Monday, November 26, 2007

Refugees on Christmas Island

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4 comments:

Leon Bertrand said...
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thr said...

I don't think anybody on the left expects much from Rudd.
The abolition of Workchoices is the best I'm hoping for. Other than that, I expect some token gestures on matters of the environment and Aboriginal issues. Foreign policy will be exactly the same. I'm sceptical about any major changes happening to health, housing or education, despite the election promises.
It's a shame, really, as Rudd has a golden opportunity to make a real contribution to Australia's federalism, now that we have wall-to-wall Labor Govts. He could also institute some respectable levels of ministerial accountability, and perhaps even hold some inquiries.Royal Commissions re: AWB and other fiascos, though I suspect this won't happen.
Incidentally, it was the ALP (in 1992) who initiated the policy of mandatory detention for asylum seekers. The Libs simply to it to greater lengths, and used it to appropriate the One Nation Vote.

Colin said...

Mandatory detention is here to stay for now.

There is plenty of room to rehumanize the system around that - letting kids out; shortening the detention time; getting rid of TPVs; amelioriating the conditions of detention; closing the detention centres in far-flung wildernesses; not abusing the navy; and no more Pacific Solution(!). So I hope for the best.

Rudd did mention using that bizarre concentration camp they built on Christmas Island, which worries me a little.

Mondo Rock said...

I doubt very much that Rudd intends to change the mandatory detention system all that much. As Hap points out - it was a Labor government that introduced it in the first place and, despite the noise made by the fringe refugee movement, maintaining some control over our borders is important.

I do, however, hope that we'll see the following fairly quickly:

1. Pacific solution abandoned
2. Children exempted from mandatory detention

Rudd can't reverse the shrinking of Australia's migration zones under Howard and would be heavily criticised if he dismanteld the expensive prison on Christmas island too soon.

What we really need is some effective deterrance policies that see fewer arrivals and our detention facilities empty for the next couple of years. We'd see change pretty quickly if the Australian people thought we were spending hundreds of millions of dollars keeping out only a handful of people each year.

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