Sunshine Coast Daily

17 October, 2011

 THE story of Cornelia Rau’s wrongful detention put a face to refugee issues that had long been swept behind the electric fences of Australia’s detention centres.

 Pamela Curr, who was instrumental in the ill woman’s much-publicised release in 2005, was among those who tried to dispel myths about refugees through a public forum at the University of the Sunshine Coast yesterday.

 “I think her story woke many Australians up to what was going on behind the electric fences of our detention centres but we need to keep fighting or politicians will revert to their old ways.”

 Ms Rau was an Australian-raised German citizen who ended up at the Baxter Detention Centre when she escaped from hospital with serious mental health issues.

 Ms Curr took on her cause after Iranians inside Baxter phoned her about a sick woman, known as Anna, who should not be there. “People were horrified they had walked past this girl daily, knowing she was in abject misery, but that is still happening to others who are not blonde-haired, blue-eyed, ex-Qantas air hostesses.”

 Ms Curr said the Federal Government’s failure to revive its plan to ship refugees to Malaysia provided a unique opportunity to find better solutions to the situation. “We’ve got 5000 people in detention centres around this country getting very sick and going crazy. At the same time, the government has started a legal form of detention called community detention.”

 “If they gain a refugee visa, they have found their way in the community. And if they get an adverse decision they are in the frame of mind where they can accept it.”

 “Between February and June this year, 1500 people have quietly come into our community from detention centres and the sky did not fall in.”

 “Refugees are not a threat, 40% of the Australian population were either born overseas or have a parent born overseas. We are a country of migration. Except for the Aboriginal people we’ve all arrived from somewhere.”

 Ms Curr said she believed public forums on refugees were important. “I want our kids to grow up in a peaceful country where they respect each other and respect that people have different backgrounds. Human rights are intrinsically linked to the future of our country.”

 Buddies Refugee Support Group member Margaret Landbeck said almost 250 people attended to hear Ms Curr, prominent barrister and human rights advocate Julian Burnside, an Afghani asylum seeker and other refugee advocates.

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2011/10/17/born-of-migration

A MINUTE’S SILENCE to pay our respects to the 353 people who drowned during the sinking of the SIEV X (Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel X).   It will be ten years on 19 October 2011.

A short introduction dwelt upon the way 2001 was the lowest period in Australian history for people arriving by boat on Australian shores and asking for protection.  It started with  the Tampa Incident  (August 26) and culminated in the worst possible way with the sinking of the SIEV X in October - September 11, coming in the midst of the deterioriating situation, only served to intensify prejudice against all Moslems.

It only took a few months for the Howard government, which previously had had very little prospect of being re-elected, to gain so much in popularity by playing to the fears of Australians about invasion and terrorists, that it won a resounding victory at the elections on Saturday 10 November, 2001.   

After the SIEV X disaster John Howard was quoted as saying, ‘SIEV X was bad but it will send the message, don’t try.’

Days later came the infamous words, ‘We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.’ 

As we had the minute’s silence, we reflected on the fact that today things are just as bad for asylum seekers arriving by boat as they ever were.

LOU WALSH: GUEST SPEAKER.

This proved to be one of the most uplifting and positive talks ever about someone’s involvement with asylum seekers in detention. 

Lou explained that after taking her family down to join the protest march in Brisbane in support of refugees, earlier this year, she had come home determined to find the time to contribute more to helping people in such distress, people who had been locked away like prisoners when their only ‘crime’ was asking for protection after being forced to flee their homelands in order to survive. 

Lou got us all involved in making enquiries as to how she could be more involved.  Because she had musical talent she was slotted in with the musical group which has been going to Pinkenbah to work with detainees (The Scattered People).  She told us of her deep sadness at seeing people who had loved their homelands and could not understand why they were being shut away for so long when they had done nothing wrong.  But Lou saw many positive aspects as well.  She spoke fondly of the way they could express themselves in songs and poems.  She told us of the joy both the musicians and the detainees found in being able to share experiences through music (in a limited way because of the language differences).  She said that one particular day stands out in her mind because of an Aboriginal visitor who came to Pinkenbah and not only played his didgeridoo but also gave his welcome to the country from Aboriginal people to the asylum seekers.  There were the original caretakers of the land saying welcome to the most recent arrivals on its shores. She said that one visit from that Aboriginal person did more good than anything else that had gone before.

