tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/bridging-visas-4325/articlesBridging visas – The Conversation2019-08-07T01:24:00Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1209892019-08-07T01:24:00Z2019-08-07T01:24:00ZMost migrants on bridging visas aren’t ‘scammers’, they’re well within their rights<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-23/bridging-visas-surging-malaysians-horticulture/11314214">Recent articles</a> in the media have raised concerns about the rapid rise in migrants living and working in Australia on bridging visas, whose numbers have more than doubled in the last four years. </p>
<p>A bridging visa is granted to anyone who makes a visa application from within Australia. This form of visa comes into effect if the visa someone already holds expires while they’re in the country.</p>
<p>As of March 31, there were <a href="https://data.gov.au/dataset/ds-dga-ab245863-4dea-4661-a334-71ee15937130/details?q=temporary%20visa">229,242</a> people in Australia who held a bridging visa, the highest-ever figure in Australian history. A significant portion of bridging visa applicants are skilled and family migrants, often partners of Australian permanent residents and citizens. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/migration-is-a-growing-issue-but-it-remains-a-challenge-to-define-who-actually-is-a-migrant-114443">Migration is a growing issue, but it remains a challenge to define who actually is a migrant</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But living on a bridging visa is a form of migration limbo as the Department of Home Affairs does not disclose how long any individual case may take to process. Migrants do not know if their application will be approved tomorrow, or if they will be waiting on a bridging visa for another year or more.</p>
<p>What’s more, employers and labour recruiters, especially in the horticultural industry, are <a href="https://sydney.edu.au/content/dam/corporate/documents/business-school/research/work-and-organisational-studies/towards-a-durable-future-report.pdf">taking advantage</a> of these migrants as cheap temporary labour. </p>
<h2>Most migrants on bridging visas aren’t ‘scammers’</h2>
<p><a href="https://sydney.edu.au/content/dam/corporate/documents/business-school/research/work-and-organisational-studies/towards-a-durable-future-report.pdf">Evidence</a> is emerging that increasing numbers of migrants arriving on tourist visas are applying for humanitarian or protection visas once they’re in the country. </p>
<p>This is the group Kristina Keneally, the Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, refers to as “<a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/spotlight-shifts-from-boat-people-to-record-numbers-of-airplane-people">airplane people</a>”. She criticises the Coalition for trumpeting a hard-line approach to offshore detention and “stopping the boats” when asylum seekers are arriving by other means and seeking protection onshore in increasing numbers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-people-seeking-asylum-in-australia-access-higher-education-and-the-enormous-barriers-they-face-107892">How people seeking asylum in Australia access higher education, and the enormous barriers they face</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This exploitation of temporary visa pathways is a growing concern and warrants investigation. But associating all bridging visas with “scammers” and “illegal migrants” misses the bigger picture of the role bridging visas play in our changing immigration regime and the inequalities they can create for migrants who are operating completely within the rules of the system. </p>
<p>They meet all the legal criteria for migration and are simply waiting for their applications to be processed by the Department of Home Affairs. For example, while there were <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/ohp-june-18.pdf">28,000 applicants</a> for onshore asylum visas in 2017-18, there were more than <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/downloadattachment?attachmentId=0feb0444-bd3c-4b20-a3e4-3475c78c1423">125,000 people</a> holding a bridging visa and waiting for their permanent visa application to be finalised. </p>
<h2>Growing wait times for partner visas</h2>
<p>Perhaps the primary reason for the so-called “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-23/bridging-visas-surging-malaysians-horticulture/11314214">blowout</a>” in bridging visas – as quoted in an ABC article – is simply because more legitimate applications for skilled and family migration are now made in Australia and waiting times for visa processing have increased. </p>
<p>Compare permanent partner visas in 2009-10 and 2017-18. There were about <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/report-on-migration-program-2009-10.pdf">53,000</a> applicants for partner visas in 2009-10. And there were 27,000 people waiting in the queue in June 2010. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-cutting-australias-migrant-intake-would-do-more-harm-than-good-at-least-for-the-next-decade-108748">Why cutting Australia's migrant intake would do more harm than good, at least for the next decade</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Eight years later, there were <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/report-migration-program-2017-18.pdf">54,000</a> applicants for partner visas, but with fewer places available (39,800) and more than 80,000 people waiting in the queue. </p>
