Immigration minister Philip Ruddock's proposed law to allow strip searches
of refugees, increase prison terms for those that flee detention and further
restrict visitor access to detention centres are a disgrace.
Their introduction into parliament on April 5 followed two weeks in
which the government's inhumane policy on refugees was even more exposed
than usual.
First, on March 26, 14 refugees who faced being sent back to persecution
fled Villawood detention centre, in Sydney's western suburbs. The government
responded by sending agents to invade and search the homes of more than
50 refugee rights campaigners.
Second, on March 29, refugees at Port Hedland detention centre erupted
in protest. A few days later, refugees at Curtin followed suit. Some of
the protesting refugees had just been informed that their asylum applications
had been rejected, on the grounds that another country should take them.
Third, on April 2, a Pakistani refugee, Sharaz Kayani, set himself alight
in front of Parliament House in Canberra in a shockingly desperate attempt
to force Ruddock to allow him to bring his family to Australia.
Kayani was granted a protection visa five years ago. Under normal conditions,
he would have been able to bring his wife and three children out to Australia.
But Kayani's eight year old daughter has cerebral palsy, and our government
is too stingy to risk paying up to $17,000 a year in medical care.
Despite repeated warnings from doctors and psychologists that Kayani
was becoming suicidal, Ruddock refused to act.
Kayani now has burns to 50% of his body. If he recovers, he will be
unrecognisably disfigured, and will need medical care for the rest of his
life.
These are not isolated incidents. They are the direct consequence of
a bi-partisan policy of denying Australian residence to as many of the
world's poor and oppressed as possible.
Ruddock, and the “opposition” spokesperson on immigration, Con Sciacca,
are not interested in the courage, experience and diversity that refugees
bring to Australia, nor the jobs that are created by providing refugees
with social services. They are certainly not interested in any humanitarian
argument that Australia has a duty to provide a refuge for all those in
need.
All they are interested in is reducing public spending (and employment)
by slashing services, and granting ever bigger investment “incentives”
to their big business mates — thus ensuring money in the coffers for the
next election campaign.
That is why refugees are locked up in the most isolated and remote areas
of Australia, and then subjected to the psychological torture of harassment
and systemic denial of information.
That is why these centres are managed by a company which uses ex-prison
guards to run them, and makes a profit out of persecution.
That is why families are separated, and relatives of asylum seekers
left to the mercy of the government that persecuted them.
It is only the poor who are thus targeted. The vast majority of “illegals'”
in Australia are visa overstayers from Western Europe and the United States.
But they are not hounded down by the immigration department and dragged
into detention camps. They are not chained together like dogs when found
picking fruit “illegally”.
This hypocrisy was made particularly clear on April Fool's Day, when
Ruddock announced that the government would welcome 200 refugees who were
soldiers of the notorious South Lebanese Army. Puppets of the Israeli military,
the SLA's persecution of dissidents during their time in power in Lebanon
has been compared to Hitler's. Not surprisingly, they are now not welcome
in Lebanon.
The SLA soldiers can come to Australia, while Kayami's daughter cannot,
because Ruddock is far more willing to help another imperialist power than
he is to help those suffering under imperialism. Under capitalist values,
the powerful work together to screw the rest.
These are not our values. It is not enough to slowly increase the refugee
quota: any quota will deny safety to those who need it. We need a policy
which offers residency, and our standard of living, to all who want it,
whether they flee desperate poverty or political persecution. Then and
only then could Australia boast of a non-racist immigration policy.
