Iranians have emerged as a rapidly rising category of asylum seekers arriving by boat since the middle of last year, writes Stuart Ranfurlie, a freelance journalist in Jakarta.
People smugglers
People smugglers, Indonesian fishermen and our ‘extreme green’ policy
People smugglers arrested for delivering people to Australian shores are predominantly Indonesian fishermen, who had their fishing grounds taken from them by Australia in 1989, writes Crikey naturalist Lionel Elmore.
Negotiating Malaysia agreement is one thing, seeing it through is another
The greatest challenge for Australia now lies in the reality that even if the boat arrivals cease, how else will we support our neighbouring countries to deal with a challenge of receiving asylum seekers that is far beyond our own scope, writes Caz Coleman, of the Council for Immigration Services and Status Resolution.
How the media that pretend we’re ‘soft’ encourages people smugglers
Since the election of the Labor government in 2007, far-right columnists have been campaigning hard, with every ounce of their influence, in the interests of “people smugglers”, argues Jeremy Sear.
People smuggling: how flawed policy creates criminal activity
The best way to stop the boats is to give people an alternative, writes Pamela Curr, campaign co-ordinator at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
‘Dishonest’ Rudd puts detainees’ mental health at risk
The current direction of Rudd’s asylum policies will not only damage the mental health of detainees, they will further damage our well-being as a nation, says child psychiatrist Dr Jon Jureidini.
My life as a people smuggler
Fake visa stamps, paying a corrupt airport official to open a side door, waiting at McDonalds, making $500,000 profit — it was an easy life until John Howard stopped the boats, says one former people smuggler turned AFP covert agent.
Mungo MacCallum: Rudd spies an election year bonus in ASIO
Terrorism, we were warned portentously, had emerged as a permanent feature of Australia’s security environment. Well, in an election year it would, wouldn’t it? Our pollies love to get patriotic when elections swing around.
VIDEO: Inside the Indonesia-Australia people smuggling trade
Al Jazeera goes inside a network of people smugglers taking asylum seekers from Indonesia to Australia, revealing some closely-guarded secrets of the human trafficking trade.
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.
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.
Sheridan: Being hypocritical appears to be the Australian Solution
So, Indonesia did Australia a favour by agreeing to take boat people and house them in their detention centres and all they’ve got from it is a bunch of bad publicity? Time for the lefties to get over the fanatical hypocrisy and stop supporting people smugglers, writes Greg Sheridan.
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.
Meet Kevin Rudd’s “scum of the earth”
The two men charged with bringing a boatload of Afghani asylum seekers into Australian waters appeared before the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory last week. Are these the people really “scum of the Earth”?
Eliminating people smugglers doesn’t eliminate the people who need smuggling
Kevin Rudd has turned into Mad magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman, both in looks and policy recycling, writes Leslie Canold. It’s time for Rudd to write a new chapter in Australia’s asylum seeker history.
Guy Rundle: Asylum at last from the sado-conservatives
It’s a measure of how debased Australian politics became in the Tampa years that we can now be surprised that a government would confront its opponents with the fact that they imprisoned children, and score points from it.
