According to a Melbourne Age poll, conducted by AC Nielson last August and September, Prime Minister John Howard's government enjoyed 71% support for its policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers who arrive without permission. However, a Newspoll published in the February 9-10 Australian found this had dropped to 56%.
This significant drop reflects the resurgence and broadening of the refugees' rights movement in response to the brave protest actions by the detained refugees.
The Labor Party's decision to revise its policy is another sign of the growing pressure being exerted on politicians to dump their anti-refugee stance. While the result of the ALP's February 11 caucus meeting was a token softening of its anti-refugee stand, it suggests that mass pressure may be able to force further changes.
ALP caucus endorsed the following limited measures:
- the government be put back in control of the detention centres;
- Woomera detention centre should be mothballed;
- media access to detention centres should be permitted; and
- the resettlement allowance offered to Afghan refugees should be extended to other ethnic groups to "facilitate their return home".
The ALP is not calling for the Woomera detention centre to be closed, as some are interpreting. To put it in "mothballs" means transferring asylum seekers out and keeping it available as an emergency overflow facility.
Labor still supports the mandatory detention of unauthorised asylum seekers for identity, health and security checks, as well as for asylum seekers "who have failed the test of being a refugee and are at risk of absconding". "Labor will in its policy review process consider other variations to the current detention model (i.e., secure hostels, community release models, locating detainees in less remote areas, streaming), including the nature and duration of detention", the party statement said.
While there is disagreement between those in the ALP who want a further softening of Labor policy, such as Carmen Lawrence and Duncan Kerr, and those who agree wholeheartedly with the Howard government, such as Mark Latham and Laurie Ferguson, there is agreement on one fundamental point: asylum seekers who arrive without documentation should be treated with suspicion and their motives called into question.
Labor will also review the "nature" of temporary protection visas, a commitment which is disturbingly ambiguous.
Labor's statement indicates its support for the government's removal of asylum seekers' appeal rights last September. "Labor supported the legislative amendments which limited rights of appeal so that asylum seekers processed onshore only have an effective appeal to the Refugee Rights Tribunal." The RRT is not independent. It is overseen by, and has staff appointed by, the immigration department. No other section of society is denied the right to an independent, judicial appeal of a government decision.
Labor's opposition to the "Pacific solution" is largely based on its cost and unsustainability, and not the gross denial of rights, including the Australian government's order to block all access to legal advice, which is perhaps the most appalling aspect of this indefensible policy.
Labor's statement gives an emphasis to "tackling the [refugee] problem at its source" with "effective poverty eradication programs" administered by the United Nations, which sounds fanciful when neither major party is prepared to allocate the miserly UN recommendation of 0.7% of GNP in foreign aid.
The shift in ALP policy, inadequate as it is, is a result of the political pressure being felt by both the opposition and the government. It is not primarily the result of agitation within the ALP. The refugees' rights movement correctly treats with considerable suspicion those Labor MPs who now claim to be for the refugees because these MPs were all dead silent during last year's federal election campaign.
Labor immigration spokesperson Julia Gillard has confirmed that a new refugee policy could take up to a year to formulate. What policy the party ends up adopting will depend very much on the strength of the refugees' rights movement and the demands it wins broad support for.
The successful rallies held around the country on February 2 in response to the Woomera detention centre hunger strikers, and the very broad 3000-strong rally on February 12 outside federal parliament, show the potential to mobilise much bigger numbers on the streets on this issue.
From Green Left Weekly, February 20, 2002.
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