Asylum Seeker Numbers
By buddies • Jun 23rd, 2009 • Category: News/ InformationAnd other developed countries have received far greater numbers of asylum seekers than Australia. For example, in 2008 the US received 49,000 asylum applicatons, Italy 36,000 and Canada, France and the UK over 30,000 applications each.
Whilst there have been some excellent articles in the media on asylum seekers, there has also been some poor and irresponsible reporting (as discussed in our last newsletter). The use of terms like ‘illegals’, ‘floodgates’ and ‘surge’ and the reporting of statistics in a myopic manner, are liable to give the impression that Australia is being ’swamped’ with boat arrivals. In fact, boat arrivals to Australia remain relatively low. 4,700 people sought asylum in Australia in 2008 - far less than the numbers received earlier in the decade (13,100 claims for asylum in 2000, 12,400 in 2001).