By Tim Costello
CEO World Vision Australia
Sydney Morning Herald, 19 July 2010
The politics of asylum seekers is both deflating and confounding. Little wonder, Immigration Minister, Chris Evans, in an unguarded moment, reflected on his frustrations over the issue which he said ‘was killing the government’.
Senator Evans later clarified that his frustrations were historical and things had changed dramatically since Julia Gillard became Prime Minister.
Nevertheless, the issue remains perplexing. This week at least one media poll showed that tougher rhetoric on boat people had boosted the government’s electoral support. This was despite the fact a significant proportion of people polled had little faith the government’s plan for a regional processing centre would work.
The ability of boat people to ignite a political storm has, depressingly, a long history in Australian politics. Arguably its peak was the Tampa affair which many credited with handing the then teetering Howard Government another term.
Many politicians now believe any rhetoric or policy that ‘gets tough on asylum seekers’ will deliver an electoral dividend.
Personally, I believe such a link is overstated and even if it does exist it is dangerously unpredictable and difficult issue to control. It is a genie that once released is not easily re-bottled.
Moreover, any election fought on such an issue is likely to tear at the very fabric of Australia’s egalitarian psyche and take us back to the very worst of the race debate that fostered the rise of Pauline Hanson and One Nation.
It is somewhat perplexing why the issue of asylum seekers arriving by boat can cause so much alarm in some sections of the Australian community.
It may be that it is an issue lost amid the legitimate debate that Australians must have about population and the sustainability of our cities. In terms of migration, Australia is receiving waves of new arrivals – up to 300,000 annually in recent years – but most of these come into Australia as skilled migrants. These numbers contrast with the 13,500 or so asylum seekers accepted each year – and most of these don’t arrive via boat.
The anger spawned by the asylum seeker issue may reflect the economic hardships many ordinary working Australian families are feeling. At such times resentment can boil over towards any seen to be getting preferential treatment. Asylum seekers are often termed ‘queue jumpers’ and the very limited benefits they receive grow into the stuff of folklore by jaded taxpayers.
The irony is that when governments have moved to set up off shore processing centres, such as happened under the Howard Government, the costs of the Australian taxpayer soars far beyond the costs of housing and processing asylum seekers here.
It is alarming if predictable that the political contest to prove who can be toughest on asylum seekers re-emerges on the eve of the Federal election. Some hailed the last election as being marked by the triumph of conviction politics. It is my great hope that moral and social issues will play a critical part in this year’s election.
Australia has escaped the worst of the global financial crisis, yet many other countries have been hit hard. Many poor communities have been devastated. Australia’s capacity to be a compassionate society and help the world’s poorest has arguably never been greater.
There is some reason for hope. There is bipartisan commitment to increase our level of overseas aid funding to 0.5% of gross national income by 2015. At more than $8 billion, this will transform Australia’s international aid program. This aid should also prioritise efforts to tackle maternal and child health – which are badly lagging in the global blue print to tackle chronic poverty.
This growth will challenge us to ensure our aid program is made even more effective and then to increase aid to the internationally agreed target of 0.7 of GNI.
World Vision also believes there must be action on climate change – which will devastate the lives of the world’s poorest people, and make many regions unviable to sustain human life. The tide of displaced people seeking a place of refuge is expected to swell.
We must strengthen our domestic ambition and put Australia in a leadership role on the global stage to work with the international community to ensure a pro-poor, fair, ambitious and binding global agreement that comes into operation by the end of 2012. Our global citizenship should work to ensure people can remain in their birthplace and secure their livelihoods.
All political parties must restore respect to asylum seeker policy and end offshore detention and processing. Around 90 per cent of asylum seekers are found to be refugees and our annual humanitarian intake (13,500) is small by world standards..
Of course a compassionate approach to asylum seekers need not be at odds with stronger boarder protection. Punish people smugglers, not the asylum seekers, through close collaboration with the key transit countries including Indonesia and Malaysia.
Our political leaders have the capacity and the responsibility to reframe the issues upon which this next election will be fought. We can only hope that on both domestic and international issues there will be a triumph of compassion over fear and scare-mongering.