MEDIA RELEASE
For release: December 16, 2010
New policy settings to discourage people smugglers and protect human life are urgently needed in the wake of the asylum seeker tragedy at Christmas Island yesterday, according to the Australian Christian Lobby.
Managing Director Jim Wallace said the upsurge in people risking their lives at the hands of people smugglers meant a greater deterrent was needed.
“A positive approach would be to boost the resources needed to more speedily process and resettle people in Australia once they have been verified as a refugee by the United Nations.
“Faster processing at UN facilities in places like Indonesia or Darfur are desperately needed to give people a viable alternative to risking their lives with people smugglers on the high seas,” Mr Wallace said.
The ACL extended its prayers and sympathy to the survivors and families of survivors of yesterday’s tragedy.
I’m not sure that boosting resources to process the refugees would discourage people smugglers. It seems to me that if the system became more efficient the opposite would occur.
New policies aren’t needed, just to go back to the ones that worked. Go back to TPV’s and offshore processing that the Coalition had as that stopped the boats making that dangerous trip while increasing the amount of true refugees taken from the camps setup around the world
I agree with Paul W Let’s go back to the coalition days when the boats were stopped almost completely, then the true refugees { that do the right thing) are cared for and above all lives are not lost.
Sorry Jim, but I think you have got it wrong on this one. The Christian approach does not always need to be the pathetic bleeding heart one. Indeed, I suggest many Christians would disagree with your leftist position on this.
Under your suggested model, what is stopping those whose applications are denied from just going with Plan B (people smugglers) anyway? Hence, you would achieve nothing but a further increase to already record illegal population inflows.
No, the only way to stop this illegal immigration is to deny the people sumgglers a product to sell. What is so hard for this govt about returning to TPVs (except that it was the Opposition’s idea)?
I wholeheartedly agree with the comments made by Jim Wallace and also Lyle Shelton. Both were excellent. Those comments, and also some made by Tim Costello in the media, I felt genuinely reflected the heart of God – a heart of compassion, love and tenderness for people who are hurting and in need.
“Stopping the boats” will not remove refugees from the world. It just means a small number stay in miserable conditions in countries less able to deal with them than Australia. Australia is incredibly difficult to reach, especially by the poor, in comparison with just about every other country on earth. Our “refugee problem” is tiny in world terms.
I’d love to hear more Christian voices raised in heartfelt prayers for peace on earth. Also, I’d love to hear more Christian voices raised like ACL in offering spirit led, intelligent strategies for making God’s heart a reality on earth.
Thanks to ACL for what you do – may you all have a wonderful Christmas.
I agree with Jim’s comments. Their are two issues.
The first issue is people’s safety. Processing at the source, efficently and effectively with compassion, would go along way to prevent the boats coming and help eliminate the risk to people’s lives. Lets eliminate this ASAP.
Second, in the Kingdom of God everything is possible. We operate in the sphere of fear and listen to the fear mongers on population growth and lack of resources. We have plenty of room to increase the number of people to resettle, while working cooperativley with the countries in question to help overcome the cause of their flight and plight. Lets double the number to resettle immediately as a start. Lets put a billion dollars into building an infastructure in Indonesia, with their approval and cooporation, to help house, feed, clothe and process genuine refugees to our amazing country. Rememmebr the Italians, Greeks and Asians? How blessed are we by them. Yahoo!!
And what about the non genuine refugees. We love them, bless them and find a compassionate solution there as well. Everything is possible with God.
I don’t often agree with ACL on your position, but I do in this case. The situation is much more complex than “stopping the boats”, and the previous coalition policy, which some respondents havre supported, doesn’t take account of this. The main reason refugees flee their homeland is because of things like persecution, oppression, injustice, lack of freedom, poverty etc. So the solution is generally more stability. Countries like Australia need to work towards this, and that involves developing a sound foreign policy, which supports human rights, justice and equity. The solution ACL is suggesting would work well in that context – but not one in which there is oppression and injustice. So that would be a good basis for a compassionate, effective and practical Christian oppression. I fing it ironic that some Christians would conside such an approach to be “bleeding heart” and “leftist”. Remember, Jesus was a refugee when he was born – where would we be if a hard-line approach was taken in his case?
It’s good to read from Jim a compassionate but realistic point of view. I am tired of the point-scoring in political stakes.I will no longer sing the second verse of our National Anthem – we do not share our “boundlesss plains”. Indeed we build barriers of fear and hostility.
In the ACL summary of policy at the 2010 election there was a point made by the Coalition about trialing a model from Canada(?) where poeple from Australia would be able to sponsor assylum seekers. This would involve putting more resources for granting visas in countries from which refugees come.
I’m going from memory on this idea but it seemed a different place to begin a discussion. Why doesn’t someone use this tragedy fresh ideas into the public debate, challenge the irrational fear, change public perception and get communities involved?
Our small church is providing a house to a refugee family. Our congregation is subsidising the rental. The family includes five children. The wife is pregnant again. There are serious problems in the relationship of the parents.
While Australia should be compassionate – keep in mind it is often people like us picking up the tab and incurring the costs.
Australia is fully entitled to manage its borders. Currently Australia’s borders are wide open.
I have one solution to this : ‘Nauru’ . However Labor will not even say the word ‘Nauru’ because of their perceived loss-of-face.
Face saving while people are drowning.