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Relatively quiet reform

By Andrew Bartlett - posted Wednesday, 27 August 2008


Major party politicians will only go so far in adopting measures which fly directly in the face of general public opinion. The more solid the public support for basic human rights to be equally available for migrants, the further governments will go in acting on this.

Politicians do sometimes do the right thing just because it is the right thing to do. But contrary to popular opinion, politicians are human beings, and like anyone else, they are more likely to do the right thing if there is a reward rather than a punishment in doing so. The task of a human rights and migrants' rights movement is to try to make it politically rewarding to do the right thing.

Articles that did appear in the mainstream media attacking Chris Evans' announcement recycled the same old baseless smears about security and terrorism risks from "softer" detention policies. The smear term "illegal immigrant" continues to be used regularly in the mainstream media, despite many efforts over a long period to educate editors and journalists about its inaccuracy.

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Ross Fitzgerald, a regular writer for The Australian, is one example of the continuing effort to use baseless innuendo about terrorism threats and the Howard-era propaganda line that a "softer" policy might "send a message to people smugglers that Australia is open for business again". Fitzgerald even came up with a term which would do The Hollowmen proud, talking of "potential illegals" and the possible dangers of allowing them to live in the community (ie they might be terrorists who will disappear if we don't keep them locked up). "Potential illegal" is the sort of term beloved of the spin doctor - basically meaningless and misleading, but perfect for playing on public fears and implying wrong-doing even when there clearly is none.

It is hard to think of another policy which has been such a clear vote winner as Howard's detention "deterrent", despite it failing on virtually every measure normally used to assess the adequacy of a policy. It's not often mentioned, but it's definitely worth remembering that in simple policy terms, mandatory detention was a very expensive failure which did not achieve its stated goal of reducing the number of boat arrivals.

Boat arrivals didn't drop until a decade after mandatory detention was brought in, partly as a consequence of the Government adopting the Hanson policy of using the military to push the boats back, along with changing trends in global refugee movements and evolving cooperation with UNHCR, Indonesia and other nations in our region.

Mandatory detention cost billions of taxpayer dollars, caused major harm to many innocent children and adults, seriously undermined fundamental components of the rule of law underpinning our democracy, and caused serious degradation in standards of public administration.

But the main goal of the mandatory detention policy was always a political one, not a policy one. It was not so much about reducing the number of asylum seekers, but rather about appearing "tough" on them once they'd arrived (although I have never figured out how it can possibly be tough to pick on some of world's most powerless people).

The excesses of the Howard era, culminating in the shredding of the rule of law following the Tampa rescue, the pre-meditated brutality of detention policy and Temporary Protection Visas (also laudably scrapped by Minister Evans), galvanised the refugee rights movement in Australia, which played a huge role in stemming and slowly turning the tide of public opinion on this issue. But we should not kid ourselves that the task is anywhere near done, or that it only relates to refugees.

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The statements of people in government and other positions of leadership and influence are crucial in shaping public understanding and attitudes. Those of us who believe that refugees and migrants should have the same rights and respect as the rest of the community have a crucial role over the next few years, a role which will include encouraging government to adopt a more realistic rhetoric, to help build a clear majority in favour of a more just attitude. Only then can we be confident of a permanent shift in that direction in government policy and migration law.

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First published in New Matilda as "The Terrifying Debate" on August 19, 2008.



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About the Author

Andrew Bartlett has been active in politics for over 20 years, including as a Queensland Senator from 1997-2008. He graduated from University of Queensland with a degree in social work and has been involved in a wide range of community organisations and issues, including human rights, housing, immigration, Indigneous affairs, environment, animal rights and multiculturalism. He is a member of National Forum. He blogs at Bartlett's Blog.

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