Australia’s militarised border protection policy borrows its methods from the war on terror – not least by moving questionable activities offshore and outside the easy reach of courts
Tag: Rendition
Foreign Aid inducement plus costs will abrogate responsibility.
It will be a silenent “operational matter”
Cambodia is a refuge for political expediency
Date
September 27, 2014
Editorial
The Abbott government’s squalid deal with one of Asia’s poorest and most corrupt nations reflects badly on Australia, harms our regional ambition to be seen as a friendly neighbour and abdicates our moral responsibility to the vulnerable.
‘Their standards are not our standards – and it is very wrong of Australia to send people who have come into our care, however briefly, to a country whose standards are so different from ours.”
How two faced can you get? This was Tony Abbott’s withering critique, from opposition in 2011, of Labor’s ill-judged people-swap with Malaysia. The Coalition at the time refused to support the Malaysian deal, arguing – as did The Age – that the rights of asylum seekers could not be protected. Those very same doubts apply in at least equal measure to Cambodia.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, having initially refused to acknowledge the negotiations with Cambodia with his regrettable contempt for public information, has now made a risible attempt to dress up this deal as a sign of that country’s progress. But, politically, the country is moribund. Prime Minister Hun Sen has preserved his grip on power for more than two decades by intimidation and repression.
Australia to strike a deal that promises Cambodia an additional $40 million in aid over four years, to accept refugees whom Australia itself has refused to accept, smacks of exploitation.
Offshore processing of refugee applicants in Nauru and Papua New Guinea is an attempt to evade Australia’s international obligations; now, by paying to send refugees to Cambodia, the government is similarly attempting to buy its way out of the responsibility to resettle people found to be fleeing persecution.
It is extraordinary that, beyond the additional $40 million in aid, the government has entered into this deal with an apparent blank cheque, to pay for the costs of providing for refugees in Cambodia. Mr Morrison has conceded the cost is unknown.
There is no economic argument for what Morrison is doing. If 20,000 adult refugees were settled to become tax payers of this country at the lowest level $10-15k it would bring the government approx $300 mill or over $2 billion income over the next 5 years and that’s only one group of 20,000. What’s our reputation as a global citizen worth. Nothing it would appear to this government. Immigration,Climate,Security,Welfare,Education have become the most regressive policies in the Western World.
The criticism comes despite Cambodia and Australia keeping details of the agreement secret.
An alliance of international aid, children’s and human rights and refugee organisations said grave fears were held for the welfare of the refugee families, especially children.
The alliance includes UNICEF Australia, Save the Children, Plan International Australia, World Vision, Amnesty International, the Refugee Council of Australia, International Detention Coalition and Children’s Rights International
Former Chief Justice of the Family Court, Alastair Nicholson, the spokesman for the alliance, said Cambodian non-government organisations have advised the plan would overwhelm an already struggling welfare sector and exploit one of the poorest nations in south-east Asia.
“It’s reprehensible,” he told Fairfax Media. “We have picked out the poorest and worst governed states in Asia to fend off these unfortunate people,” he said. “It’s not regional resettlement, it’s just suiting Australian convenience with a degree of arrogance that I find is appalling.
“The exploitation of children is really troublesome,” Mr Nicholson said.
Human Rights Watch said the agreement does not meet Australia’s commitment to send refugees to a “safe third country” and will undermine refugee protection in the region.”Australia’s deal with Cambodia will send people to a country that has a terrible record for protecting refugees and is mired in serious human rights abuses,” said Elaine Pearson, Australia director at Human Rights Watch.
The deal is believed to involve Australia sending up to 1000 refugees to Cambodia, mostly from Nauru. This would represent a 1075 per cent increase of refugees in the country.
There was speculation that Canberra would, in return, provide more than $40 million in additional aid to the country, which is rated among the world’s most corrupt nations.Mr Morrison confirmed that figure on Friday, and told ABC radio that those costs could increase
“We have clear costs on the ADA payments and that’s $40 million over four years,” the Minister said.
ADOLF EICHMAN’S DEFENSE “JUST DOING MY JOB ”
Scott Morrison the Minister for NO INFORMATION says AHRC allegations of self harm and sick children on Christmas Island are “sensational”. Yet his department head confirmed 128 recorded instances in the past 15 months. Martin Bowles said improvements had been made. I’m sure those i
improvements are more about information suppression and ridiculing attending doctors should they be found to reveal restricted information. International Health and Medical Services were explicitly told to withdraw figures showing children were suffering high levels of mental illness by the Immigration Department.
Scott Morrison who consistently refused to attend the AHRC inquiry is quite open to run it down as he is the report by nine major Christian Churches which labelled the detention of unaccompanied children in processing camps and centres as state sponsored child abuse.The church task force report contains remarkably strong language invoking the holocaust in its critique of Australia’s detention policy.
The Immigration Minister’s office says Scott Morrison hasn’t seen the final report but says claims of state-sponsored child abuse are shocking and offensive and categorically rejected by him. Morrison is embodiment of ministerial evil” We know that one doesn’t need to be fanatical, sadistic, or mentally ill to persecute unaccompanied children and asylum seekers in detention. It is enough to be a loyal follower eager to do one’s duty for an inhumane,insane government detention policy. Wasn’t this Adolf Eichman’s defense?
UPDATE
Scott Morrison’s LIES
“This decision means that those [asylum seekers] who were previously living in India will now be unable to take advantage of the humanitarian offer being made by the Indian government, secured by my visit to New Delhi last week, that would have potentially enabled their return to India,” Mr Morrison said in a statement.
“There will also now be around 50 more children on Nauru, many of which, if not all, could have been going back to India.
“It is disappointing that this opportunity has been squandered. If these decisions were taken on the advice of lawyers, then not only have the passengers on this voyage been duped by people smugglers, it would seem they have also been let down by those who are supposed to be looking after their best interests as well and claim to be on their side.”
This seems to be a straight out lies on the part of Morrisson as:
- the Indians only accepted to take back Indian nationals only.
- that lawyers were not given access to advise these people of their rights.
- the department just “disappeared” them under the cover of darkness
“Now they’ve secretly smuggled them out to Nauru to keep them away from lawyers and advocates and this Government is making policy up on the run.”
George Newhouse
Mr Newhouse says the asylum seekers not were given the chance to talk to their lawyers about their options before they were moved to Nauru.
“We have not had opportunity to inform our clients of their rights and options,” he said.
“These people were trafficked under the cover of darkness. This is the second time they’ve been disappeared.
olddogthoughts 