Right: Prime Minister John Howard, in his 2001 campaign speech, famously declared that " ... we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come."'
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Arguments in favour of detaining asylum seekers and processing them offshore
1. The number of asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat increased dramatically after offshore processing was abandoned
The Howard government's announcement, on September 1, 2001, that it would send asylum seekers to Nauru, saw boat arrivals over that coming month fall to 561 from 1645 the previous month. This decrease came despite the fact that it was not until September 19 that asylum-seekers actually landed on Nauru.
619 asylum seekers arrived in October, 159 in November and 64 in December of 2001. There were no asylum-seeker boats in 2002. In 2003 the number of boat arrivals was 53; in 2004 it was 15; in 2005 it was 11; in 2006 it was 60; in 2007 it was 148; in 2008 it was 161.
A dramatic increase occurred in 2009 and 2010. There were 2726 asylum seekers who arrived by boat in 2009 and 6555 in 2010.
Critics of the government's abandonment of offshore processing have claimed that it was this change of policy that caused the increase in numbers. People smugglers and asylum seekers themselves have been quoted in support of this claim.
On April 11, 2010, The Courier Mail quoted a former people-smuggler now living in Australia, as claiming, 'The immigration rules in Australia were changed and everyone knows it and that's why so many are now coming.
Before, the reason it stopped was John Howard absolutely, he deterred some boats by force and Nauru Island where they (boat people) knew they could get stuck for one or two or three years.
We and the passengers would check the internet daily to see what Canberra was doing and we all knew these things.'
On October 10, 2009, The Australian quoted a 31 year old Iraqi asylum seeker, who stated, 'I know Kevin Rudd is the new PM. I know about him. He has tried to get more immigrants. I have heard if someone arrives it is easy. They have camps, good service and if someone arrives they give us a limited visa and after three years you become an Australian citizen.'
2. Coming to Australia by boat is dangerous for asylum seekers
The Australian government has argued that in changing its asylum seeker policy to again include offshore processing, its aim is to prevent people risking their lives trying to come here by boat.
The danger of attempting to come to Australia by boat was emphasised by the Minister for Immigration, Chris Bowen, in an opinion piece published in The Sydney Morning Herald on September 17, 2011. Mr Bowen stated, 'Last year we watched on helplessly and in horror as about 50 people lost their lives at Christmas Island, including a two-month-old child.'
Mr Bowen went on to note, 'This was simply the latest in what is a long line of tragedies. In 2001, 353 men, women and children died on the SIEV X. Several elderly asylum seekers drowned near Ashmore Reef in 2001, and 12 Sri Lankans died in 2009 in the Indian Ocean when their boat sank before a commercial tanker could rescue it.
These are just the tragedies we know of. There is credible evidence of other boats simply disappearing between Indonesia and Australia.'
In April, 2012, Mr Bowen stated, 'Asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat face very real risks and we need to work together now to prevent another tragedy from occurring.'
In October, 2012, commenting on the Government's changed position on offshore processing, Chris Bowen stated, 'I've changed and the Labor Party has changed its position to save lives.'
In November, 2012, the Government introduced legislation that required that even those asylum seekers who succeeded in reaching the Australian mainland would be subject to offshore processing. Justifying this decision, Mr Bowen stated, 'We are committed to putting in place an orderly migration which says to vulnerable people that there is a safer way of getting to Australia...
The message for people arriving by boat is clear: regardless of where you land, you risk being processed in Nauru or Papua New Guinea.
To those contemplating the journey, I reiterate: the people smugglers are lying to you. It is not worth risking your life. There is no visa on arrival, there is no special treatment and there is no advantage given to those who come by boat.'
It has also been noted that it can be extremely difficult to locate and save those who attempt to come to Australia by boat and get into trouble.
Australia's Home Affairs Minister, Jason Clare, has stated, 'Don't underestimate how difficult this task is; don't underestimate how big the sea that we're searching is.'
3. Coming to Australia by boat should give "no advantage" to asylum seekers over waiting in refugee camps overseas
Part of Recommendation One of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers (the Houston Review) is 'The application of a "no advantage" principle to ensure that no benefit is gained through circumventing regular migration arrangements.'