<p>This means if you applied for a partner visa in June 2010, you were looking at about a six to eight month wait. And by June 2018, this had become around a two-year wait. </p>
<p>A consequence of under-resourcing in the Department of Home Affairs is that the time migrants spend living on bridging visas is increasing as the time taken to process a visa application grows. What’s more, waiting times for sponsored skilled work visas like the Employer Nomination Scheme can take <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-processing-times/global-visa-processing-times">up to 19 months</a>.</p>
<h2>Barriers to economic and social inclusion</h2>
<p>These long waits create significant barriers to the economic and social inclusion of these migrants. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/labors-crackdown-on-temporary-visa-requirements-wont-much-help-australian-workers-115844">Labor's crackdown on temporary visa requirements won't much help Australian workers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>One of the most significant issues is the stigma around bridging visas in the employment market. Although many of these migrants have in-demand skills, local work experience, and the strong desire to work, many Australian employers refuse to hire workers on bridging visas, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1468796813504552">leading to deskilling, exploitation and financial stress</a>.</p>
<p>Long waits on bridging visas can create specific vulnerabilities for women on partner visas, making them highly dependent on their partners, and often <a href="https://www.secasa.com.au/assets/Documents/Promoting-community-led-responses-to-violence-against-immigrant-and-refugee-women-.pdf">unable to access adequate support in situations of domestic abuse</a>. </p>
<p>In research conducted on the experiences of migrants on the “<a href="https://shanthirobertson.com/staggered-pathways/">staggered pathway</a>” from temporariness to permanence, migrants report being denied mobile phone contracts, personal loans or rental accommodation because of their bridging visas. </p>
<p>Travel restrictions placed on some bridging visas also prevent migrants from travelling home to care for family members or attend family events. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-peter-dutton-has-a-lot-of-power-but-a-strong-home-affairs-is-actually-a-good-thing-for-australia-121047">Yes, Peter Dutton has a lot of power, but a strong Home Affairs is actually a good thing for Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Transparent and faster processing would mitigate many of the issues with bridging visas, whether for those exploiting the system or for those legitimate migrants stuck in the indefinite wait. </p>
<p>Minimising time spent on bridging visas means onshore migrants can participate fully in both the economy and the community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shanthi Robertson receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry Sherrell receives funding from the Scanlon Foundation and is affiliated with the Cities and Settlement Initiative run by the Centre for Policy Development.</span></em></p>Associating all bridging visas with ‘scammers’ and ‘illegal migrants’ misses the bigger picture of the role bridging visas play in our changing immigration regime.Shanthi Robertson, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityHenry Sherrell, Researcher, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1078922018-12-13T19:12:24Z2018-12-13T19:12:24ZHow people seeking asylum in Australia access higher education, and the enormous barriers they face<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249592/original/file-20181210-76968-wa7nw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There are about 30,000 refugees in Australia, and just over 200 of them have been able to study at a university.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Accessing higher education is critical for many people seeking asylum. It’s not simply a means of acquiring the qualifications and skills necessary for <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/New-Community-Journal-55-Education-denied.pdf">employment</a>. It’s also essential to living <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/New-Community-Journal-55-Education-denied.pdf">a meaningful life</a></p>
<p>Despite this, people seeking asylum are among Australia’s most educationally disadvantaged. This is largely due to restrictive federal government policies. In response, a growing number of universities and community organisations have enabled access to higher education for some people seeking asylum. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-need-to-do-more-to-support-refugee-students-97185">Universities need to do more to support refugee students</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Hartley_PeopleSeekingAsylum.pdf">first nationwide study</a> into this found more than 200 people seeking asylum have been able to study at university through scholarships and other supports in recent years. But most of the approximately 30,000 people seeking asylum living in Australia continue to face enormous barriers in accessing higher education.</p>
