Immigration, refugees
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Asylum seekers – a regional solution and Bob Carr’s nonsense. Guest blogger: Frank Brennan SJ
This morning Frank Brennan was interviewed by Fran Kelly on ABC Breakfast. See link below to the interview. (John Menadue) http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2013/07/bst_20130702_0821.mp3 … Continue reading »
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What should Prime Minister Kevin Rudd do about boat arrivals? John Menadue
The new government has indicated that it will be reviewing current policies on such issues as carbon reduction and boat arrivals. I have written extensively about asylum seekers and refugees. I suggest that in the short term, the PM should consider the following on boat arrivals. We need some perspective in the political debate. We… Continue reading »
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Stopping the boats decently – can it be done? Guest blogger: Frank Brennan SJ
In this last financial year, “25,145 people have arrived on 394 boats – an average of over 70 people and more than a boat a day” as Scott Morrison, Tony Abbott’s Shadow Minister never tires of telling us. Except for Sri Lankans, most of those arriving by boat come not directly from their country of… Continue reading »
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Never underestimate a survivor. John Menadue
It is surprising to see that the Foreign Minister Bob Carr suggests that we need to be much tougher in refugee determination as many claimants for refugee status are really economic refugees. Some claimants will undoubtedly be economic migrants posing as refugees. But the refugee determination process which we and others have developed over decades… Continue reading »
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Back from the brink of disaster. John Menadue
Many people and particularly women will be disappointed that our first female Prime Minister has been forced out. She has been most unfairly treated by the media. Things have been said about her by Tony Abbott and others that would not be said about a male Prime Minister. But my view is that a… Continue reading »
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The Vatican appeals in vain for decency towards refugees. John Menadue
On June 6, the Vatican emphasized that governments protect refugees. It said that the world’s governments must give ‘absolute priority’ to the fundamental rights of refugees. Cardinal Veglio who heads the Pontifical Council for Migrants said: ‘Protection must be guaranteed to all who live under conditions of forced migration, taking into account their specific… Continue reading »
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Asylum policies leading nowhere. Joint blog: John Menadue and Arja Keski-Nummi
This piece was published in Crikey 11 June 2013. The destructive and divisive debate about various asylum policies is designed to scare us. The most shameful manifestation of this in the past week has been the alleged “terrorist” in community detention. A person sought asylum in Australia. He was given an adverse security… Continue reading »
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Asylum seekers and refugees – political slogans or humanitarian policies? John Menadue
Australia has a proud record in accepting 750,000 refugees since WWII. But the mood has now turned sour. It is so easy for unscrupulous politicians to exploit fear of the foreigner. It is paying off politically. We no longer ‘welcome the stranger’. The continually repeated slogan ‘stop the boats’ is with us almost every day…. Continue reading »
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We are a more generous people than the politicians think we are. John Menadue
It is easy to be disappointed and depressed with the whole toxic debate about asylum seekers. The government is doing some things well, such as releasing more people from detention, but it is failing to provide political and moral leadership in this sensitive area. Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison do their best to demonise asylum… Continue reading »
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Truth, Trust and the Media. John Menadue
Our mainstream media is in a downward spiral. Its decline is driven by new technology and a growing sense by readers that we can no longer trust the media. We have a lot of spin, but very little well-informed debate. Ken Henry has commented that he can’t recall a time when public debate was so… Continue reading »
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Our better angels. Guest bloggers Brenda, Edith and Elizabeth
Dear Elizabeth, At our church, Liverpool South Anglican Church, we have befriended some men from Sri Lanka who have been released from the Curtin Detention centre. They are setting up house in Sydney. We held a BBQ and cricket match on Anzac Day and about 30 men came along. Our Minister explained to them about Anzac Day and why it is… Continue reading »
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Tony Abbott keeps telling us that boat people are illegals and by inference, criminals. John Menadue
Last week on radio Tony Abbott was at it again, repeatedly referring to illegals and illegal boats. It cannot be ignorance to keep calling asylum seekers illegals. He must know they are not illegals, but by using this language he inflates fear and hatred of people in distress. We cannot presume that boats are illegal… Continue reading »
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Reviving Malaysia. John Menadue
As I pointed out in an earlier blog (27 March 2013), the Nauru/Manus ‘solution’ is not working to deter asylum seekers. The government foolishly adopted Tony Abbott’s proposal. With the failure of Nauru/Manus, the Minister for Immigration, Brendan O’Connor has spoken about the need to revive the earlier proposal on Malaysia. Last weekend the SMH… Continue reading »
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More punishment for asylum seekers and refugees. John Menadue
The Coalition has announced that in government, it would deny boat arrivals access to an independent review of their claims for refugee status. It is another way of punishing vulnerable people and winning political points. There will be no change in appeal rights of asylum seekers who come by air. The punishment will only be… Continue reading »
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Are most asylum seekers and refugees Muslims?
