Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Feel free to copy this message, unedited, to any relevant forum.

You'll recall my request for emails and letters to the Leader of the Opposition, Mark Latham, asking him to appoint pro-refugee Minister Carmen Lawrence to the shadow immigration portfolio. Alas, the fears of refugee advocates came to pass, and Minister Laurie Ferguson got the job. He immediately displayed his hostility and ignorance, declaring that a "sizeable proportion" of asylum seekers are fakes deliberately trying to rort the system; in fact, the overwhelming majority of asylum seekers are found to be genuine. Even the small proportion who fail in their claim are not automatically con artists - they may simply not have been able to prove their case. Some who have been deported by Australia have disappeared or been killed. Ferguson also accused refugee advocates of wanting no checking of claims whatsoever, which is a startling falsehood. You expect spin from Ministers, but you also expect them to have some sort of grasp on the facts.

More on Ferguson's remarks:

Ferguson sounds harsh note on refugees (The Age, 28 October)

Outdoing the Coalition on refugees? (Green Left Weekly, 3 November)

I'm appealing to anybody reading this to drop Mr Ferguson a polite email or letter, pointing out his errors, and asking him to stand up for refugees and human rights. It only needs to be a few sentences. If you happen to be in his electorate of Reid, it would be especially effective! His details:

Mr Laurie Ferguson MP
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Laurie.Ferguson.MP@aph.gov.au

You can phone his Granville office on (02) 9637 4713.
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The alternative newspaper Green Left Weekly often runs stories on Australia's refugees - here are a couple of recent ones:

3 November: Cruel policy splits families

13 October: Iraqi TPV-holders demand permanent protection

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If you would like to let the government know your thoughts on these issues, drop a line to the Minister for Immigration, Amanda Vanstone. (If you write to Mr Ferguson you might like to send a copy to Ms Vanstone.)

The Hon Amanda Vanstone
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
81 Flinders Street, Adelaide SA 5000

minister@immi.gov.au

Phone (08) 8223 1757 (or, within SA, toll free on 1800 018 282).

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Some quick background - an asylum seeker is someone asking to be recognised as a refugee under the 1951 Refugee Convention. Australian law permits people to enter Australia to seek asylum without asking official permission first (ie without a visa). A refugee is technically someone who has been found to meet the definition laid out in the convention, ie they have a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country. Australia voluntary agreed to sign the Refugee Convention and other relevant treaties, and is breaking international law by trying to deter refugees from coming here, imprisoning people indefinitely without legal redress, and imprisoning children. Thousands of genuine refugees have been issued with three-year Temporary Protection Visas, leaving them in limbo.

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x-posted to refugeenews

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Bits and pieces from the papers

The news that Kofi Annan dismissed a claim of sexual harassment against UNHRC head Ruud Lubbers, despite the UN's own investigation substantiating the claim, is extremely disappointing. The UN is too crucial an organisation to let itself be anything but above suspicion. (Plus it greatly reduces Annan's remarkable sexiness.)

I was fascinated to read that, in the ACT, it's illegal to hand out election material within 100 m of a voting place. Here in NSW the limit is only 6 m. Anybody from Canberra reading this? Do people even bother to hand out when they have to stay so far away from the action? (Personally I'd like to see handing out banned all together so we can all stay home and relax.)

For those of you in the USA, 100 metres is about one and a half furlongs about half a furlong.

ETA: Check out this example of election day campaigning, gakked from commonreader.

Genesis 36

My crummy summary: Esau's descendants. They can't fit in the same bit of land as Jacob, so move out.

My notes to me: Not much to say here, it's mostly genealogy. Must look up whether the full story of Anah and the mules is known.

This is handy: a searchable Bible family tree generator!

Natural History

Today's phylum is the NEMERTEA, the ribbon-worms, of which there are around 800 species.

There are two classes:

- Anopla (use their proboscis like a lasso to catch prey)
- Enopla (use pointy teethy things called stylets to zap their prey with poison)