But she also spoke of the frustration of not being able to do more for these desperate people.  In fact, the last three months of working with asylum seekers in detention has convinced Lou to change course in her life and move from Primary School teaching into the field of working with refugees and asylum seekers.  She has made the move and started undertaking the required study.  We were all thrilled with the way she shared this news with us.  Everyone at the meeting who heard her story knew that with her positive outlook on life combined with her strong belief in human rights and her compassion for the plight of persecuted groups, Lou will be able to make a huge contribution to the plight of asylum seekers and refugees in our country.

FOLLOWING LOU’S TALK, PHILLIPA, JOHN, GEORGE AND PAM  PUT ON A SHORT PERFORMANCE ENTITLED, ‘MYTHS AND FACTS: WHAT DO YOU THINK?’

The four Buddies took the parts of Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, an average but uniformed Australian and a refugee advocate and gave the audience some insight into how to argue the FACTS when confronted with the MYTHS.  Other important questions were posed such as what is the role of government if not to take leadership in such troubled times (rather than reflecting the population’s fears and paranoia).

REPORT FROM REFUGEE CLAIMANT SUPPORT SERVICE WAS PROVIDED BY MARILYN, OUR LIAISON PERSON BETWEEN BUDDIES AND RCSS.

*The number of RCSS clients receiving financial assistance from Buddies over the last month was 10 cases (22 family members)

* Number of people provided with assistance >$100

2 cases (11 family members) Both families from the Middle East who do not receive support from anywhere else - one single parent with 2 children & the other couple with 6 children

* Number of clients provided with assistance for expenses >$100 Eight cases (11 family members)

Total amount of funds spent= $600

AUDREY PRESENTED THE LOBBY GROUP’S LETTER OF THE MONTH.

Everyone was urged to take a copy from the meeting or to print off a copy from the Bulletin and send to Tony Abbott. 

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES: FORUM REPORT PRESENTED BY CHIEF ORGANISER, BRONWYN.

Ø  Change of date from Saturday 15^th to Sunday 16^th October, due to a clash with the opening of the Kate Durham SIEVX tenth anniversary exhibition in Brisbane - which would have meant losing out on Julian Burnside and Freddie Steen – so changed day instead

Ø  Time remains the same at 3-5pm in the afternoon

Ø  Five guest speakers in all – keynote speakers, Julian Burnside and Pamela Curr – supporting speakers, Paul Syvret and Homa Forotan – facilitator, Frederika Steen

Ø  Each speaker to speak from 10 – 20 minutes, followed by a comprehensive question and answer session to be conducted by Freddie

Ø  Each speaker to speak on their own area of expertise and also to rebut asylum seeker myths.

Ø  Flyers of different sizes available, map on back of most

Ø  E copy of flyer plus other information about the forum in each Buddies Bulletin

Ø  Planning group sending out publicity material to all local newspapers, radio and television stations

Ø  All Buddies urged to maximise their own publicity efforts – auditorium holds 300 – we aim to fill it

Ø  USC will be clearly signed on the day – once you’ve driven in, turn right at T intersection

Ø  Admission free – gold coin donation welcomed

Ø  A group going out to dinner afterwards –casual - all welcome - details to follow in Bulletin

Ø  For any enquiries, please contact Bronwyn – belz@squirrel.com.au (Ph: 5445 3727), Audrey - aor@plumes.info (Ph: 5494 2240), Kayla, Marilyn, Phillipa, Jenny H, Margaret or Gaby

MEETING CLOSED 12:10 PM

(FOLLOWED BY ENJOYABLE LUNCH WITH EVERYONE DEPARTED AND BUILDING LOCKED UP BY 1:00 PM)

1. Boat people are illegal.

Asylum seekers who enter Australia by sea (or plane) without a valid visa are not illegal. The right to enter without prior authorisation is protected by Article 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention, which recognises that there is good cause for their unauthorised entry.

Like a speeding ambulance, asylum seekers are exempt from the usual application of the law because they’re in an emergency situation. Consequently, no Australian law criminalises the act of arriving in Australia without a valid visa for the purposes of seeking asylum.

2. Boat people are queue jumpers.

There is no orderly queue for asylum seekers to join.

Only 2% of the world’s refugees are in a queue. If all the millions of refugees worldwide were to join a queue, the wait for resettlement would be 135 years.

Australia is the only country where the term ‘queue-jumper’ is used.

3. Boat arrivals are not genuine asylum seekers.

For obvious reasons, those who risk their lives in attempting the perilous journey by boat are more likely to be genuinely in need of protection.

While only around 40% of plane arrivals are found to be genuine refugees, the proportion for boat arrivals is 85-90%.

4. Boat arrivals present a security risk.

No boat arrival who could have been a potential threat to national security has ever gained entry into Australia.