What this recommendations means is that asylum seekers should not be able to see any advantage in attempting to come to Australia by boat.
The adoption of this principle by the government is meant to ensure that people will be willing to come to Australia through 'regular migration arrangements'.
Currently, 'regular migration arrangements' mean that asylum seekers in refugee camps or other depots are registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and then approved to go to Australia or another country which is a signatory of the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention.
In the future the government hopes to develop processing facilities with other nations in the region to streamline the processing of applications and to discourage people smuggling.
Part of the 'no advantage' principle is that any asylum seeker who comes to Australia by boat may be detained in a processing facility, offshore or otherwise, for as long as that person might have been expected to wait in a refugee camp overseas. The principle is designed to put boat arrivals in the same position as those in transit countries, with an equivalent wait before resettlement.
The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has stated, 'The aim here is to define what is the period of time someone would have waited if they had not moved but had stayed where they were for processing by the UNHCR.'
As a furtherance of the no 'advantage principle', even once an asylum seeker is judged to be a genuine refugee that person will not receive a permanent protection visa earlier than if they had remained in a refugee camp and had their application processed there.
The Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, has stated, 'People arriving by boat are subject to this "no advantage" principle, whether that means being transferred offshore to have their claims processed, remaining in detention, or being placed in the community...
They will not ... be issued with a permanent Protection visa if found to be a refugee, until such time that they would have been resettled in Australia after being processed in our region.'
4. Australian law requires asylum seekers be detained until their health and security status can be checked
Migration to Australia is regulated by the Migration Act 1958. The object of Australia's Migration Act 1958 is to regulate, in the national interest, the lawful entry and stay of people in Australia. All non-citizens wanting to visit Australia have to apply for, and be granted, a visa to enter Australia.
Non-citizens who are in the migration zone and do not hold a valid visa entitling them to remain in Australia are unlawful non-citizens.
Australia's Migration Act 1958 requires that unlawful non-citizens who are in Australia's migration zone be detained and that unless they are granted permission to remain in Australia, they must be removed as soon as reasonably practicable.
This Act can be seen to apply to people seeking refugee status as much as to any other non-citizen who arrives in Australia without a visa.
The government's seven key immigration detention values are:
a) Mandatory detention is an essential component of strong border control.
b) To support the integrity of Australia's immigration program, three groups will be subject to mandatory detention:
i) all unauthorised arrivals, for management of health, identity and security risks to the community (It is this principle, in particular, which is applied to asylum seekers)
ii) unlawful non-citizens who present unacceptable risks to the community and
iii) unlawful non-citizens who have repeatedly refused to comply with their visa conditions.
5. Australia has increased its annual intake of asylum seekers
Australia has dramatically increased its annual intake of asylum seekers. In August 2012, the Australian government announced that it had increased the country's refugee quota from 13,700 to 20,000. This is the largest single increase in 30 years.
Supporters of the Gillard government's current policy argue that this increase demonstrates that Australia is open and accepting of asylum seekers. They claim that the government's concern is not to prevent asylum seekers from coming to this country; rather its concern is to prevent asylum seekers from risking their lives attempting to come here by boat.
The Prime Minister has stressed that Australia seeks to advantage refugees who attempt to come to this country by applying for entry from refugee camps within their own or other countries. Ms Gillard stated, 'This increase [in Australia's annual refugee intake] is targeted to those in most need: those vulnerable people offshore, not those getting on boats.
Message No. 1: If you get on a boat, you are at risk of being transferred to Nauru or P.N.G. (Papua New Guinea).
Message No. 2: If you stay where you are, then there are more resettlement places available in Australia.'
The Prime Minister has claimed that as an indication of the government's commitment to 'safe alternatives to dangerous boat journeys', Australia will proceed to immediately resettle an additional 400 refugees from Indonesia.
The Australian government will also consult the UNHCR over the allocation of the remaining resettlement places.
More Afghans, as well as Syrians and Iraqis, who had fled to refugee camps in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon, would be accepted as part of the increased intake.