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[Osmosis Jones]

Finally, Aung San Suu Kyi is touring Australia with her hot new single "Everybody wants to rule the world". Australians everywhere have in response actually looked up where Burma is on a map, there as further justifying the need for education reform.

From an article on it:

In their joint press conference Mr Abbott described her as an icon for democracy, saying it was a great honour to meet her.

"I was an opposition leader myself for four years; I know that that position has some exhilarations and some frustrations," he said.

Did... did Abbott just compare being opposition leader in Australia to being Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar?! Uhhhh, no Mr Abbott, no.

[Jimmy]

I dunno, I think this could be the window we needed to arrange for Tony to get the beatings he so richly deserves.

[Chaoswizkid]

So, question. Under international law, how does a country go about barring refugees from taking refuge (other than deportation)? Are you really absolutely required to provide food, shelter, healthcare and transportation to a horde of illegal immigrants?

I'm not trying to sound insensitive, but I can see how it would be a very, very bad situation if your economy was already fragile, or if political unrest was high, etc.

[kaijyuu]

There aren't enough refugees for it to be a significant economic concern for Australia. Not nearly.

[Chaoswizkid]

I get that, but wasn't Greece also having issues with refugees recently? I know that's more fitting for the European thread, but I think the refugee issues are largely over (or largely quiet) for Europe, so I was asking a general question while the subject was brought up in case anyone cared to answer.

[Max White]

Refugees are actually a huge economic concern for Australians, considering how much we spend to lock them up somewhere. We could be saving a lot of money by actually complying with all those things we signed.

Apart from that Australia is a lot further away from source areas like Greece, so we get a lot less... And also our economy is pretty strong. Anyway, in regards to your question: Firstly these people are not illegal immigrants. It is legal to breech boarders by any means if you are seeking asylum. Be it boat, plane or foot, with or without paperwork, you are legally allowed to enter Australia to claim asylum. It might not be granted, and if it isn't you can get deported, but you have the right to claim and if you are found to be legitimate (As over 90% are) you should have the right to stay here at least until it is safe to go home. That is what international law says, and we signed off on that.

If you don't want to comply with these rules, you take your name off the UN refugee convention, as legally Australia should right now.

[Max White]

So apparently the Gonski is back on...ski.

Although the 'blame everything on the Labor party' mentality keeps rolling. This 1.2 billion figure is total bullshit, but hopefully the Australian public isn't so stupid as to swallow this tripe. Still, good to see they had to bend down and take it.


EDIT: Anybody watching question time right now? (3rd December)
Morrison is pretty outright saying he wants to export anybody that got here by boat as an asylum seeker ever. As in not just 'stop the boats', but rather 'send people back to the war zones they fled from!'

I don't like it!

[Max White]

Ok, shit has hit the fan.
Yesterday the Greens and Labor banded together in the senate to stop Temporary Protection Visas. In retaliation, Scott Morrison has capped visas to asylum seekers to 1650, the number that has already been issued this financial year. Essentially we won't be accepting refugees who arrive by any means. Even if they come here by plane with a passport and are from a war torn nation and belong to a race that is being wiped out, doesn't matter. Nobody gets in under any circumstances.

[Reudh]

Really? good god, Australia... we need to get our shit together. Morrison's not doing great things for the country, that's for sure. Neither is Abbott. Or Bishop.

[Sheb]

Does it matter? I mean, Australia simply doesn't have the right to turn asylym-seekers away if their asylum claim is legitimate.

[Max White]

I don't know, there has been a lot of talk about revoking our signature on the UN refugee convention, and we have been turning away legitimate asylum seekers so far... Apart from that refugees that aren't in any form of processing have no right to work and no right to access government services.

[Sheb]

Okay. So why is the TPV such a bad thing?

[Max White]

Essentially they had refugees forced back to their country of origin after three years, regardless of the current situation. The reason they had to seek refuge could have even gotten worse.
There have also been studies showing that people on TPVs have a statistically significant higher rate of mental disorders such as depression stemming from the refugee status than other forms of protection, but I haven't looked too far into those studies to comment on their legitimacy. Amnesty International seems to support the findings though.

[Reudh]

Essentially they had refugees forced back to their country of origin after three years, regardless of the current situation. The reason they had to seek refuge could have even gotten worse.
There have also been studies showing that people on TPVs have a statistically significant higher rate of mental disorders such as depression stemming from the refugee status than other forms of protection, but I haven't looked too far into those studies to comment on their legitimacy. Amnesty International seems to support the findings though.

They also live on roughly $20 / week, crammed together in sharehouses spending something absurd like 90% of their money on rent, naturally meaning they don't get much food. They can't get jobs because of their TPVs, and they can't get welfare because they're not citizens.

[Sheb]

Really? I mean, the article on wikipedia was more positive, stating they had the right to work for example, and access to some (though not all) welfare program. Also, it said their case were reviewed after 3 years, not that they were sent back.