.
Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor - The Australian - October 23, 20
IF it is ever built, the East Timor processing facility will be a disaster.
THE Gillard government's proposed regional asylum-seeker processing centre in East Timor is a fraud. The sheer incoherence and impracticality of the proposal mean it is also leading to a diplomatic debacle. As a result, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd is having virtually nothing to do with it.
Instead, it is being negotiated by the new Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen. Before the election, then foreign minister Stephen Smith was negotiating. Not now.
The complete incoherence and unreality of Julia Gillard's proposal was laid bare in parliament and in the Senate estimates process this week.
The opposition's foreign affairs spokeswoman, Julie Bishop, asked the Prime Minister whether, for the purposes of the regional processing centre, she could say which countries of the region were included.
Well, guffawed Gillard, Australia is still in the same region as always.
Gillard mentioned the Asia-Pacific and the Bali process, an initiative chaired by Australia and Indonesia to consider illegal immigration issues. The government benches dropped their usual ersatz scorn on the opposition - not even knowing what the region was, ho ho ho - but the joke was on them.
If Gillard thinks the regional processing centre applies to every nation in the Asia-Pacific, this is a wondrous and bizarre new proposal. If she thinks it applies to all 44 nations involved in the Bali process, this too is bizarre.
Are Chinese asylum-seekers in Mongolia to be transferred to East Timor, or Iraqis in Turkey?
The absolute confusion and lack of serious process involved was evident in a devastatingly revealing performance by the head of the Immigration Department, Andrew Metcalfe, at a Senate estimates committee.
Metcalfe was also asked what region the regional processing centre would apply to. He responded: "Well the region, ah, in my terminology here tonight is the region of countries, um, in South and East Asia, largely members of the Bali process, in other words."
He was then asked to list the countries which the regional processing centre would apply to. He replied: "I think there are 44; if you want I could take that on notice."
Then perhaps realising what he had said, Metcalfe tried to limit the number of countries: "We are largely talking about countries where displaced persons are travelling through so of course we would include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam other countries in Indochina . . . Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, New Zealand . . ."
A senator pointed out that Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and India were all part of the Bali process - so would they be considered part of the region too? "That's correct," Metcalfe replied.
He outlined what the regional centre would do: "The Australian intention is this would be a regional assessment centre or processing centre so they would be people who had yet to receive a decision in relation to their status and where they could be sent to this place for assessment of any refugee claims.
"The overarching concept is that there would be collective responsibility for displaced persons in the region and that it would be open to countries in the region to send persons to an assessment centre to have a determination made as to whether they are a refugee."
OK, so then logically the Thai government could send Burmese seeking asylum on their border to East Timor? Oops, Metcalfe must have thought: "We have largely been thinking about people who come from beyond the region and who move through the region . . . This is very much around the people who have been seeking to come to Australia."
There was no evidence any other nation would contribute to the cost of this chimerical centre.
What Metcalfe's testimony, and Gillard's flip parliamentary answer, demonstrate is that this proposal remains hopelessly confused and the government has not the faintest idea how to make it a reality. It is exposed as nothing more than a distraction at election time, a talking point wholly devoid of substance, and a prime example of John Faulkner's assessment that Labor looks big on cunning but small on courage.
Metcalfe's testimony discloses that the East Timor centre is not a regional centre at all. After all, there is no legal difference between a Burmese seeking asylum in Thailand and an Afghan seeking asylum in Australia.
In fact, should the centre ever be built, its only possible effect would be to draw more illegals towards Australia.
Metcalfe revealed that the centre would cater for between 500 and 2000 people. But there are already 5200 illegal immigrants in detention in Australia, of the more than 8500 illegal immigrants who have arrived by boat since August 2008.
What happens when the East Timor centre fills up? Presumably the boats then sail on to Australia, just as now.
The Gillard government won't define what it means by region, even though the proposal is for a regional centre, partly because it does not have an agreement of co-operation from one other country.
During the election campaign, Gillard said she entirely understood the hostility Australians felt over a lack of control of the borders and an inflow of illegal immigrants. She promised strong borders. Her only action point on this was the East Timor centre.
Labor rejected the Liberals' proposed centre on Nauru partly because Nauru is not a signatory to the refugee convention, though it offered to sign it. Labor also rejected Nauru because it was a purely Australian-sponsored processing centre, whereas their bright, shiny Timor option was a regional solution.
Except, as it turns out, it's a regional centre minus the region. It's a regional centre with no regional participation.
Metcalfe also said the regional centre would deprive people-smugglers of their key selling point, arriving in Australia. Yet, in the extremely unlikely event that it ever takes physical form, the processing centre will have exactly the opposite effect.
That will work this way. Eventually, the Gillard government will have to define what region the regional centre applies to (perhaps the Antarctic?). This will make the people-smugglers' job that much easier. Instead of having to get a boat to Christmas Island or nearby Australian waters, they can stop in Thailand, say, or even India, both explicitly included by Metcalfe. Then they will be transferred to East Timor, much closer to Australia.