A potential terrorist is more likely to arrive by plane because boat arrivals are subject to the most scrutinised security checks. The very act of arriving without documentation alerts authorities to undertake rigorous screening.

It is much easier and safer for a terrorist to arrive undetected in Australia by plane, either with a valid visa or false documentation.

5. Asylum seekers who can afford to come by boat are economic migrants.

You can be wealthy and still be tortured. In some countries authorities are more likely to target the well educated and wealthy as they are the greatest threat to an authoritarian regime.

Furthermore, an expensive boat or plane trip is not necessarily an indication of wealth. Most asylum seekers will sell everything they own, and/or turn to family or friends for help to pay for the trip and still not have enough money.

Many asylum seekers will not be able to afford to bring the whole family and so send only one member with the responsibility of finding protection for the family.

Alternatively, families at risk of persecution with only enough money to save one life may decide to make the excruciating decision to send their child away in the hope that they will make it to safety.

6. Australia is losing control of its borders.

No country in the world has greater control over its borders than Australia. While most countries share at least one border with another country and usually many more, Australia is an island continent with vast surrounding seas. These natural barriers make irregular migration extremely difficult.

In the United States, it is estimated that there are between 7 and 20 million illegal migrants living inside the country. In the European Union, the number is between 3 and 8 million. The numbers are even greater in parts of the developing world.

In comparison, Australia has only around 50 000 people unlawfully in the country at any one time, mostly tourists and temporary migrants who have overstayed their visa.

In 2010, there were 6,502 unauthorized boat arrivals to Australia. So far in 2011, there have been around 2500. These are small numbers.

Australia has around 4 million authorized arrivals each year. The largest number of unauthorized arrivals in any one year was 7,100. 

7. Mandatory detention is necessary for border security.

Australia is one of few nations in the world which imposes mandatory detention on asylum seekers who arrive without visas.

Furthermore, not only is the detention mandatory, it is indefinite as well. The detention lasts as long as the process takes - 6 months, 12 months, a year, 2 years, 3 years - no one can say.

Australian practice has shown that asylum seekers allowed to live in the community while their asylum claims are processed are highly unlikely to abscond. This is because they have a vested interest in cooperating in order to gain full protection rights. Treating people with dignity and presuming innocence rather than guilt helps to reinforce their trust in the system. 

In 2005, Australia introduced a community-based detention system which allowed a small number of asylum seekers to live unsupervised in the community, supported by the Red Cross. Of the 244 people placed in this program between July 2005 and May 2009, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship reports that only two (less than1%) had absconded.

8. We no longer have children in detention.

Whilst there are no children in high security detention centres today, as at the end of July 2011, there were still however 872 children (aged under 18 years) in immigration detention of some kind.

446 were detained in the community under residence determinations.

329 were in alternative places of detention. People in this form of detention are still locked in secure facilities, kept under guard and have no freedom of movement. Many 5-15 year olds go to school, but not all of them, and for under 5s they do not go to pre-school and have very little recreation.

45 were in immigration residential housing and 52 were in immigration transit accommodation.

9. Australia has one of the most generous refugee intakes in the world.

Australia is the world’s 14th largest economy, yet in 2010, we accepted 0.03% of the world’s refugees. From over 40 million refugees globally, we took just 13 750.

In 2009, twenty industrialised countries accepted more asylum seekers per capita than Australia.

The overwhelming majority of the world’s refugees are situated in the developing world in countries neighbouring their own. Pakistan, Syria and Iran each host more than a million refugees and asylum seekers.

10. Asylum seekers coming to Australia could stop in another country along the way.

Asylum seekers who arrive from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia often travel through intermediary countries before arriving in Australia. However, there is nothing unjust or deceptive about this.

These countries are either not signatories to the Refugee Convention or do not have the capacity or will to deal humanely with the large numbers of refugees they receive.

Asylum seekers in Indonesia are detained indefinitely in hugely overcrowded detention centres.  They’re detained until their claim is finalised by UNHCR, a process which on average takes 10 years. 

Even when registered by UNHCR as refugees, they are not permitted to seek employment or send their children to school.  Clearly, Indonesia is not yet at a stage where it can offer refugees their human rights.

11. Stopping the boats will save lives.

For people who are desperate, people smugglers are their only escape route. 

Denying people the opportunity to risk their lives also means denying them the opportunity to improve them.

Since there is no ‘queue’, refugees deterred from a boat trip are also effectively prevented from ever gaining resettlement in Australia. This is the real reason behind the ‘stop the boats’ mantra.

