Boat People

April 5, 2010
by Clifton Evers

"Currently, Australia is revisiting an old panic over asylum seekers arriving in Australia by way of boats and people smugglers. Refugee numbers arriving by way of boat have risen, although the number remain tiny. Mind you, all early settlers in Australia were boat people.

There is a call by some to return to the draconian Pacific Solution introduced by the previous conservative government, run by John Howard and Phillip Ruddock. The Pacific Solution involved sending refugees to Manus Island and Nauru in the Pacific Ocean, which were used as offshore detention centres.

Note: The overwhelming majority of people who arrive by boat have been found to be legitimate refugees.

Whenever I hear the politics of fear conjured up by elements of the media and conservative politicians I think of this quote to remind me of the human cost that is missed during the political squabbling:.."

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