<h2>Who are the people seeking asylum?</h2>
<p>Most people seeking asylum in Australia are those who arrived by boat since 13 August 2012. This was when the Australian government introduced a system of third country processing, but not all people seeking asylum were sent to offshore detention on <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/asylum-seekers-and-refugees/projects/transfer-asylum-seekers-third-countries">Nauru or Manus Island</a>. It also includes people who arrived earlier and didn’t have their protection visa application finalised by 18 September 2013, the date <a href="https://theconversation.com/operation-sovereign-borders-dignified-silence-or-diminishing-democracy-21294">Operation Sovereign Borders</a> commenced. </p>
<p>There are approximately 30,000 people in this situation in Australia. If they’re deemed eligible for protection, they’re issued <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/getting-help/legal-info/visas/tpv-shev-faqs/">one of two temporary visas</a>: </p>
<ol>
<li>a three-year <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/getting-help/legal-info/visas/tpv-shev-faqs/">Temporary Protection Visa</a> (TPV) </li>
<li>a five-year <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/getting-help/legal-info/visas/tpv-shev-faqs/">Safe Haven Enterprise Visa</a> (SHEV). </li>
</ol>
<p>While they wait for their protection claim to be finalised, most are issued a temporary <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/bridging-visa-b-020">bridging visa</a>.</p>
<p>In our research, “people seeking asylum” refers to those who are either awaiting the outcome of their refugee application and living in the community on a Bridging Visa, or people found to be a refugee and granted a TPV or SHEV.</p>
<p>More than half of the 30,000 people received a decision on their refugee claim by October 2018. Over <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/ima-oct-2018.pdf">11,000</a> people continue to wait. The majority have left countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Pakistan to seek protection in Australia. </p>
<h2>What are some of the major barriers to higher education?</h2>
<p>From 13 August 2012 for up to three years, people seeking asylum were denied the right to work in Australia and only given minimal government income support. Not able to meet their basic needs, this <a href="http://apo.org.au/node/38122">forced people into destitution</a>. While most have been granted the right to work, many are still significantly financially disadvantaged. </p>
<p>The temporary nature of visas for people seeking asylum means their only pathway to higher education is through admission as a full-fee paying international student. The average undergraduate degree costs <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/punjabi/en/article/2017/11/01/how-do-i-pay-my-studies-australia">over A$30,000 </a> per year without government subsidies. This makes accessing higher education financially impossible for most. </p>
<p>Being issued a temporary visa also creates difficulties in accessing alternative pathways. These include <a href="http://enablingeducators.org/enablingtypology/typology/">enabling courses</a>, government-funded English language classes, and other <a href="http://apo.org.au/system/files/4305/apo-nid4305-80706.pdf">supports</a> for successful transition into higher education.</p>
<p>People seeking asylum are also not eligible for income support programs such as <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/newstart-allowance/who-can-get-it">Newstart Allowance</a>, <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/youth-allowance">Youth Allowance</a>, and <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/austudy/eligibility">Austudy</a>. People on a Temporary Protection Visa or Safe Haven Enterprise Visa also face barriers in accessing the <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/special-benefit">Special Benefit</a> welfare payment. They can only receive income support if they’re taking a vocational course likely to improve their employment prospects, and to be completed in 12 months or less. </p>
<p>The recent removal of <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/latest/srss-june-25-cuts/">Status Resolution Support Services</a> (SRSS) income and casework assistance for people seeking asylum on a bridging visa means they’re expected to support themselves if they want to continue their studies. This puts students at even greater risk of <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/publications/reports/srss-economic-penalty-full/">financial destitution and homelessness</a>.</p>
<p>Our research found the stresses of adjusting to academic life, financial difficulties, and living in extremely uncertain situations have a significant negative impact on students’ mental health. These concerns, combined with <a href="http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/700">ongoing trauma</a> from past experiences, separation from family, and mental health impacts of detention act as further barriers to higher education.</p>
