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2013/01: Should Australia continue to place asylum seekers in detention and process them offshore?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right:On November 1, 2012, the satirical program Roast News telecast a humorous treatment of the Gillard government’s decision to excise (remove) mainland Australia from the country’s migration zone. If you cannot see this clip, it will be because video is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows viewing of video clips.
What they said...
'These are difficult decisions for everybody but we do need to have in place a properly integrated system which says to people there's a safer way of getting to Australia'
The federal Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, referring to his government's decision to excise mainland Australia from the country's migration zone
'Refugees cannot be processed in a way that respects their rights on disease-ridden, impoverished islands with no support infrastructure'
Dr Nick Riemer, University of Sydney
The issue at a glance
On December 14, 2012, it was announced that Professor Harry Minas, a leading mental health expert and a long-serving member of the Government's advisory council on detention and asylum seekers, had quit after more than 10 years in the job.
The Professor claimed the decision by the Gillard Government to excise the mainland from the migration zone so that asylum seekers who arrived on Australian soil could be processed offshore was part of the reason for his decision.
The actions of the current government in reintroducing offshore processing and detention for asylum seekers have generated a great deal of debate.
There are those who believe these actions are inhumane and are a dereliction of the responsibility Australia undertook to help asylum seekers when it signed the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention.
On the other hand, there are those who believe these actions are motivated by the desire to discourage asylum seekers from coming to Australia by boat because they risk drowning.
Equally, there are those who consider the current policy is politically motivated, intended to placate a majority of the electorate which is afraid that Australia will be overrun by an influx of asylum seekers.