Pearls and Irritations

The imminent bill must not be passed.

There are many aspects to this far-reaching Bill which should generate caution. It potentially affects many. It breaches international human rights agreements in multiple ways.

It is draconian and the Federal Senate had the wisdom to reject a less drastic proposal in March.

The proposed Amendment creates a permanent underclass of people born overseas.

The ankle monitor surveillance proposed is intrusive and traumatising. Curfews discourage work and sociability.

It over-rules decisions made by a clear majority in the High Court.

It could lead to deportations from third countries: even to places such as Iran where protesting the headscarf has been met with capital punishment or Iraq where a law has been proposed which would lower the age of consent to 9 years.

It could cause family splitting. It affects a very wide group of people.

It would be to parliament’s eternal shame if it went ahead.

The Bill scapegoats migrants for social issues, nationalist tropes, racism that masks the consequences of wealth and house hoarding by boomers. “Inundation” narratives do not address the cause of refugee arrivals — inequality and war.

The people affected include many who have made their lives here, filled front line roles in construction or health, whose children only speak English and who have contributed tax for 12 working years. These people have survived Fast Track limbo. The track disappeared, only to be replaced with (Burke’s) Back Track. Is the Pacific again to be (Burke’s) Big Backyard for dumping the migrants he wishes to offload?

I beg Senators to Block the Bill to protect parliament from the shame of this vicious proposal.

Far reaching decisions that undermine human rights should take more time and thought.

Another group at risk is the Medevac cohort. They have suffered enough. Public opinion forced their release. As Behrouz Boochani has said, it compounds tragedy.

Imagine being so desperate that you flee the danger of war in an ever-worsening series of vehicles or vessels. Imagine then being trapped on the streets of a hostile foreign country.  Imagine risking drowning when you don’t even swim to find a way forward.

Imagine then being trafficked to and tortured on a remote island in mouldy tents and containers in sweltering tropical heat for 6 years. This is all to deter others as vulnerable as yourself.

I have not lived through this. However, I have closely observed its impact on people I know or have shared my home with.

Imagine being pressured by bouts of solitary confinement called “Chauka”. Imagine you were denied proper food, towels, soap, shoes and phones for years at a time.

Imagine “Lord of the Flies” misrule overseen by nationalist ex-army mercenaries. Rape survivors, the meek, literary giants, distressed, poised and violent people are treated with the same wholesale disregard.

The governments of these hired third nations have limited respect for or capacity to maintain human rights or infrastructure.

Imagine that you are denied anything stronger than Panadol or anti-depressants for symptoms of any health conditions arising. Imagine losing teeth and recovering from broken limbs without proper treatment. Cats actually wandered through treatment areas of the mosquito-infested RON hospital.

Imagine seeing people around you die of health neglect or depression. Imagine turning your face to the wall, ceasing to eat and giving up for months on end.

Imagine being besieged and your precious belongings upended. Imagine being bashed with iron bars while Australian officials watch on.

Imagine old warriors making a fetish of maritime borders while ignoring plane arrivals who then apply for asylum. Imagine being blamed for every fishing boat that blows off course.

Imagine that when you make it to PNG and then the Australian mainland, you end up further institutionalised or quarantined indoors for the next 24 months.

Imagine that for the next 3 years you are living in the community in complete uncertainty. You are denied professional training and even your access to health care is disrupted by visa renewals.

This has happened to artists, restaurant workers, aspiring architects, winemakers, parents, tradies, educators and musicians who were warehoused on Manus from 2013. Nauru, where women and children were also held, was not much different.

Imagine that your requests for compensation are denied. Imagine that your life cannot really take off.

This is real. I have knowledge of individuals who have been through all of this.

Gentle, diligent and thoughtful people representing every kind of wisdom and heritage have been discussed via media as if they were murderers or rapists, not just hapless boat arrivals. They have been demonised as illegal though they are actually no such thing. Some are survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of others including their captors.

Folk who observe the law, volunteer to fight bushfires and floods, pay taxes, donate blood, work in soup kitchens or build houses are being treated like criminals.

Burke seeks to “out-Dutton” Dutton himself.  The current Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration is letting bellicose Sky, Murdoch and the racist Right dictate the immigration agenda irrespective of facts.

Then imagine that the Deportation and Surveillance Bill is passed.

The public debate is that until deportation you should live under curfews and even be surveilled by ankle monitor. New Zealand is full and you are dragged from everyone you know and everything you have established. You are forced to start all over again in a part of Canada or Finland that is frozen half the year. Extreme tropical humidity is forcibly replaced by permafrost.

That is what this Bill may lead to. This Bill is a threat to people I know well. The Human Rights Legal Centre and ASRC concur.

Let’s end (not extend) the harm of offshore detention.

Do not force immigrants to become an endangered and vulnerable underclass.

Senators, please do not force the foreign-born children of asylum seekers to remain stuck without rights or a future regardless of capacity.

Do not promote family splitting in the case of children born here.

Do not pass this discriminatory Bill, please. It is just a sneaky iteration of a piece of legislation rejected by Senate earlier this year. The stubborn, racist and brutal Pezzullo-trained Old Guard in Home Affairs never conceded their mistakes or defeat.

It is too far reaching to be analysed in a week or a month.

Do not use legislation to bypass majority rulings by the High Court.

 

Jane Salmon

As daughter of a decorated artillery Brigadier who saw several theatres of war, living among diplomats overseas, on army bases and vicariously learning strategic studies, Jane Salmon obtained a double major in international politics from the University of Sydney.  Jane has been active in politics and advocacy since 1977, having worked in newsrooms and for NGOs. 

Jane was and remains horrified by the powerlessness of refugees detained offshore and by many aspects of their treatment on Manus and Nauru from 2013. She was particularly pleased to support the campaigns of the National Justice Project as a pro bono publicist from 2016 to 2021. She says it is a relief to see some traumatised individuals reclaim their lives. This Bill would destroy all that.

 

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