<h2>Map of asylum seekers accessing Australian higher education</h2>
<p>Our research found <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Hartley_PeopleSeekingAsylum.pdf">23 universities</a> across Australia have introduced scholarships for students in this situation. Other supports include bursaries and stipends, part-time employment opportunities attached to scholarships, computers, and access to alternative entrance pathways.</p>
<hr>
<p><iframe id="qJhQ2" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qJhQ2/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<hr>
<p>As of October 2018, this has enabled 204 people seeking asylum to study at an Australian university. But there are a lot of others who have not been able to access a scholarship and/or meet the university entry requirements.</p>
<h2>Why should Australians care?</h2>
<p>The determination and commitment of these students to their studies is evident in our research and needs to be celebrated. This is despite the fact they’re living in situations of extreme uncertainty and receiving minimal support compared to most other students in Australia.</p>
<p>Without access to higher education, people seeking asylum have less access to <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/New-Community-Journal-55-Education-denied.pdf">employment opportunities</a>, which means they’re less able to contribute economically to their own livelihoods and their host society. In this case, that would be Australia’s economy. It also exacerbates <a href="https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/mcs/article/view/4969">social exclusion</a> from the broader community. </p>
<h2>What can be done to open up access to higher education?</h2>
<p>University and community organisations responsible for scholarships and other supports for these refugees need to be praised. But further measures need to ensure these students receive supports necessary for success in their studies. This includes offering alternative entrance pathways – such as enabling programs or diploma pathways – and having a <a href="https://srhe.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13562517.2017.1332028#.W_ykMafMycI">dedicated university staff member</a> to support students.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-photo-research-project-gives-refugee-women-a-voice-in-resettlement-policy-98165">How a photo research project gives refugee women a voice in resettlement policy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Federal government policies present the most significant barriers to people seeking asylum in accessing higher education. These also need to be addressed. People found to be refugees should be issued permanent visas as they were before. The processing of these visas has taken a long time – some have been waiting more than five years. The process needs to be faster but also fair to ensure that people seeking asylum <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-australia-decides-who-is-a-genuine-refugee-72574">receive sound decisions</a> on their refugee claims.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107892/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Hartley receives funding from the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Fleay receives funding from the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE). She is also a Board Member, Refugee Council of Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Burke receives funding from National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Baker receives funding from the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE).</span></em></p>Federal government policies are the biggest barriers to people seeking asylum in accessing higher education in Australia.Lisa Hartley, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin UniversityCaroline Fleay, Senior Lecturer, Curtin UniversityRachel Burke, Senior Lecturer, School of Education, University of NewcastleSally Baker, Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/109452012-11-22T19:37:29Z2012-11-22T19:37:29ZFour steps to more humane refugee processing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17903/original/jj7phkz3-1353562831.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The first group to arrive at Manus Island since facilities were reopened flew in on Wednesday.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Department of Immigration and Citizenship </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The latest announcements about boat-people involved heading further down the wrong track: a track marked out by the Howard government for political reasons, and sold to the public using dishonest rhetoric which the Coalition continues to peddle. The result is that we are spending vast amounts of money on indefinite mandatory detention (at least <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/treasury/asylum-seekers-costs-to-spiral/story-fndbwnla-1226350267988">$1 billion per year</a>, but increasing as we spin them off to more remote, more expensive, places).</p>
