(no subject)
Nov. 18th, 2004 01:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamer_easyThese bloody lies drive me crazy. From the Liberal Party of Australia's policy on refugees:
Critics of our tough stance ignore two fundamental facts: We oversee one of the most generous migration programs in the world and, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) figures, Australia is the third largest recipient of refugees for resettlement worldwide.
This is a deliberately misleading pile of old poo. In 2003 the UNHCR directly resettled only 26,000 refugees out of almost ten million refugees worldwide. Australia took just 15% of that small number, coming third after the US and Canada. In total we accepted about 12,000 refugees. Ireland took about the same total number, but they have only about a fifth of our population. The Netherlands have about the same population as Australia but they took 34,000 refugees. France? Three times our population, eight times as many refugees. And so on. In fact, Australia is one of the least generous nations, particularly given our comparative wealth. Basically, every country has to play the same rules: if a refugee reaches that country, they must be allowed to stay. Because of Australia's isolation, it's difficult for asylum seekers to reach us, and most arrive via the UNHCR's resettlement efforts. Other nations don't have this luxury.
At least the govt is honest about one thing now:
A re-elected Coalition Government will: [...] Retain the policies of excision, offshore processing (the "Pacific Solution") and mandatory detention that have acted as a powerful deterrent to illegal migration
It's illegal to do anything to deter refugees from seeking asylum in your country. In the past the government has been careful not to confess that deterrence is the point of their policies, even though that's obvious to everyone. These days I think they know there's zero danger in admitting their real motives. I'm surprised they bother trotting out the same old lies.
Critics of our tough stance ignore two fundamental facts: We oversee one of the most generous migration programs in the world and, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) figures, Australia is the third largest recipient of refugees for resettlement worldwide.
This is a deliberately misleading pile of old poo. In 2003 the UNHCR directly resettled only 26,000 refugees out of almost ten million refugees worldwide. Australia took just 15% of that small number, coming third after the US and Canada. In total we accepted about 12,000 refugees. Ireland took about the same total number, but they have only about a fifth of our population. The Netherlands have about the same population as Australia but they took 34,000 refugees. France? Three times our population, eight times as many refugees. And so on. In fact, Australia is one of the least generous nations, particularly given our comparative wealth. Basically, every country has to play the same rules: if a refugee reaches that country, they must be allowed to stay. Because of Australia's isolation, it's difficult for asylum seekers to reach us, and most arrive via the UNHCR's resettlement efforts. Other nations don't have this luxury.
At least the govt is honest about one thing now:
A re-elected Coalition Government will: [...] Retain the policies of excision, offshore processing (the "Pacific Solution") and mandatory detention that have acted as a powerful deterrent to illegal migration
It's illegal to do anything to deter refugees from seeking asylum in your country. In the past the government has been careful not to confess that deterrence is the point of their policies, even though that's obvious to everyone. These days I think they know there's zero danger in admitting their real motives. I'm surprised they bother trotting out the same old lies.
