could accuse an Australian of being that, could they?

Biok pointed out that, compared to Europe which is far closer to Africa, the Middle East, and Sri Lanka, the asylum seekers who make it to Australia are a smidgen compared to those in Europe. She states that Rudd's decision to dismantle the Pacific Solution has not had any effect on the numbers, though worldwide, they appear to have risen. She said deteriorating conditions is what is pushing people to leave their countries or an intermediary countries. Many from Afghanistan go through to Pakistan, but anyone who has being paying attention to the media, knows that Pakistan is a terribly dangerous place to be at the moment. Opposition backbencher, Judy Moylan (see below) agrees with her.

Again, in my opinion, considering our close allies, the United States, and their close ally, Saudi Arabia, were the ones to first arm the Taliban, or those who became the Taliban, and other dissident groups when Russia was in Afghanistan, and that the United State's close ally, Saudi Arabia, pours money into fundamentalist madrasa in Pakistan (and not all madrasa are fundamentalist) whose members then go into Afghanistan and of course Pakistan, to implement their beliefs, then we need to be somewhat responsible for the chaos we have helped create. We cannot be such close allies without taking some form of responsibility for the actions, and the ultimate consequences of those actions, of our allies, and our allies' allies (which we presumably support). [See Robert Baer, the Devil we Know, and Najaf Mazari and Robert Hillman, the Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif for reports on this].(1 May,2009: also here).

Likewise, some of our close allies, or friends of our close allies have provided Sri Lanka with its weapons, so we need to take some form of responsibility for the people who are displaced by and fleeing from the use of such weapons, or fleeing from the policies that such weapons enforce. Of course, weapons are just another item on the free market, but if we deal in them, and operate on the free market as well, then we need to accept some of the fallout, such as deaths, wounding, destruction, mayhem and people fleeing from the same.

Returning to the interview, many countries are not signatories to the Geneva refugee convention. Within Australia's general region, none of the countries on the path are signatories. Australia is a signatory. Malaysia refuses to recognise any rights of or obligations to refugees, though Indonesia is moving towards it. However, Indonesia has its own problems, too, with internally displaced people, and is fragile politically and ethnically, and is also quite corrupt, Biok states. Due to this, refugees there can be vulnerable. Refugees are always vulnerable. Biok also said that refugees generally speaking don't have the ability, resources or knowledge to know the current Australian policies pertaining to asylum seekers, though the people smugglers might. The opposition disagrees with this point of view, and says that the dismantling of the Pacific Solution is why they are now arriving. Even the sound of that, Pacific Solution, is ominous.

The interview stated that asylum seekers want to go somewhere where human rights are recognised, and most Australians are surely thankful that human rights are generally recognised in Australia. All applicants are screened by ASIO, so, if we trust our security services, then those people who are a threat to the country are not being allowed in. Most people are found to be genuine.

Burns victims from the refugee boat reach Royal Darwin Hospital

There were reports that some of the men on the boat which caught fire last week were some of a number of Afghani refugees who attempted to flee to Australia in 2001. (The fire left 4 dead, and it should be noted that some of the burns of those who survived were reported to be as bad as those of the unfortunate victims of the Bali bombings). In 2001, when the Howard government was in power, the navy turned around a boat of asylum seekers, and took them back to Lombok, where many have been going through applications to come to Australia for 8 years. There is a story here from the United Nations of a man who finally arrived here in 2008 (Iraqi, though, not Afghani). Within Indonesia, safety has deteriorated according to Biok as Indonesians feel resentful and aggressive towards the refugees. The previous article does not support that, but this 2008 article does.


This article from the Australian of a man who has been waiting eight years to arrive in Australia, going through the process, states that none of the refugees were from Lombok. No-one really knows as yet.

But anyone stuck there, after fleeing from their countries, and then finding themselves somewhere where they are not permitted to work legally (according to the Iraqi asylum seeker, though not the report from the West Australian), would feel despair. Biok feels that politicians should not be trying to make capital out of the asylum seekers' tragedy. Of course, the politicians do not focus on the tragedy part of the story. This was reported about Ihsan Abdulrassoul Hassoun, the Iraqui refugee, of his time in Lombok after the Howard government had turned their boat around.

Then followed seven years of limbo, during which Ishan learned to speak Bahasa Indonesia, but could not work legally or settle down in the local community. "During the past seven years I felt sad when I thought about my future life, even though the people around me were very nice," he said.

Another aspect that is not focused on is that many asylum seekers arrive by plane, and are not given the attention by the media that the boats are. I guess the progress of boats can be seen, and when there are the shocking injuries that people sustained after their boat exploded the other day, the story is more sensational, and obviously tragic.

Clearing security in Jakarta's airport, refugee Ihsan Abdulrassoul Hassoun is finally on his way to Australia, the country he had dreamed of for so long. © UNHCR/A.Restu

As stated before, the Rudd government dismantled the Pacific Solution which was the Howard government's policy of processing people on islands miles away from Australia's shores. There was mandatory detention for women, men and children. I wrote about it here. Asylum seekers are still being processed at Christmas Island, which is not terribly close to the Australian mainland either, but no children are being held in detention, now, and temporary protection visas have been abolished, which is good news, as they can and do cause terrible mental anguish. Do unto others... it seems the Golden Rule has been lost on a lot of us, and also the fact that we have signed the Geneva refugee convention.

Biok states that the Pacific solution propped up the Nauru government, cost Australia a massive amount of money, considering that most of the refugees were eventually placed in either Australia or New Zealand, and as said before, caused mental anguish, separated families, and didn't really treat people as humans. Certain backbenchers, such as Judy Moylan in the Liberal government did not support it either. As a matter of fact, the wonderful Ms. Moylan (on this issue) has had this reported about her in relation to the media's current concerns about 'boat people'(not in the popular presses):

A Liberal backbencher who strongly opposed parts of the Howard government's asylum seeker stance has backed the Government's claim that global issues are responsible for a recent spike in unauthorised arrivals and not domestic policy.

Her comments come as Opposition Leader Malcom Turnbull has called on the Government to change its asylum seeker policies, saying they are not working.
...

Western Australian MP Judi Moylan was part of a group of four dissident MPs who was opposed to the Pacific Solution and the mandatory detention of women and children.

The Member for Pearce says she is happy with the Government's current policies and does not believe they are responsible for the rise.

Biok asks that politicians, Mr. Turnbull, Ms. Bishop, stop trying to make political capital out of the situation, and instead look towards their obligations internationally and as human beings.