<p>The cost of indefinite detention has to be clearly recognised. Detention on-shore costs around <a href="http://www.fleurcom.org/Refugees.htm">$150,000 per person</a> per year. It costs <a href="http://www.asrc.org.au/media/documents/offshore-processing-mythbuster-2012.pdf">about $350,000 per person</a> per year to hold them off-shore. But the cost goes further. Since most boat people are ultimately recognised as refugees, and are accepted into the community, they come into the community profoundly damaged by their detention experience and (in some cases no doubt) resentful rather than grateful. They are less able to contribute fully to the Australian community because of the damage we inflict on them. This is a profound irony, given that boat people show great courage and initiative by getting here the way they do. In principle, they are just the sort of people we should want here.</p>
<p>As I argued in my earlier piece, the number of boat people who get here is small, by any measure. This year we might get 20,000 boat-people arriving, but it is likely to be fewer. Just recently Greece – poor, bankrupt Greece – <a href="http://www.unhcr.se/en/media/baltic.../12-16-october-2012.html">volunteered to resettle</a> 20,000 Syrian refugees. If Greece can manage 20,000 refugees in one hit, I dare say Australia can cope with 20,000 in a year. Incidentally, the population of Greece is about the same as Australia’s.</p>
<p>If things keep going as they are, we will lock asylum seekers up, ship them off to Nauru, or condemn them to a life in the shadows as a new underclass prevented from working for five years regardless of their true status as refugees. To put this in perspective, each of these responses involves Australia in breaches of various international human rights standards but more importantly it sits badly with our vision of ourselves as a generous, decent nation.</p>
<p>There is an alternative.</p>
<p>If I could re-design the system, it would look something like this.</p>
<p>First, boat arrivals would be detained initially for one month, for preliminary health and security checks, subject to extension if a court was persuaded that a particular individual should be detained longer.</p>
<p>Second, after initial detention, refugees would be released into the community, with the right to work and access Centrelink and Medicare benefits. Even if none of them got a job, this would still be cheaper than keeping them locked up.</p>
<p>Third, refugees would be released into the community on terms calculated to make sure they remained available for the balance of their visa processing.</p>
<p>Fourth, during the time their visa applications were being processed, refugees would be required to live in rural or regional areas of Australia. Any government benefits they received would thus work for the benefit of the rural and regional economy. There are plenty of towns around the country which would welcome an increase in their population.</p>
<p>It would take a bit of political selling, although I suspect that rural and regional Australia would be quick to see the benefits of this new approach.</p>
<p>But it should not be too hard to persuade the community that we can do better than we are doing now. The present system is supported by lies. Of course criminals should be treated as criminals. But when you see that boat people are not criminals it is more difficult to understand, much less accept, our treatment of them.</p>
<p>I believe most Australians are decent, generous people. Our record in both world wars stands as a tribute to our national character; our response to the Asian tsunami is another. It was tragic to see our national character brought down by the Howard government’s deceptive rhetoric about boat people (most of it calculated to win back voters who had drifted to One Nation). </p>
<p>It is equally tragic to see our national character being damaged by a Labor government which does not have the political spine to tell it like it is: to point out to voters that there is a better way; that we are better than this.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10945/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Burnside is patron of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.</span></em></p>The latest announcements about boat-people involved heading further down the wrong track: a track marked out by the Howard government for political reasons, and sold to the public using dishonest rhetoric…Julian Burnside, Adjunct Professor, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/109442012-11-22T19:37:26Z2012-11-22T19:37:26ZBridging visas send refugee policy further down the wrong track<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17902/original/k79gy9xs-1353560093.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chris Bowen's new policy on bridging visas takes the Pacific Solution further in the wrong direction.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dean Lewins</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is clear enough that the Gillard government’s revived Pacific Solution has not stopped the boats: it has not even slowed them.</p>
<p>In 2002, the boats stopped, some months after the Pacific Solution was first introduced. The supporters of the policy said that it was the Pacific Solution that stopped the boats: <em><a href="http://skepdic.com/posthoc.html">post hoc, ergo propter hoc</a></em>. In 2012, boat arrival rates increased after the revamped Pacific Solution was introduced. By the same logic we could then argue that the Pacific Solution caused arrival rates to increase.</p>
