How long will victims of persecution also be victims of a political ploy sustained by apathetic acquiescence?
A GROUP of Burmese asylum seekers detained on Nauru for several months face spending years on the tiny, sweltering island after rejecting an offer to return voluntarily to an uncertain future in Malaysia.
In a toughening of the Pacific Solution, the group has been told they will not be resettled in Australia even if they are found to be refugees - and that they could spend a “long time” on Nauru.
…
Immigration outcomes for previous groups processed on Nauru offer no indication as to the likely immigration outcome for you. Unlike previous groups, the Australian Government has decided that even if you are found to be a refugee, you will not be issued with a visa to Australia from Nauru.
Depending on the outcome of the refugee status determination process, Australia will explore options for resettlement in a third country, which may take some time.
From The Age
This government is so confident of popular support for it’s hard line stance that it can end the debate on the proper treatment of asylum seekers. No need for more questioning their motives, their means to pay people smugglers, the authenticity of their claims and even their alien character because even if they are assessed as genuine refugees we will refuse to resettle them regardless.
Will the conscientious Kevin Rudd do what is right and abolish the pacific solution? Perhaps, I highly doubt he will campaign on it though, promoting a wedge issue with an apathetic, xenophobic majority is not smart politics. Calling into question the fact that we have spent half a billion dollars on this so called solution is however, quite warranted.
With the help of some liberal backbenchers and stuff-ups that detained and deported white people, enough support was mustered to revise some immigration policies and now even Amanda Vanstone has got the flick. But the plight of one white Australian citizen is of more concern than all the poor dark people wasting away on some would-be island paradise.
David Hicks’ treatment is an outrage and we should be vocal in our protest, but it remains clear that in this country, with this government if there is political gain to be had, we shit on citizens and non-citizens alike.
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