Well, as a matter of fact, most asylum seekers and refugees are not Muslims. But I am sure that many commentators and a lot of the community believe that most are Muslim. The dog-whistlers like Scott Morrison feed on this assumption .According to Jane Cadzow in the Sun Herald he urged the Coalition parties “to… Continue reading »
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Hazaras in peril. John Menadue
There are an estimated 50,000 persons of Hazara background living in Australia. Many of their relatives and friends are being intimidated and killed regularly in Pakistan. It is not surprising that they are fleeing and paying people smugglers to get to safety in Australia or elsewhere. The Hazara are a Shia group who have traditionally… Continue reading »
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The Boat People Obsession. John Menadue
The Australian Parliamentary Library has again pointed to our obsession with boat people. In its 11 February 2013 Research Paper”Asylum seekers and refugees, What are the facts”, it highlights (p.8) that despite increases in boat arrivals in recent years, the number of ‘Irregular arrivals by sea’ to Australia is quite small compared with other countries…. Continue reading »
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The Pacific Solution has failed. John Menadue
The Government fell for a dud Coalition “policy” that suggested that by re-opening Nauru/Manus the flow of asylum seekers by boat would be reduced or even cease. We recall that many times Tony Abbott said that on becoming Prime Minister, the first thing he would do would be to get on the phone to the… Continue reading »
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The Flow of Asylum Seekers to Australia follows world trends. John Menadue
The Australian Parliamentary Library has just released a Research Paper showing that the flow of asylum seekers to Australia since 1999 follows the trends of asylum flows to OECD countries generally. Reading the Australian media one would think that we have a problem with asylum seekers that no other country has. At the Centre for… Continue reading »
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Confusion and Contradiction on Asylum Seekers in the Community. John Menadue
Arja Keski-Nummi and I have described the services and lack of them for the 12,000 asylum seekers living in the community as ‘Kafkaesque’. The policies and rules concerning these asylum seekers have no sense or logic. Some are living in the community on bridging visas with work rights and some without work rights. Boat arrivals… Continue reading »
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Asylum Seekers and Paedophiles. John Menadue
In my blog of March 5 I spoke about the demonization of asylum seekers by Scott Morrison. He has variously alleged that they bring disease, wads of cash and jewellery. He has also called for the registration of asylum seekers moving into a residential area. But Senator Abetz has gone even further. He made it… Continue reading »
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Let them Work. John Menadue
Last month, Bruce Kaye (guest blogger) and I wrote articles about the need for a change of government policy to allow asylum seekers to work. This is important for their dignity and self-respect and their integration into the Australian community. It would also be less costly to the Australian taxpayer and the Australian community. Today… Continue reading »
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Prejudice compounded by ignorance. John Menadue
The Scott Morrisons and Ray Hadleys of this world have had a field day vilifying one asylum seeker living in the community who came by boat. The prejudice is bad enough, but their ignorance is just as appalling. In the last ten years, 65,000 asylum seekers came to Australia. 47,000, or 72% of them, came… Continue reading »
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‘I was a stranger and you took me in.’
‘I was a stranger and you took me in’ (Matthew 25) Well not really, according to Scott Morrison. In her article in the SMH on 3 November 2012, Jane Cadzow describes Scott Morrison as ‘a devout Christian who worships at Shirelive, an American style Pentecostal Church. The Shirelive website says its members believe the Bible… Continue reading »
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The Greens and Asylum Seekers. How the ‘perfect’ became the enemy of the ‘good’.
The policy ‘purity’ of the Greens has helped deliver us Nauru and Manus where asylum seekers are suffering. Furthermore, and as the former Secretary of the Department of Immigration told us last year, the Nauru/Manus approach would not work again to deter asylum seekers. That now seems tragically borne out by more tragedies at sea… Continue reading »
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Work rights for asylum seekers. Guest blogger: Bruce Kaye
Having had direct experience of asylum seeker hosting it has become obvious at the ground level that the ‘no work’ policy introduced in August last year by the Federal Government is creating confusion and misery for the asylum seekers and frustration and despair for those involved in hosting. As citizens, my wife and I are… Continue reading »
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The asylum seekers that we don’t talk about
In the last ten years, 65,000 asylum seekers have come to Australia. 47,000 or 72% of those came by air. Only 28% came by boat. In the last five years, we received 47,000 asylum seekers, of whom 28,000 or 62% came by air. Only 38% came by boat. In only one year, in the last… Continue reading »
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Minister! Let them work.
There is a growing number of asylum seekers living in the community who are not allowed to work. The new Minister, Brendan O’Connor, could put his stamp on the portfolio by immediately making a decision to allow almost all asylum seekers to work. The present policy of denial of work is cruel, denies the dignity… Continue reading »
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New leadership on Asylum seekers
Yesterday, Crikey published an article by Arja Keski-Nummi and me on the opportunities for the new Minister for Immigration to break the impasse on asylum seekers. You can find it at my website johnmenadue.com…. Continue reading »
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