MISHA COLEMAN, executive officer of the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce, takes a look at recent changes to the way Australia handles asylum seekers arriving by boat and says many questions – particularly with regard to the plight of children – remain unanswered…
It has been a tumultuous and tragic few weeks for Australia and the asylum seekers looking for protection in this vast island continent.
No sooner was a new commander appointed and ‘Operation Sovereign Borders’ launched by the new Immigration and Border Protection Minister, Scott Morrison, than controversy erupted over newly announced plans to place tight restrictions on information about boat arrivals and asylum seekers.
“Details about how (Coalition) policies will work will only be known closer to implementation, but there is much reason for concern, and many questions to be answered.” |
This was followed last weekend by an asylum seeker boat capsizing off the coast of Indonesia, with more than 30 people confirmed dead, many of them children. The events surrounding this latest tragedy are highly contested with survivors having been reported as saying they had made contact with Australian authorities who were sending help; claims that have been denied by immigration minister. At least four more boats arrived throughout the week. A group of West Papuans, including a woman and a 10-year-old boy, were among those, arriving in the Torres Strait only to be removed to Papua New Guinea within days.
This week Tony Abbott is concluding his first overseas trip as prime minister, wrapping up his visit to Indonesia. Commentators and journalists have already noted the distinct shift in his language. A welcome or perhaps inevitable tempering brought on by the knowledge that what works as a break-through slogan during an election campaign – “stop the boats” – does not translate into the real world context, with other sovereign states and complex international laws governing the movement of peoples, of sea boundaries and, search and rescue responsibilities.
Yet these last two weeks herald only the beginning of yet more significant changes in refugee and asylum seeker policy ahead, which were outlined by the Coalition during the election, and include:
• Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB)
This involves the appointment of the three star general who will now oversee a new military operation in early detection, disruption or turn back and tow back boats. The basic premise is to repel any boat with asylum seekers trying to enter Australian waters or to transfer/redirect these asylum seekers elsewhere.
• A regional deterrence framework to combat people smuggling
This builds on the OSB policy to shift the emphasis of our regional engagement more firmly into “deterrence” and away from a humanitarian focus on protection. It includes schemes such as paying Indonesians for intelligence, buying their boats, increased surveillance, building Indonesian capacity for surveillance, search and rescue. Ramping up capacity on Nauru and Manus Island, so that new boat arrivals are not allowed into our jurisdiction or settled in Australia.
• Changes regarding the treatment of 30,000 asylum seekers already in Australia
Reintroduction of temporary protection visas (TPV’s) for anyone found to be a genuine refugee who has arrived by boat. Changes to the system for processing refugee claims, including scrapping the Refugee Review Tribunal, and a new “fast-track” system of turnarounds based on UK models.
• To withdraw all publicly funded legal assistance to asylum seekers arriving by boat
Any asylum seeker arriving by boat will have no publicly funded legal advice to help them make a claim for protection, though they may have access to pro-bono assistance. They will have access to fact sheets and information in their language.
Details about how these policies will work will only be known closer to implementation, but there is much reason for concern, and many questions to be answered.
The immense and serious mental health and long term wellbeing impacts of TPVs were well documented during their previous use. What now will be different to ameliorate such effects, especially as it is flagged that settlement support will be limited or not at all?
The system of pro-bono legal assistance is already stretched, and the proposals around “fast-tracking” don’t seem to have any of the (few) safeguards assured in the UK model – how will Australia ensure we are not refouling genuine refugees to places where they will continue to face persecution, torture and imprisonment?
In the last few days, reports have also emerged about the possibility that unaccompanied children have been secretly transferred offshore, possibly to Nauru or Manus. Who is their legal guardian? Who is watching over the best interests of these children?
Throughout all of these changes, both proposed and underway, little has been said of the plight of children, in particular those unaccompanied children who have traversed the world and oceans with no parent or carer, seeking safety and protection in our country.
They will continue to bear the brunt of any ill thought through or poorly implemented policy (both existing and new). These children will also continue to be a focus of the ongoing work of the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce.
The taskforce will seek to engage constructively with all parties on these issues, and to offer a strong Christian moral voice into what has become a heated and hostile public debate fuelled by divisive political rhetoric and constantly changing policies.
Misha Coleman is the executive officer at the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce.
