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September 8, 2009
One of the nastier aspects of the decade long Howard regime was its policies around asylum seekers and refugees. Their conception of Fortress Australia exhibited a deep hostility towards asylum seekers and refugees despite most peoples fleeing to Australia have legitimate claims, such as persecution and starvation. The harsh policies of the Howard regime were a blot on Australia as a western liberal nation, and the inward-looking nationalism ran counter to the Enlightenment tradition and its commitment to universal human rights.
An example of the harsh policies was the order requiring the Australian navy to turn back the boats of asylum seekers arriving by sea to Indonesia. These orders were imposed in the wake of the Tampa affair, replaced the previous policy of intercepting vessels and transferring those on board to immigration detention on the mainland. Others were the “Pacific solution ” ans locking up children in detention camps.
A further example was the system of charging immigration detainees for their mandatory detention - which often exceeded $250,000.True, only less than three per cent of the debts were collected, and it cost the government more than that to chase down the money. But it was a blot on the Liberal Party, which voted against the Rudd Government's bill to stop charging immigration detainees for their mandatory detention.
After sixteen years of experience, policy makers know beyond doubt that mandatory detention has “dehumanised” and “damaged desperate people.” It gave rise to an departmental culture that regarded immigration enforcement as “a thing in itself, outside the mainstream of administrative law and judicial review, and subject as little as possible to broader precedents about natural justice, rights of review and access to the law.
The Liberal party in opposition continues to argue that the abolition of temporary protection visas and the softening of immigration detention policy have encouraged a renewal of people smuggling, which means that the government is to blame for the spate of unauthorised boat arrivals. Their criteria seems to be the goal of complete border control, and they appear to be determined to hang onto the entire legacy of the Howard government on this issue.
Update
Three cheers for Senator Judith Troth for crossing the floor of the Senate to vote with Labor in support of the government's bill [Migration Amendment (Abolishing Detention Debt] Bill to stop charging immigration detainees for their mandatory detention.
Unlike Senator Brandis Troth questioned the Liberal party's Conservatism that blurred the distinctions between refugees, terrorists and Muslims to their electoral advantage. Troeth’s colleague from New South Wales Concetta Fierravanti-Wells continued to work the politics of contempt and fear with a speech about how dangerous it will be for the government not to continue to impose such crushing debts on asylum seekers. Unfortunately, it is the latter Senator who speaks for the mainstream of the Liberal Party.
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Interesting comments from Troeth on what crossing the floor can do to a career.
Fielding spoke against, then voted for the change. There is something wrong with that man that can't be explained by dyslexia.