049 -- ASRC MYTHBUSTERS 2010
Let me just begin by saying that I am not a particularly political person, mostly because I am not very confrontational and generally like to avoid getting into heated disagreements. As a result, I generally don't pay much attention to what politicians are saying, so long as what they are doing is alright. However. Recently, the Herald Sun newspaper has been making me feel physically ill with its fearmongering over asylum-seekers apparently invading Australia, and much of that is due to the delightful Tony Abbott's decision, along with the political party that he leads, to be complete dickbag. Well, perhaps it wasn't so much a decision as a permanent life choice, but whatever the case is, the Herald Sun has decided to run with it and in a good old tabloid manner is completely ignoring a lot of facts, or at least spinning them in a way that obscures the truth.
So.
The CEO of the place that I volunteer at every Monday, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (the website is currently under reconstruction, so a lot of that information is older, but still relevant), has issued a Myth Buster document which is based on information from the UNHCR. I'm re-posting it here, just in case any Australian who has only ever read what the Herald Sun has to say about asylum seeker issues in their country would like to learn some actual facts.
ASYLUM SEEKER MYTH BUSTER 2010
FACT 1:
Australia did have a 29% increase in people seeking asylum in 2009 but we are not alone in this at all contrary to the misinformation the Liberal Party is spreading today. All these countries had bigger increases: Belgium (40%), Finland (47%), New Zealand (36%), Denmark (59%), Hungary (50%) and Poland (47%).
FACT 2:
Under the Howard Government in 2000 there were 13,000 people who sought asylum, more than twice what we received in 2009.
FACT 3:
Australia is one of only 2 countries in the industrialised world to have an offshore detention centre with Christmas Island (Italy being the other). This is the most draconian way of detaining people in the developed world.
FACT 4:
Refugee and humanitarian entrants make up just 6.6% of the places in our overall immigration program. The lowest it's been in 35 years.
FACT 5:
The top 7 countries people sought asylum from in Australia in 2009 are the most dangerous countries on earth due to their poor human rights records, lack of freedom and security from persecution. They were China (1,186), Afghanistan (940), Sri Lanka (553), Zimbabwe (344), Iran (303), Iraq (288), Pakistan (256)
FACT 6:
Countries that received more asylum seekers than Australia include such 'giants' as: Norway (17,230) Belgium (17,190), Greece (15,930), Austria (15,830), Netherlands (14,910), Switzerland (14,490), Poland (10,590),Turkey (7,830).
FACT 7:
Afghanistan was the single largest source country of people making asylum applications in industrialised countries. The 940 applications lodged in Australia by Afghans made up only 3.5% of the international total of 26,803. Afghans were four times more likely to lodge an application in Norway than in Australia.
FACT 8:
Australia is not being flooded by people being seeking asylum by boat. Our numbers are a drop in the ocean when you view them in light of the 286,680 applications received in Europe and the 82,270 applications for asylum received in North America in 2009.
FACT 9:
The industrialised countries with the largest number of asylum applications in 2009 were the United States (49,020), France (41,980), Canada (33,250), United Kingdom (29,840), Germany (27,650) and Sweden (24,190) in comparison Australia had just 6170 of which only one third actually came by boat.
FACT 10:
In 2009, Australia received 6170 asylum applications, just 1.6% of the 377,160 applications received across 44 industrialised nations making us 21st on a per capita basis.
Source for all facts: ‘Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries 2009’, UNHCR
On a side note, I was flicking through the Herald while waiting for my dinner to be ready yesterday evening and noticed that they had this article on page four. That's right, the Herald Sun was ascknowledging that Tamil Sri Lankans are going to be persecuted and killed if they stayed in their country and that they should get out by any means possible... and they were doing so on page four. Funny how that didn't make page one, whereas all the "SEND BACK THE BOAT PEOPLE OH GOD THEY'RE INVADING!!" fearmongering was plastered all over the front page for several days in a row. It's not a particularly great article by any means, but at least it was something, and at least it almost acknowledges the fact that simply turning boats away will not actually solve anything.
Good on you, Herald Sun.
Anybody who feels like it can go here and vote "NO" to the poll that asks "Should Australia turn back boat people at our borders?" You can vote "yes" if you really want to, personally I'd prefer you didn't but hey, it's your opinion and you're entitled to it, but either way I don't recommend reading many of the comments to that article because some of them make me want to vomit. And I'm pleased to say that since the first time I saw that article, the vote has swung significantly, since it used to be about 85% yes and 15% no, so at least there are some people out there who realise that it is not actually a viable solution to turn boats away, given that Australia will still be the closest country to have signed the Refugees Convention and all that will happen is the smugglers will find sneakier and probably more dangerous routes.
On a lighter note, here are some embedded videos from an episode of Good News Week that I feel are appropriate for this entry. I really enojoyed this episode which aired in late October 2009 because although much of it involved Wil Anderson making fun of Adam Spencer (the two have worked closely for years), it also involved a lot of genuinely funny and meaningful questioning of asylum seeker policy at the time.
