By Jonathan Singer
The two April 11 NSW Sunday papers carried the same screaming headline: "Invaded".
What was the force and intent of this invasion? At last count, 59 people, sailing in a rusty tugboat, had apparently run aground in northern NSW. Then, on foot and swimming rivers, they were making their way, armed with $50 and $100 notes and camouflaged with new business suits, to get jobs in Sydney.
The mainstream media have since made much of the 100 or so vessels that have reached Australia's shores or water with "boat people" aboard in the last 10 years, and linked "people smuggling" to drug trafficking. A prime ministerial investigatory task force is looking at coastal surveillance.
But no-one in the establishment is asking what can be done to stop people who want to get to Australia to live choosing such unusual means, rather than just catching a regular passenger plane or boat service (which would stop the possibility of the introduction of exotic diseases or pests).
What, after all, makes these immigrants illegal "invaders"? Not their inability to support themselves, given the cost of their travel (reportedly up to $40,000 for the one-way trip), nor unwillingness to work, but government limits on which people are to be allowed to come to live in Australia and racism against people from countries in Asia, where "boat people" will generally come from.
These characteristics of immigration policy in Australia are exposed again, in the establishment media itself, in the contrast between their treatment of the "boat people" and their reaction to the Australian government's response to Kosovar refugee crisis, in which it belatedly allowed for a possible 4000 temporary refugees, who will be provided with the "basic necessities".
In the word of the editors of Murdoch's Australian:
- "It is crucial now that the Howard government ... avoid the mentality of punishment and control that has characterised so much of recent refugee policy [such as] the mistreatment of the Cambodian boat people ... the government has already erred grievously, and with a characteristic meanness of spirit ... the government's generally negative rhetoric and attitude to immigration must not be allowed to threaten the [Kosovar refugees'] welfare. (Greg Sheridan, April 8)
- "The government's instincts about immigration are negative and it shows." (Paul Kelly, April 8)
- "[Immigration minister Philip] Ruddock's mindset [resulting in his initial rejection of Australia as a possible refugee haven] ... has been to keep the [immigration] program ... in touch with John Howard's opinion ... No one could be surprised at Howard's unsentimental views on immigration. They are nothing if not consistent and have been for decades." (Richard McGregor, April 13)
The regressive nature of the temporary refuge offer, which denies Kosovar refugees the right to choose to apply for permanent residency, with all the rights of citizens, is, then, no surprise.
Howard said they may stay only "until the situation on the ground improves", mirroring the stance take previously by Pauline Hanson that refugees should be forced to return to the country they have come from if circumstances improve. All this is justified by claiming that otherwise the Serbian regime's ethnic cleansing is vindicated, yet the government is giving totally insignificant amounts of aid to help the Kosovar refugees stay in areas near Kosova.
This only expresses the government's intentions — supported by big business, which wants to be able to choose for immigration the skilled workers and business people it needs — not to increase refugee numbers. In fact, the government is seeking to further limit possible refugees by withdrawing legal appeal rights of asylum seekers, thereby increasing the presumption that they are not legitimate refugees. And it has threatened to cut the parent reunion program to only 500 per year (leading to a 20-year waiting list) if this isn't done.
In a April 11 press release, Ruddock called "people smuggling" an "obnoxious rort". But what stinks in immigration is the government's policy.