Refugees used by Rudd as a political football
On Wednesday December 23 asylum-seeker George Jacob Samuel Christin died. Christin was one of the 254 Tamil asylum-seekers facing horrific conditions in the Indonesian port of Merak. A spokesman for the asylum seekers said Christin was showing signs of severe illness, but was “neglected by the IOM (International Organisation for Migration) and the Indonesian navy”. It took a seizure to finally get Christin taken to hospital. By then it was too late, Christin died from a stomach illness at 11:30pm, only six hours after being discharged from hospital.
By Corey Snoek, Socialist Party
The Tamil refugees were travelling on route to Australia on October 11 when they were intercepted by the Indonesian Navy. Kevin Rudd openly requested that the Indonesian Navy stop the ship before it reached Australian waters. Since then the asylum-seekers have refused to leave their boat, demanding refugee status in Australia. A stalemate has ensued with aid, media and legal representation being withheld from the refugees. The IOM has ignored them, and the Rudd Government has shifted all blame and responsibility to Indonesia.
With the election of Rudd in 2007, Howard’s mandatory detention and temporary protection visas disappeared from mainland Australia. Horrific detention centres such as Woomera, Curtin, Port Hedland and Baxter have been closed down. While these changes were to be supported, they did not mark a fundamental shift away from Howard’s approach to refugees. The ALP supported Howard’s refugee policies whole heartedly while in opposition. It should also be remembered that it was the Keating Labor government in 1992 that first introduced mandatory detention.
In reality Howard’s ‘Pacific solution’ was never abandoned by Rudd. Detention centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru may have been closed but Christmas Island remains and its use has been stepped up. Built to house 400 detainees, it is now operating at “surge” capacity of 1,200 with the government hoping to expand it further before the end of the year. Mandatory detention still exists on Christmas Island and isolation cells are still in use.
More serious however is the fact that Rudd’s so called “Indonesian solution” is stepping up the practice of offshore processing. Rudd is attempting to subcontract the job of processing Australia’s asylum seekers out to Indonesia, a country that has refused to sign the UN Refugee Convention. The Rudd government is even funding the appalling detention centres within Indonesia, as well as the Indonesian IOM. It is ridiculous to pretend that the refugee problem can be addressed by just outsourcing the processing to Indonesia. Australia must take full responsibility for the refugees that capitalism and imperialism is creating.
A study by the Network of Asylum Seeker Agencies (NASA Vic) showed that 70% of asylum seekers have skills needed in Australia. Rudd has called for a population increase to 35 million before 2050 but Labor is refusing the mere 254 people stranded in Merak. The hypocrisy is everywhere but the answer is simple.
Media hype and Rudd’s claims of “protecting Australia’s boarders” have diverted attention from the root problems that create refugees. Most refugees coming to Australia are from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Two places where wars supported by the Rudd government have displaced thousands of ordinary people. War, poverty and increasingly global warming, are major issues of our time and all are creating refugees. The cause of these problems can be traced back to capitalism’s ever growing quest for profits.
Australia could easily take in the refugees at our doorstep and more. Asylum seekers actually have the potential to boost our economy and to contribute positively to society. The issue of refugees in Australia is being used as a political football. Labor wants to handball off the problems to Indonesia so that the Australian Government do not have to answer up to their faults.
