Far from being an international pariah for the way it treats refugees,Australia’s policies are fitting envied and copiedAustralia first introduced onshore detention facilities in 1991 at Villawood in Sydney and Port Hedland in Western Australia. Mandatory detention came in 1992. Bob Hawke’s government announced it was because “Australia could be on the threshold of a major wave of unauthorised boat arrivals from south-east Asia, which will severely test both our resolve and our capacity to ensure that immigration in this country is conducted within a planned and controlled framework”.
More than 20 years later, and the rhetoric has only worsened against the most vulnerable arriving from Syria,Afghanistan, Iraq and Sri Lanka. Policies that years ago seemed unimaginable, or such as imprisoning refugees on remote Pacific islands,are the norm and blessed with bipartisan support. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com