BY SARAH STEPHEN
Australia's treatment of refugees took its ugliest turn with the hijacking of the MV Tampa by heavily armed SAS squads on August 29, 2001, and the subsequent remote incarceration of thousands of asylum seekers, without any access to Australian courts or legal advice, on Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.
Two years later, the flow of asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat has all but stopped. Government ministers gloat at having created conditions that are so harsh and punitive, asylum seekers feel that it is probably safer to seek refuge elsewhere.
But the "Tampa Affair" also had a positive counter-effect. Outraged and appalled, tens of thousands of Australians were propelled into action in a massive and diverse protest movement. From city-based refugee action collectives and university groups through to the amazing, rapid growth of Rural Australians for Refugees groups and the formation of ChilOut groups, PM John Howard and immigration minister Philip Ruddock faced their widest organised opposition.
This movement has deepened opposition to the Howard government, both among those who were involved and by weakening support for the government's vilification of refugees. There is now widespread sympathy for children and families to be released from detention.
The housing of asylum-seeker families outside detention in the Woomera township, and the eventual closure of Woomera detention centre, while partial and inadequate, indicate that the government has felt the heat of opposition.
Among a substantial section of the population, there has been a deep shift in consciousness about refugees' rights during the last two years. This won't be eroded quickly. While there are not large protest rallies at the moment, we can be assured that the next "Tampa" will be met by a powerful response.
The deportation of asylum seekers has begun. We must protest the hypocrisy of a government that supported wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, yet is happy to send thousands of people back there.
[Sarah Stephen is 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly's refugee-rights correspondent, a member of the Democratic Socialist Party, and also of the Socialist Alliance.]
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, August 27, 2003.
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