And where will they go from there? East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta has insisted on an absolute limit of three years for anybody to stay in East Timor. So what happens then? It will be impossible to get East Timor to agree to the centre unless there is a guaranteed time limit. That means only one thing: after a stay on East Timor they all come to Australia.
This will be a magnificent outcome for people-smugglers and a disastrous outcome for Australia.
Theoretically, illegal immigrants might be sent back if their claims to refugee status are rejected. But how many have gone back? Out of 8500 arrivals in two years, the number returned after refugee status was declined is certainly much fewer than 200, and almost none of those are Afghans.
Australians are concerned about a large, uncontrolled, illegal immigration from Muslim countries. They are neither racist, nor xenophobic, nor paranoid to have such concern. This week, ASIO confirmed it is following hundreds of terror plots. Some of those arrested for terrorism offences in Australia came here as refugees. A few years ago there was an informal government decision to scrutinise visa applications from Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan with extreme care, because they were the most likely sources of extremism. Gillard said repeatedly during the last election that the concerns about illegal immigration were perfectly understandable.
But in government she has collapsed border controls, overseen a large increase in illegal immigrants and proposed a regional processing centre that is at best a diplomatic non-starter and a national embarrassment.
The 8500 illegal immigrants who have arrived by boat in the past two years will swell by many thousands when family reunion runs its course. And if there is no deterrent, as now, the flow will steadily increase. This means in total many tens of thousands. This will destroy support for mainstream immigration.
At the same time, other Western countries are moving closer to the policies that John Howard adopted. This week, Canada introduced temporary protection visas that last for five years. During that time those granted temporary protection will have no right to family reunion.
This week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her nation's effort at multiculturalism had been a complete failure and future policy would be integration.
In Europe, Muslim illegal immigration from beyond Europe has generally exceeded formal, legal immigration. And it is recognised as a disaster.
In his recent memoirs, Tony Blair declared illegal immigration a "menace", and wrote of a new approach that: "We remain open societies free of racism but determined to impose rules and order on a system that otherwise, by its disorderly system for deciding and enforcing who comes in, fuels xenophobia."
This is a comprehensive policy failure for the government. The East Timor centre functions only as a talking point, with Bowen able to avoid questions by referring endlessly to ongoing negotiations. The opposition's Scott Morrison believes the centre will never be built. That may be a good thing, but it is not good enough.
.
Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor - The Australian - October 23, 20
IF it is ever built, the East Timor processing facility will be a disaster.
THE Gillard government's proposed regional asylum-seeker processing centre in East Timor is a fraud. The sheer incoherence and impracticality of the proposal mean it is also leading to a diplomatic debacle. As a result, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd is having virtually nothing to do with it.
Instead, it is being negotiated by the new Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen. Before the election, then foreign minister Stephen Smith was negotiating. Not now.
The complete incoherence and unreality of Julia Gillard's proposal was laid bare in parliament and in the Senate estimates process this week.
The opposition's foreign affairs spokeswoman, Julie Bishop, asked the Prime Minister whether, for the purposes of the regional processing centre, she could say which countries of the region were included.
Well, guffawed Gillard, Australia is still in the same region as always.
Gillard mentioned the Asia-Pacific and the Bali process, an initiative chaired by Australia and Indonesia to consider illegal immigration issues. The government benches dropped their usual ersatz scorn on the opposition - not even knowing what the region was, ho ho ho - but the joke was on them.
If Gillard thinks the regional processing centre applies to every nation in the Asia-Pacific, this is a wondrous and bizarre new proposal. If she thinks it applies to all 44 nations involved in the Bali process, this too is bizarre.
Are Chinese asylum-seekers in Mongolia to be transferred to East Timor, or Iraqis in Turkey?
The absolute confusion and lack of serious process involved was evident in a devastatingly revealing performance by the head of the Immigration Department, Andrew Metcalfe, at a Senate estimates committee.
Metcalfe was also asked what region the regional processing centre would apply to. He responded: "Well the region, ah, in my terminology here tonight is the region of countries, um, in South and East Asia, largely members of the Bali process, in other words."
He was then asked to list the countries which the regional processing centre would apply to. He replied: "I think there are 44; if you want I could take that on notice."
Then perhaps realising what he had said, Metcalfe tried to limit the number of countries: "We are largely talking about countries where displaced persons are travelling through so of course we would include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam other countries in Indochina . . . Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, New Zealand . . ."
A senator pointed out that Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and India were all part of the Bali process - so would they be considered part of the region too? "That's correct," Metcalfe replied.
He outlined what the regional centre would do: "The Australian intention is this would be a regional assessment centre or processing centre so they would be people who had yet to receive a decision in relation to their status and where they could be sent to this place for assessment of any refugee claims.
"The overarching concept is that there would be collective responsibility for displaced persons in the region and that it would be open to countries in the region to send persons to an assessment centre to have a determination made as to whether they are a refugee."
