Senator Chris Evans’ quiet humanisation of the treatment of asylum seekers has always been at risk because it has come about without substantial changes to the laws that underpinned the extremities of the Howard/Ruddock regime. Now Evans’ achievements have been undermined by the current prime minister’s populist moves.
First, Kevin Rudd joined the tabloid chorus of condemnation of people smugglers. When people become strident in attacking people smugglers, there seems to be a sub-text that the people smuggled are not welcome.
It is no longer accepted for politicians to vilify asylum seekers, or plausible to claim that they are terrorists, and these “traders in human misery” are an alternative target.
Many smugglers may be exploitative and even murderous, but presumably there is a range of motivations — wasn’t Schindler a people smuggler? Arguably the private prison operators who administer the Christmas Island centre also profit from human misery.
Now the prime minister has suspended the processing of asylum seekers from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. People will be detained for many months, although even those who are not found to be legitimate refugees have committed no crime by seeking asylum. Christmas Island is not Woomera; nevertheless prolonged detention creates the risk of serious mental illness.
Once a core of detainees has spent too long in detention, the atmosphere in the centre will deteriorate. We can predict a surge of protest, some of it self-destructive, giving way to despair. If this is allowed to persist, permanent damage will follow.
Many of us working in mental health saw first hand how refugees were harmed through prolonged detention. Documentation of this harm is freely available to government and community. The psychiatric label varied — major depression, severe post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder — but our inhumane treatment of asylum seekers was toxic for those we detained, for those commissioned to detain them and for our society as a whole.
Rudd’s moves represent a return to the ethic of using detention as a deterrent, but seek to do it nicely. The announcement exemplifies the absurdity of claiming the middle ground on moral issues.
In the interests of reducing short-term political risks, the government has created an unsustainable false compromise, seeking to find a space where none exists between truly humane and ruthless.
Rudd lacks the honesty of Amanda Vanstone and Philip Ruddock when, as minister for immigration and attorney-general, they boasted that locking up children was justified because it deterred boat people.
It is hard to see an outcome of the current political direction that will not damage to the mental health of detainees, and further damage our well-being as a nation.
Dr Jon Jureidini is a child psychiatrist with 10 years of experience working with immigration detainees — children, adults and families. He visited Baxter and Woomera many times.
Not to mention that giving refugees a ride is not people smuggling or trading in humans as the clowns keep whining on and on about, it is simply providing transport as our own courts have said over and over again. We have sent refugees to jail for helping their families come to Australia and to call it people smuggling is a complete lie and always was because under Australian law and international law no-one is smugged into the country.
They simply obey the law, arrive without documents because they cannot get any and present immediately to the authorities.
In fact is was Vanstone who said in February 2000 estimates ; Senator McKIERNAN—I am talking particularly about the boat people. They are the
people who arrive on our shores – mainly on Ashmore Islands – and who put their hands up
and say, ‘Find me, find me! Take me in.’ They do not use these exact words, but they want to
be found. These are not people who are escaping the scrutiny of our Coast Watch people.
Senator Vanstone—Senator, I cannot resist! Perhaps you could tell Mr Beazley that so he
does not keep raving on about this silly idea that we need a Coast Guard to locate the people.
You at least realise that they want to be found; it would be helpful if your party realised that
as well.
Pretty clear, no one is hiding, they are looking for help.
Of course the cretins in this country are claiming now that seeking asylum is people smuggling and illegally using the people smuggling protocol to defend their position.
Except as they know very well the protocol has nothing to do with refugees, does not over ride the refugees convention or protocol and using breaches article 31 of the convention and Australia’s migration act which enshrines article 31.
Jon is right, they pretend to demonise the non-existent smugglers and no matter how many times the reality and facts are presented to our useless frigging media and parliament the babble about people smuggling goes on unabated.
When an Afghan is forced to flee they are asylum seekers, they remain asylum seekers at all times and they rarely turn into smuggled migrants being harshly exploited as these clowns claim.
And it is going to cost $337,000 per person to keep them locked up outside process for 6 months if they are Afghans and then it will suddenly be discovered that they are Hazara shi’ites like all the others and they are just refugees.
How stupid.
And Jon, Rudd is not just dishonest he is a blatant liar.
And the media go silent like a pack of sheep because he claimed seeking refugee status is something to do with country conditions when it is not and never has been.
How many Australians are in favor off less immigration by any means neccesary I think is the pertinent question.
OMG !!
No it is not Rush, refugees are not fucking migrants.