The human cost of the 'Pacific solution'

The human cost of the 'Pacific solution'

In defiance of the government's orders, the Tampa entered Australian waters two days later. SAS troops were ordered to board and take control of the ship. The asylum seekers were transferred to HMAS Arunta and taken to Nauru, marking the beginning of the “Pacific solution” and a series of massive and unprecedented attacks on the human rights of asylum seekers.

A year of vicious policy followed. Parliament removed asylum seekers' appeal rights, it excised most islands from Australian territory for migration purposes, and created two new discriminatory visas which rob refugees of the right to permanent settlement if they arrive on Australian territory without a visa, and spend more than seven days in transit from the country they are fleeing.

Much criticism of the Pacific solution has emphasised its financial costs, which are estimated at half a billion dollars. While it's true that this is an appalling waste of taxpayers' money — money which could have been used to resettle three times as many refugees in Australia — our greatest concern should be the human cost borne by the 1500 asylum seekers banished to their Pacific hell.

Many have been imprisoned for a year, without access to lawyers and without being able to contact their relatives. Most have now had their claims processed, with 59% of the Iraqis having been granted refugee status, compared with only 7% of Afghans. The injustice of the decision sparked a riot on Nauru — most Afghans would have been granted refugee status if they had been taken to Australia when they first arrived.

Of the more than 300 determined as refugees, New Zealand has taken 59 and may take another 100. Sweden has agreed to accept nine. Australia has accepted just over 100, leaving 150 in limbo while the rest face deportation.

Labor's objection to the Pacific solution has never been about the human rights of asylum seekers, but simply the monetary cost of the policy and its “unsustainability”. This is reflected in the Hawke-Wran review of the ALP's structures, released on August 10, which proposes an “Indian Ocean solution” in place of the Pacific solution. It states: “Boat people and refugees should be located … in the natural holding area of Christmas Island and, on completion of the new facility, John Howard's diaspora of the desperate around the Pacific should be located there. The unacceptable detention centres on the Australian mainland, like Woomera, can then be closed.”

No doubt Howard will have little disagreement with these proposals. In fact, it is rumoured that on August 27, the remaining asylum seekers on Nauru will be moved to Christmas Island.

While the government generated the impression that its action against the Tampa stopped the flow of asylum seekers to Australia, there were in fact another 12 boats carrying 1014 asylum seekers which made it to Australian territory between September and December. A further five boats carrying 996 people were intercepted and turned back to Indonesia, or never made it to Australia, such as the boat known as SIEV-X, which sank drowning 353 people.

The Australian government's vicious, inhuman policy has left an indelible impression on those who turned to it for help and were turned away. The August 13 Sydney Morning Herald reported that Daulat Khan, an asylum seeker who has just returned to Afghanistan, said he never wanted to hear the word Australia again. “I spent three years in detention. I was not prepared to stay there and rot and go mad like the rest of them”, Khan said. “Philip Ruddock is the smiling executioner. He says he is always doing the right thing and then he stabs you in the back.”

From Green Left Weekly, August 21, 2002.
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