All the facts on the numbers of people arriving in Australia by boat since 1989, graphed for your pleasure.
Boat people
Rudd is drowning on boat people
He may have got a bounce in the polls today, but the Prime Minister’s handling of the Oceanic Viking issue has been singularly inept.
Mungo MacCallum: Minchin has no excuse for his ignorance
The most depressing statistic of modern times is the one that tells us that well over 50% of adult Americans do not believe in evolution. Or it was — until Nick Minchin came along.
Bartlett: TPVs –- failed policy recycled for political benefit
The human harm done to many refugees on TPVs is well documented, says Andrew Bartlett. It’s a sad day when a blatantly ineffective measure is wilfully adopted purely for political appearances.
Just a ripple in the global refugee crisis
Australia does not have refugee “crisis”: 78 asylum seekers is just a drop in the ocean of the world’s displaced people, explains Peter Mares in this excellent overview of global refugee movements and our (relatively minor) within it.
Australia’s $1m asylum bill
Australia has spent more than $1 million in its stand-off with asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking, with each additional day costing $42,500.
Myopia and forgetfulness the preferred direction on foreign policy
When the Rudd Labor government was elected two years ago, there were high hopes that it would leave behind the more negative foreign policies of its predecessor Howard coalition government. What we have, though, is a foreign policy shambles.
Allard: Humane, but definitely not tough
So much for “tough but humane”: the Government’s offer to resettle refugees aboard the Oceanic Viking has turned the whole saga into a farcical political pantomime, says Tom Allard. It will do nothing to deter people smugglers.
Rudd’s “secret plan” to increase Sri Lankan migration
The Government is looking to allow more Sri Lankans to emigrate legally to Australia in an effort to reduce the incentive for them to come via people smugglers.
Dear asylum seekers…
Read the letter given to asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking, guaranteeing them resettlement if they get off the boat and are found to be genuine refugees.
Howard’s ghost haunts refugee law
Australia does not have any legal responsibility for refugee claims for the Sri Lankans on board the Oceanic Viking because they were found in Indonesian waters, writes law professor Don Rothwell. But what happens when a situation doesn’t fit the law?
Mungo MacCallum: Saint Kevin’s halo has finally slipped
If last week’s polling switch is really a result of the boat people kerfuffle, Rudd won’t be able to bluster and twitter his way out of it. So what does he have to do to win the voters back?
Asylum seeker polling: Nielsen, Newspoll and Essential
Possum Comitatus combines today’s Newspoll and Nielsen polls on asylum seeker issues with last week’s Essential Report. Voters do think Rudd’s policies are too soft, but it’s not the killer issue for the Coalition that it once was.
Bartlett: A call to stop mandatory detention for people smugglers
Anyone caught assisting with the unlawful entrance of asylum seekers to Australia is brandished a people smuggler and receives mandatory detention. Is Indonesia’s unhappiness at Australia imprisoning some of their poorest damaging our diplomatic relations? asks Andrew Bartlett.
Getting help from Indonesia was a tactical mistake
Lengthy mandatory detention isn’t the biggest deterrent for asylum seekers, governments turning back boats is, says Peter Mares. The most humane thing Rudd can do is stop the boats coming, because otherwise deaths will simply increase.
Memo Rudd: an asylum solution
Bernard Keane offers the Prime Minister a few thoughts on how to resolve the Oceanic Viking stand-off.
New York Times: Australia fears boat people from Asia
How does the world view Australians following to our treatment of refugees? Here’s the New York Times’s take: “Australia Puts Its Refugee Problem on a Remote Island, Behind Razor Wire”. Super.
Burnside: Australians are xenophobic
By and large, Australians aren’t racist, says Julian Burnside, but we are xenophobic. And for all our rhetoric on “multiculturalism”, our recent treatment of asylum seekers proves it.
Pilger: The great Australian silence
Australia would never treat a shipload of white people fleeing catastrophe the way we’re treating asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, said John Pilger in his City of Sydney lecture.
Let’s not abandon them to die at sea
Another boat has sunk, leaving desperate asylum seekers to drown in their attempts to get a better life. Amongst all the tough talking and negotiations with Indonesia, we mustn’t forget ourselves as a civilised nation, writes Tony Kevin.
Don’t kid yourself Kev, it’s not just the refugees
Yesterday’s damning Newspoll result wasn’t just because of the government’s “tough but humane” rhetoric on asylum seekers. What about all the other stuff ups by the Rudd government like climate change, Timor Sea oil spill and supporting a corrupt Afghan government?
Costello: I agree with Rudd on refugees, stand tough
It’s easy to criticise government policy on asylum seekers from the comfort of your middle class life, which will never see the inside of a leaky boat. We need to take a clear stand against people smugglers, says Peter Costello.
In defence of people smugglers
Kevin Rudd may deride people smugglers as the “scum of the Earth”, but for Andrew Casey, they’re the people who gave him the opportunity for a better life.
Kevin Rudd knows nothing, even less than Alan Jones
The Prime Minister has developed a too-cute-by-half strategy of professing ignorance about the handling of events in Indonesia, reflecting his ongoing struggle to find a communications strategy that will enable him to get control of the issue again.
Crikey Says: A late scratching for Abbott
Eleven people are missing, perhaps lost at sea, off the Cocos Islands. One is confirmed dead. Who does Tony Abbott choose to blame?
