Essay On Asylum Seekers

Policies enforcing mandatory detention of 'unauthorized’ asylum seekers in Australia have, for the most part, enjoyed bipartisan support. At present, almost 2000 people are being held in offshore detention for an average length of 394 days (Asylum Seeker Resource Centre 2015). This is despite multiple warnings from the international community that Australia has breached international agreements to which Australia is signatory to. This essay intends to first, explore the history of this bipartisan policy before arguing, through a human rights framework, why this policy should be abolished.

Concern surrounding ‘unauthorized boat arrivals’ has existed since the 1970’s when refugees following the Vietnam War began seeking asylum in Australia (Ghezelbash and Crock 2013). Whilst the Whitlam Labor Government signed the UN Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1973, which broadened protection outside of European boundaries, they were reluctant to provide refugees with entry into Australia (Waxman 2010). With the Labor dismissal, however, in 1975, the Coalition Government were able offer a more relaxed policy, accepting more than 50, 000 asylum seekers, which at the time, enjoyed bipartisan support (Colebatch 2010).

Whilst the original Migration Act 1958 allowed Immigration Officials to detain persons without a visa, it was not until the Migration Reform Act 1992 that this became mandatory (Australian Human Rights Commission 2004).

Asylum seekers, under the reformed Act, must be detained until they are “either granted a visa or removed from Australia” (Crock and Ghezelbash 2010: 256). These changes, started under Hawke, but coming to their full realisation under the Keating Government, were widely supported by both sides of government (257). The reform also established a 273-day cap for those in detention, which was shortly removed after an influx of unauthorized boat arrivals in 1994 (Australian Human Rights Commission

2004).

The next set of changes occurred under the Howard Government, particularly focused on the introduction of Temporary Protection Visas (TPV’s) in 1999 (Phillips and Spinks 2013). The idea was that the notion of temporary residency would deter ‘boat people’ from seeking asylum in Australia, though this was highly controversial (Phillips and Spinks 2013). In 2001, following the ‘Tampa Crisis’ several islands, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Cartier Islands and Ashmore were “excised from Australia’s migration zone” (Phillips and Spinks 2013). This meant that one could not apply for a visa from any of these locations and instead would be taken to Offshore Processing Centres on Nauru and Manus Island (2013). Their claims are then assessed in relation to the criteria outlined in the 1951 Refugee Convention to decide whether they should be granted asylum. This scheme was named the ‘Pacific Solution’ and enjoyed bipartisan support.