It’s not about saving the lives of asylum seekers. It’s about keeping them out of Australia.

12. Refugees do not contribute to society

By definition, refugees are survivors. They have survived because they have the courage, ingenuity and creativity to have done so. These are exactly the qualities we value.

Refugees, who have fought for survival and overcome great traumas, have risked everything to make it to Australia. They express immense gratitude and dedication to their adoptive nations.

The challenge for Australia is to assist newly arrived refugees to process the experiences of their past and rebuild their lives. If we do this, we will reap the benefits of the qualities and experiences they bring to Australia.

There are so many refugees in this country who have gone on to do great things and have served us well in the fields of medicine, science, the arts, politics and much more.

Sources:

Refugee Council of Australia - Myths about refugees and asylum seekers

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre - Myths, facts and solutions

Uniting Justice Australia – Asylum seekers and refugees: myths and facts

Chilout (Children out of detention)

Department of Immigration and Citizenship

October 2011

 It is one of the most resonant phrases in our national mythology: “Lest we forget”. We say it, or think it, on 11th November each year and on Anzac day.

 But forgetting lies at the heart of this country. We have constructed a myth about ourselves which cannot survive unless we forget a number of painful truths. We draw a veil of comforting amnesia over anything which contradicts our self-image.

 Since John Howard saw the votes to be had by appropriating some of Pauline Hanson’s more repellent policy ideas, boat people have been tagged “illegals”. Howard won the 2001 election on it; Tony Abbott persists in it. Julia Gillard and Chris Bowen go along with it like sheep because they have still not absorbed their own rhetoric.

 We forget that boat people who come here to ask for protection are not illegal in any sense - they are exercising the right which every person has in international law to seek asylum in any country they can reach.

 We forget that the first white settlers in this country were true illegals: sent here by English courts for a range of criminal offences, and the soldiers sent to guard them, and the administrators who, following London’s instructions, stole the country from its original inhabitants who, if possession is nine points of the law, had the backing of 30,000 years of law to justify calling the white invaders “illegals”.

 And we forget, too, the line in the second verse of our national anthem: words that might fairly be understood as reflecting the simple truth recognised by the white settlers: for those who came across the sea there are truly boundless plains to share. For refugees locked away on Christmas Island this must throw light on the frontier which delusion shares with hypocrisy.

 And how many of us pause to remember how different it was for 85,000 Vietnamese boat people 30 years ago? They were resettled here swiftly and without fuss, thanks to the simple human decency which Malcolm Fraser and Ian Macphee showed, and which Abbott and Gillard so conspicuously lack. We forget how hideously we scarred Vietnam; how we showered them with Agent Orange and trashed their villages and disfigured their people. Just as we forget the effects of our collaboration in Iraq. But if we knew back then why people flee the land of their birth, we seem to have forgotten it now.

 When today’s refugees wash up on our shores, Abbott and Gillard, Bowen and Morrison all speak with concern about the boat people who die in their attempt to get to safety, but their concern is utterly false. Instead of attacking the refugees directly, which is their real purpose, they attack the people smugglers instead. Because, aren’t people smugglers the worst people imaginable? They forget that Oskar Schindler was a people smuggler, and so was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And so was Gustav Schroeder, captain of the ill-fated MS St Louis which left Hamburg in May 1939 with a cargo of 900 Jews looking for help. He tried every trick in the book to land them somewhere safe, but was pushed away. He ended up putting them ashore again in Europe, and more than half of them perished in concentration camps. Abbott and Gillard forget that Captain Schroeder was a people smuggler.

 They forget too that, without the help of people smugglers, refugees are left to face persecution or death at the hands of whatever tyranny threatens them. Let Gillard or Abbott say publicly that, in the same circumstances, they would not use a people smuggler if they had to.

 Many recent boat people are Hazaras from Afghanistan. They are targeted ruthlessly by the Taliban, who are bent on ethnic cleansing. The Hazara population of Afghanistan has halved over the past decade, as Hazaras escape or are killed. The Taliban want to get rid of all of them. Gillard and Bowen have overlooked, it seems, that we are locked in mortal combat with the Taliban; they have forgotten that our enemy’s enemy is likely our friend.

 The Malaysian Solution provoked another bout of amnesia. Both major parties have forgotten the spectacular cost to taxpayers of trafficking people to other countries, whether it is Malaysia or Nauru. Not to mention the pointless cruelty of it all.

