BOAT

PEOPLE:
1975 - 2015

THE ISSUE OF BOAT PEOPLE

-

Migration is not new to Australia. One third of Australians

were born overseas and over half have at least one parent
born overseas.

However, in Australia is has become a hot political issue

in the 21st century and political parties being seen as
being Anti-Immigration can be good for polling figures.

In 2013 Australias conservative coalition government,

boasted the election promise: Stop the boats.

In early 2014 Scott Morrison, the immigration minister,

said no boats had reached Australia for more than eight
weeks.

The most common argument to justify the policies against

accepting boat people is it saves lives by deterring
people from undertaking the dangerous journey.

BOAT PEOPLE IN THE

20TH CENTURY
-

The term Boat People first came about during the Vietnamese
War, after the communists gained control and refugees started
leaving the country in the millions.

Vietnamese made traitorous journeys towards Malaysia,

Indonesia and Australia on boats to escape persecution.

At the time they were welcomed by a collection of Western

governments that had promised to help clean up the mess left by
the Vietnamese War.

This was also extended to the peoples fleeing the Cambodian

genocide.

With Australia the closest Westernised country many made their

way towards Australia.

In the late 1970s and 1980s Australia took in 25000 asylum

seekers a year without any discernable social problems.

CHANGING POLICIES
-

The media and both main political parties now benefit from
a hard stance to detaining refugees who try to reach
Australia by boat.

The government under Abbott continually boasted that no

(or few) asylum-seeker carrying boats reach Australian
shores and Abbott made it a key policy for his successive
election campaigns.

In 1992 the Keating government introduced mandatory

detention for refugees and immigrants arriving by boat.

Sent to detention camps on Manus and Nauru were they

are processed purposely slowly, with poor living
conditions.

Meant to act as a deterrent.

ATTITUDES TOWARDS
BOAT PEOPLE
-

The image painted by the media and politicians of

refugees who arrive by boat differs widely to the mostly
ignored issue of those who arrive by air.

Respected columnists and politicians in Australia being

lured into easy scapegoating of this group of people.

Last year the Sunday Morning Herald published an article

accusing the government of not taking productivity
seriously, as a result of their lax attitude to refugees.

Asylum-seekers are painted, at best, as economic

migrants and at worst, criminals and delinquents.

Smugglers are demonised by not as exploiters but just to

further justify the inhumane action taken against refugees.

ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF
TOLERANCE
-

Widely agreed that with appropriate integration efforts

that migrants have proved to add to prosperity of
countries they arrive in.
Research conducted in the UK [reported in The
Economist] suggests that those who have had contact
with immigrant populations are the least anti-immigration.
Vietnamese Boat People in Australia are now earning, on
average, well over the nation average wage after one
generation.
It is expensive to detain immigrants in these detention
camps much more so than to process them
humanitarianly.

INTERNATIONAL
INTERVENTION
-

In 2014 the UN refugee agency condemned the

immigration policies in place in Australia and specifically
the actions of Scott Morrison, immigration minister.

In 2012 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that

boat people must be given a fair chance to apply for
asylum and may not automatically be sent back even if
rescued in international waters.

Australian governments have been continually

embarrassed by the policies yet they prevail.

Amnesty International said in a report that it had evidence

showing that Australian officials paid people smugglers to
turn back boats and threatened asylum seekers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.ohchr.org/HRC/Pages/redirect.aspx
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-28189608
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQTviKM9Mx0
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/07/australias-asylum-seekers
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/06/australias-asylum-seeker-problem
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/02/australias-asylum-policy
http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21636365-new-law-gives-immigration-minister-unprecedented-power
-full-steam-ahead
http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21608798-court-challenges-hardline-policy-towards-boat-people-sea
http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21651249-plan-deal-boat-people-ambitious-outcome-will-bewoefully
http
://www.economist.com/news/asia/21644010-prime-minister-dismisses-damning-report-australias-detention
-children-seeking-asylumsuffer
http://www.smh.com.au/business/were-not-taking-productivity-seriously-20150315-144efr.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-21/carvalho-why-migrants-may-be-our-greatest-economic-asset/6409
042
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/humanitarian-economic-changing-face-vietnamese-migration
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-23/coleman-vietnamese-refugees-are-still-coming/6412418
http://thebigsmoke.com.au/2014/04/07/reality-boat-people-solution-asylum-seeker-problem/
http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2014/05/malcolm-fraser-australian-foreign-policy
http://gqtrippin.com/asia/vietnam/parents-immigrant-story/