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May 7, 2011
One of the first acts of the newly elected Labor government in 2007 was to affirm its policy never to institute the discredited Pacific Solution again.In a speech delivered at the Lowy Institute on 6 July 2010, Prime Minister Gillard raised the possibility of establishing a “regional processing centre” for asylum seekers in East Timor.
Now, reports in the media say that the Gillard government is sounding out the Papua New Guinea government about reviving the Manus detention centre, thereby retreating to Howard's Pacific Solution it had previously rejected.
Labor 's argument was that it ended the Pacific Solution, the processing and detaining of asylum seekers on Pacific islands such as Manus Island, because it was costly, unsustainable and wrong as a matter of principle. Labor did not accept that Nauru or Manus Island had played any significant or any role in deterring unauthorised arrivals from trying to come to Australia. What detered people coming to Australia, it argued, was effective border protection and sensible regional arrangements with Australia's neighbours to deter secondary movements.
That was then. This is now. The centre will cater to between 400 and 600 asylum-seekers.
It would appear that it is not possible to develop sensible regional arrangements with Australia's neighbours to deter secondary movements. So we have a political fix---a “repackaged Pacific Solution”--- not a serious regional solution to the asylum-seeker problem; a political fix to address an increasingly hostile reaction in the electorate to asylum seekers.
Update
Nothing from Papua New Guinea yet. However, Australia will forcibly return 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia to be processed in return for taking 4000 declared refugees at a rate of 1000 a year over four years, increasing the annual quota from 13,750 to 14,750.
Malaysia is known for its harsh treatment of refugees and is not a signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees. Malaysia has assured Australia that it will treat asylum seekers with dignity and respect and will not be forcibly repatriated back to unsafe countries or stuck there waiting for resettlement after being assessed as refugees without being able to work.
Labor's argument against re-opening Nauru is undercut because Malaysia is not a UN human rights signatory and it gives every indication of not doing so. Malaysian law does not distinguish between refugees, asylum seekers and other irregular migrants. All are considered to be illegal and are subject to the same penalties--fines, imprisonment and caning. In Malaysia, forced migrants are frequently and arbitrarily arrested, detained and deported.
Malaysia’s sixteen immigration detention centres are already overcrowded. Inmates lack regular access to clean drinking water, appropriate medical care and proper sanitation. It is difficult to see that the 800 asylum seekers being treated any differently ie., “treated with dignity” when Australia itself has no effective ability to protect the civil and political rights of the people it transfers to Malaysia.
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No no Gary you don't understand. Gillard Labor is utterly opposed to the Pacific Solution. It was wrong in principle and they won't have a bar of it. It's important you understand that.
The proposal under consideration is a REGIONAL solution, which would see Australia send asylum seekers sent to Manus Island in return for bribes to PNG. Nothing like the Pacific Solution at all.
I trust that has clarified the situation for you and your readers.