OK, so then logically the Thai government could send Burmese seeking asylum on their border to East Timor? Oops, Metcalfe must have thought: "We have largely been thinking about people who come from beyond the region and who move through the region . . . This is very much around the people who have been seeking to come to Australia."
There was no evidence any other nation would contribute to the cost of this chimerical centre.
What Metcalfe's testimony, and Gillard's flip parliamentary answer, demonstrate is that this proposal remains hopelessly confused and the government has not the faintest idea how to make it a reality. It is exposed as nothing more than a distraction at election time, a talking point wholly devoid of substance, and a prime example of John Faulkner's assessment that Labor looks big on cunning but small on courage.
Metcalfe's testimony discloses that the East Timor centre is not a regional centre at all. After all, there is no legal difference between a Burmese seeking asylum in Thailand and an Afghan seeking asylum in Australia.
In fact, should the centre ever be built, its only possible effect would be to draw more illegals towards Australia.
Metcalfe revealed that the centre would cater for between 500 and 2000 people. But there are already 5200 illegal immigrants in detention in Australia, of the more than 8500 illegal immigrants who have arrived by boat since August 2008.
What happens when the East Timor centre fills up? Presumably the boats then sail on to Australia, just as now.
The Gillard government won't define what it means by region, even though the proposal is for a regional centre, partly because it does not have an agreement of co-operation from one other country.
During the election campaign, Gillard said she entirely understood the hostility Australians felt over a lack of control of the borders and an inflow of illegal immigrants. She promised strong borders. Her only action point on this was the East Timor centre.
Labor rejected the Liberals' proposed centre on Nauru partly because Nauru is not a signatory to the refugee convention, though it offered to sign it. Labor also rejected Nauru because it was a purely Australian-sponsored processing centre, whereas their bright, shiny Timor option was a regional solution.
Except, as it turns out, it's a regional centre minus the region. It's a regional centre with no regional participation.
Metcalfe also said the regional centre would deprive people-smugglers of their key selling point, arriving in Australia. Yet, in the extremely unlikely event that it ever takes physical form, the processing centre will have exactly the opposite effect.
That will work this way. Eventually, the Gillard government will have to define what region the regional centre applies to (perhaps the Antarctic?). This will make the people-smugglers' job that much easier. Instead of having to get a boat to Christmas Island or nearby Australian waters, they can stop in Thailand, say, or even India, both explicitly included by Metcalfe. Then they will be transferred to East Timor, much closer to Australia.
And where will they go from there? East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta has insisted on an absolute limit of three years for anybody to stay in East Timor. So what happens then? It will be impossible to get East Timor to agree to the centre unless there is a guaranteed time limit. That means only one thing: after a stay on East Timor they all come to Australia.
This will be a magnificent outcome for people-smugglers and a disastrous outcome for Australia.
Theoretically, illegal immigrants might be sent back if their claims to refugee status are rejected. But how many have gone back? Out of 8500 arrivals in two years, the number returned after refugee status was declined is certainly much fewer than 200, and almost none of those are Afghans.
Australians are concerned about a large, uncontrolled, illegal immigration from Muslim countries. They are neither racist, nor xenophobic, nor paranoid to have such concern. This week, ASIO confirmed it is following hundreds of terror plots. Some of those arrested for terrorism offences in Australia came here as refugees. A few years ago there was an informal government decision to scrutinise visa applications from Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan with extreme care, because they were the most likely sources of extremism. Gillard said repeatedly during the last election that the concerns about illegal immigration were perfectly understandable.
But in government she has collapsed border controls, overseen a large increase in illegal immigrants and proposed a regional processing centre that is at best a diplomatic non-starter and a national embarrassment.
The 8500 illegal immigrants who have arrived by boat in the past two years will swell by many thousands when family reunion runs its course. And if there is no deterrent, as now, the flow will steadily increase. This means in total many tens of thousands. This will destroy support for mainstream immigration.
At the same time, other Western countries are moving closer to the policies that John Howard adopted. This week, Canada introduced temporary protection visas that last for five years. During that time those granted temporary protection will have no right to family reunion.
This week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her nation's effort at multiculturalism had been a complete failure and future policy would be integration.
In Europe, Muslim illegal immigration from beyond Europe has generally exceeded formal, legal immigration. And it is recognised as a disaster.
In his recent memoirs, Tony Blair declared illegal immigration a "menace", and wrote of a new approach that: "We remain open societies free of racism but determined to impose rules and order on a system that otherwise, by its disorderly system for deciding and enforcing who comes in, fuels xenophobia."
This is a comprehensive policy failure for the government. The East Timor centre functions only as a talking point, with Bowen able to avoid questions by referring endlessly to ongoing negotiations. The opposition's Scott Morrison believes the centre will never be built. That may be a good thing, but it is not good enough.
.
1 comentários:
Is Mr Sherindan is going to campaign for a regime change in Australia now?
Enviar um comentário