How To Process Asylum Seekers
The sad part is, the jokes about letting the good sportsmen are more or less spot on.
That song actually made me cry a little.
This entry was originally posted at http://misfit.dreamwidth.org/13467.html with
comments.
So.
The CEO of the place that I volunteer at every Monday, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (the website is currently under reconstruction, so a lot of that information is older, but still relevant), has issued a Myth Buster document which is based on information from the UNHCR. I'm re-posting it here, just in case any Australian who has only ever read what the Herald Sun has to say about asylum seeker issues in their country would like to learn some actual facts.
ASYLUM SEEKER MYTH BUSTER 2010
FACT 1:
Australia did have a 29% increase in people seeking asylum in 2009 but we are not alone in this at all contrary to the misinformation the Liberal Party is spreading today. All these countries had bigger increases: Belgium (40%), Finland (47%), New Zealand (36%), Denmark (59%), Hungary (50%) and Poland (47%).
FACT 2:
Under the Howard Government in 2000 there were 13,000 people who sought asylum, more than twice what we received in 2009.
FACT 3:
Australia is one of only 2 countries in the industrialised world to have an offshore detention centre with Christmas Island (Italy being the other). This is the most draconian way of detaining people in the developed world.
FACT 4:
Refugee and humanitarian entrants make up just 6.6% of the places in our overall immigration program. The lowest it's been in 35 years.
FACT 5:
The top 7 countries people sought asylum from in Australia in 2009 are the most dangerous countries on earth due to their poor human rights records, lack of freedom and security from persecution. They were China (1,186), Afghanistan (940), Sri Lanka (553), Zimbabwe (344), Iran (303), Iraq (288), Pakistan (256)
FACT 6:
Countries that received more asylum seekers than Australia include such 'giants' as: Norway (17,230) Belgium (17,190), Greece (15,930), Austria (15,830), Netherlands (14,910), Switzerland (14,490), Poland (10,590),Turkey (7,830).
FACT 7:
Afghanistan was the single largest source country of people making asylum applications in industrialised countries. The 940 applications lodged in Australia by Afghans made up only 3.5% of the international total of 26,803. Afghans were four times more likely to lodge an application in Norway than in Australia.
FACT 8:
Australia is not being flooded by people being seeking asylum by boat. Our numbers are a drop in the ocean when you view them in light of the 286,680 applications received in Europe and the 82,270 applications for asylum received in North America in 2009.
FACT 9:
The industrialised countries with the largest number of asylum applications in 2009 were the United States (49,020), France (41,980), Canada (33,250), United Kingdom (29,840), Germany (27,650) and Sweden (24,190) in comparison Australia had just 6170 of which only one third actually came by boat.
FACT 10:
In 2009, Australia received 6170 asylum applications, just 1.6% of the 377,160 applications received across 44 industrialised nations making us 21st on a per capita basis.
Source for all facts: ‘Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries 2009’, UNHCR
On a side note, I was flicking through the Herald while waiting for my dinner to be ready yesterday evening and noticed that they had this article on page four. That's right, the Herald Sun was ascknowledging that Tamil Sri Lankans are going to be persecuted and killed if they stayed in their country and that they should get out by any means possible... and they were doing so on page four. Funny how that didn't make page one, whereas all the "SEND BACK THE BOAT PEOPLE OH GOD THEY'RE INVADING!!" fearmongering was plastered all over the front page for several days in a row. It's not a particularly great article by any means, but at least it was something, and at least it almost acknowledges the fact that simply turning boats away will not actually solve anything.
Good on you, Herald Sun.
Anybody who feels like it can go here and vote "NO" to the poll that asks "Should Australia turn back boat people at our borders?" You can vote "yes" if you really want to, personally I'd prefer you didn't but hey, it's your opinion and you're entitled to it, but either way I don't recommend reading many of the comments to that article because some of them make me want to vomit. And I'm pleased to say that since the first time I saw that article, the vote has swung significantly, since it used to be about 85% yes and 15% no, so at least there are some people out there who realise that it is not actually a viable solution to turn boats away, given that Australia will still be the closest country to have signed the Refugees Convention and all that will happen is the smugglers will find sneakier and probably more dangerous routes.
On a lighter note, here are some embedded videos from an episode of Good News Week that I feel are appropriate for this entry. I really enojoyed this episode which aired in late October 2009 because although much of it involved Wil Anderson making fun of Adam Spencer (the two have worked closely for years), it also involved a lot of genuinely funny and meaningful questioning of asylum seeker policy at the time.
How To Process Asylum Seekers
Click to viewThe sad part is, the jokes about letting the good sportsmen are more or less spot on.
That song actually made me cry a little.
This entry was originally posted at http://misfit.dreamwidth.org/13467.html with
comments.