 The Malaysian Solution swung into action in early August, when about 50 Afghan asylum seekers arrived at Christmas Island. There were 15 unaccompanied children among them. Chris Bowen would not rule out sending the children to Malaysia. He apparently forgot that he is, by law, their guardian. To his credit, he looks very uncomfortable doing the dirty work, as well he might if he reflects on the speech he gave in Parliament on 10 August 2006. It included this: [Boat people] are entitled to have their claims considered in Australia, and if they are granted refugee status, they are entitled to a refugee protection visa from Australia.

 Joe Hockey and Scott Morrison swung into action by criticising the parents of the children for sending them off in the first place. They don’t seem to understand that most Hazaras can only scrape together enough money to save just one member of the family. The parents they criticise so readily have made the awful choice of risking their own lives to give their child a chance of freedom. But it seems that, these days, nothing is too grubby for the Liberal Party.

 So here we are: Australia in 2011. For convenience we have forgotten our origins, our good fortune, our blindness and our selfishness. In place of memory we have constructed a national myth of a generous, welcoming country, a land of new arrivals where everyone gets a fair go; a myth in which vanity fills the emptiness where the truth was forgotten.

 Or perhaps it’s not a myth after all. Perhaps our national image is true, but our politicians have forgotten what it is. If we value who we are, we should remind them. Because our true character as a nation is being reshaped each day by what our politicians do in our name. Tell Canberra we are better than that, lest we forget.

 Julian Burnside AO QC is an Australian Barrister and an advocate for human rights and fair treatment of refugees.

 http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2829188.html

Caroline Fleay, ABC Unleashed, 14 June, 2011

 There is much to criticise in the Australian Government’s proposal to swap 800 asylum seekers with 4,000 refugees in Malaysia.

 Media reports continue to outline the disturbing treatment of refugees in Malaysia. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has announced that he will have the final say over which children will be included in the asylum seekers to be sent to Malaysia. This is yet another example of how far a concern for human rights has fallen from the Government’s radar. But it should not be forgotten that this policy will not only affect children, it will also have a devastating impact on families who arrive to Australia seeking asylum, and the lives of men who arrive alone.

 A concern for human rights is similarly absent from the Government’s mandatory detention policy. Reports of the Malaysia solution hide the fact that many men, women and children in Australia’s immigration detention centres continue to suffer. For anyone who has visited an immigration detention centre in this country, the effects of mandatory detention are harrowing and obvious. I have just returned from visiting the Curtin Immigration Detention Centre in remote north-west Australia where the effects of isolation combined with mandatory detention make a despairing combination. Our leaders need to visit these centres to see the misery their bipartisan policy creates.

 Just as both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott should accept the invitations of Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory to sit with them and ask about the impacts of government policy, they should be doing the same with those who are subjected to mandatory detention. They should ask those detained what the impact of indefinite detention is having on their lives and those of their families.

 They would hear what many of us who visit detention centres hear – stories of absolute despair of the days that have turned into weeks, and then into months, and for some, now more than a year of waiting for news of their refugee claims. For people in detention with no idea of when they will be released, every day feels like a year as they try to cope with the uncertainty of what will happen to them and their families.

 If our political leaders talked to the men, women and children we detain, they would hear how they try to cope with their despair and how they care for each other. Many of them are extraordinarily resilient but have had to accept anti-depressant medication in order to survive. Others can no longer bear it – incidences of self-harm and suicide attempts continue in our detention centres. And over the past year five men have taken their lives, one of them in Curtin.

 The suffering that accompanies mandatory detention is so needless. Recent Department of Immigration statistics show that the majority of asylum seekers arriving by boat, and subject to mandatory detention, are still found to be refugees. These figures indicate that most of the men, women and children in our detention centres will eventually be released into our communities. What a futile exercise mandatory detention is. All we are doing is greatly intensifying the suffering of many who arrive at our shores asking for refuge from the violence they have fled. And there are alternatives to detention. United Nations research continues to show that allowing people to live in the community until their refugee claims have been finalised is more humane, a lot cheaper, and very few people do not comply with release conditions.

 Prime Minister Gillard’s declaration prior to her Beijing visit in April that she would ‘of course be raising human rights’ with China suggests that her government has some expertise on the matter. For the Government to continue mandatory detention, and negotiate for the removal of asylum seekers to Malaysia, this claim is clearly wrong. For the Opposition to consider that detention on Nauru is acceptable policy is also to ignore the human rights of asylum seekers. We should ‘of course be raising human rights’ with own political leaders.

 Caroline Fleay is a lecturer at the Centre for Human Rights Education at Curtin University. She is the author of Australia and Human Rights: Situating the Howard Government (2010).

 http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2752712.html