<p>Bob Carr has since said that the arrival rates <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/foreign-minister-bob-carr-warns-of-180000-boatpeople/story-fn9hm1gu-1226463502573">would have been higher</a> but for the current approach. It is difficult to argue against that species of logic, beyond saying that it sheds light on the frontier optimism shares with desperation.</p>
<p>Chris Bowen yesterday announced some running repairs on Pacific Solution Mark Two. Because Nauru and Manus Island between them have no chance of taking the people who have arrived here by boat since the new policy was introduced (much less accommodating them for five years - the “no advantage” principle at work), people will be allowed into the Australian community on bridging visas, but they will not be allowed to work and they will have to wait for five years (the “no advantage” principle again).</p>
<p>While this announcement will, for a while, prevent the Pacific Solution from imploding, it just takes us further down the wrong track.</p>
<p>Almost everything that has happened in refugee policy over the past 11 years has been informed and supported by dishonest rhetoric. Specifically, calling boat people “illegals” and “queue-jumpers” is not only false, it is calculated to prejudice the public against a tiny group of weak, vulnerable people who deserve our help, not our hatred.</p>
<p>The poison was started by John Howard, but it is still streaked through the Coalition rhetoric. Earlier this week Tony Abbott shamelessly referred to boat-people as “<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/abbott-called-on-illegal-slur-20121121-29qa8.html">illegals</a>”, and spoke of them entering Australia “illegally”. Either his policies are founded on a gross misunderstanding of the facts, or he is being dishonest. With him, it’s hard to tell.</p>
<p>To be clear: it is not illegal to come to Australia without papers and seek asylum. Boat-people do not commit any offence by their manner of arrival.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the notion of “queue-jumpers” is equally wrong, and is used with equally malevolent intent. Most of the boat people who have come here over the past 15 years have been Hazaras from Afghanistan. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/hazara/4165942">Hazaras</a> are an ethnic minority in Afghanistan. They have been persecuted since the middle of the 19th century. The Taliban are intent on wiping them from the face of the earth. Imagine a Hazara who wants to find safety from the Taliban, but has heard Australia’s criticism of “queue-jumpers”. Suppose he decides to do things the way Tony Abbott would approve: he looks for the Australian Embassy in Kabul in order to seek asylum. Sadly for him, the address of the Embassy is a secret, for security reasons.</p>
<p>Not much of a queue, if you are not allowed to know where it is.</p>
<p>If John Howard had not poisoned the public debate so effectively between 2001 and 2007, perhaps more Australians would be concerned about the present government’s treatment of boat people. Make no mistake, all human rights <a href="http://www.amnesty.org.au/refugees/comments/29489/">NGOs</a>, and most Western countries, regard our treatment of boat people as wantonly cruel. We are a rich, secure nation, insulated by sea from most of the world’s refugee flows. </p>
<p>How different our international reputation might be if all Australians understood a few basic facts.</p>
<p>The number of boat people arriving here are tiny, by any measure. This year, total boat people arrivals will amount to <a href="http://www.watoday.com.au/national/gillards-timor-solution-for-asylum-seekers-20100706-zy9j.html">less than 8% of our annual migration intake</a>.</p>
<p>Boat people do not represent a failure of border control. Around 4 million people cross our borders with permission each year (mostly for tourism, business or study). If 20,000 boat people get here this year without authority, it will mean that border control is successful 99.5% of the time. </p>
<p>It takes a special form of deceit to reframe this as a “failure of border control”. Let me make my meaning clear: members of the Coalition who criticise boat arrivals as a failure of border control are either dishonest or so utterly uninformed that they should not speak publicly on the subject.</p>
<p>Indefinite mandatory detention costs a spectacular amount of money, and causes untold psychiatric harm to people who are already vulnerable.</p>
<p>In a related piece, I will argue for a completely different approach.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10944/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Burnside is patron of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.</span></em></p>It is clear enough that the Gillard government’s revived Pacific Solution has not stopped the boats: it has not even slowed them. In 2002, the boats stopped, some months after the Pacific Solution was…Julian Burnside, Adjunct Professor, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.