Asylum seeker policy ‘hysterical’

Michael Secomb writes: Re. “Amnesty: there is nothing ‘good’ about excision policy” (Friday). In my work and private life I am in daily contact with more than 100 former refugees, mostly from Burma, so I know that this talk about ways of “stopping the boats” is just hysterical rubbish and totally out of touch with reality. Many of the people I know waited for up to 20 years in refugee camps in Thailand or Malaysia before they were finally accepted for settlement in Australia, while others went to America and Canada.

There are officially something like 150,000 refugees living in Thailand who have been registered with the United Nations, and a lot more who are unregistered, and the situation is similar in Malaysia and Indonesia. A very small number risk their lives to get on boats hoping to reach Australia, but most stay put. They’re there because they believe they can’t go back to their home countries because of war, persecution, drought or other causes.

The recent elections in Burma have not removed the causes of refugees as the army continues to persecute villagers away from the foreign media spotlight in Yangoon and ethnic attacks continue in various areas. The people will not go back until they believe it’s safe. I believe the same applies in other countries which people are fleeing.

Decisions by Australia about whether to process people in Australia, on Nauru or Manus or Christmas Island or wherever are totally irrelevant to the thinking of most refugees, as is shown by the total failure of Tony Abbott’s claim that reopening Nauru would “stop the boats”.

The only real answer is to work for peace and safety in the source countries and to improve the treatment of refugees in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia so there are real pathways for some to come by official channels to receiving countries, including Australia. That means Australia and other countries increasing their funding to the UN to speed up the processing of these people. It should also mean making it possible for refugees to work and support themselves, rather than being dependent on handouts.

The paranoid behaviour of Australian politicians is actually damaging Australia’s reputation and making it harder to persuade other countries in the region to improve their attitude towards refugees, since we’re not improving our own behaviour, so we just look like hypocrites when we demand that other countries do what we won’t do ourselves.

These people are not a problem, they’re an opportunity to gain productive new citizens, usually young and eager to build better lives. Some of the people I know have gained jobs, their children are getting educated to make better futures than would have otherwise been possible, and some have become very proud Australian citizens.

It’s long past the time for we Australians to grow up and get over this “yellow peril” obsession, which should have died in the 1950s.

Radio National 

Michael Mason, manager of ABC Radio National. writes: Re. “A memo to my RN colleagues: welcome to the 21st century” (October 29). Comments made in response to RN’s anonymous staff member on Monday demonstrate just what a difficult time the network is going through. As the CPSU’s Michael Tull asserts (comments, October 31), there were a number of inaccuracies in the piece, and ABC Radio management do not feel that it was a fair representation of the team affected by the current proposals for change.

As we have always maintained, the extensive consultation and review process is about ensuring the operational requirements of the network are met now and into the future. The piece on Monday, and further comments, are divisive. There are members of the Radio National team facing the anxiety of uncertain futures and we are endeavouring to ensure they are treated with respect and understanding at this difficult time.

Hurricane Sandy

Garry Andrews writes: David Hand (comments, Friday) has got to be joking. Yes, reporting news from the US is more convenient than from Haiti, yes, rolling helicopter footage makes for good television, and yes, the election angle helped. But coverage started long before the storm hit the US, with tedious vision of workers boarding up subway stations and clips from press conferences about preparation efforts. After the storm blew out, news bulletins have chronicled in painstaking detail the lengthy wait some Americans face at filling stations.

The deaths in the US are a tragedy, but at least 69 people died before the storm even hit New Jersey. Haiti suffered most, where hundreds of thousands were still living in tent cities from a natural disaster in 2010. Yet, for some reason, all we hear is that Sandy “formed in the Carribean then tracked north”. Bad shit happens to brown skinned people all the time. I guess after a while it stops being news.

Data retention

Roy Bray writes: Re. “Data definitions in the spotlight as A-G dept fronts inquiry” (November 1). A back of the envelope calculation, using iiNet’s power consumption figures for data storage given to the federal inquiry calculates that the CO2 production for two years storage for all of Australia is at least 15,500 tons.

That should get the Greens going.

Random House and Penguin merger

Julie Jester writes: Re. “Despite renos, Penguin House can’t match Amazon McMansion” (November 1). I no longer care what the traditional publishers do. Since owning a Kindle I have discovered a wealth of independently published books. No longer am I at the mercy of the rip-off Australian publishers who price their offerings well above (often double) global prices.

However it will be interesting to see what happens. Random House was one of the more moderate publishing houses with reasonable prices on many of their e-books. On the other hand Penguin has some of the most expensive e-books. Which way will the prices go after the merger?