Encountering Conflict - Context piece

[Romaboy]

Encountering Conflict piece. Feedback would be appreciated

‘’Who we are is truly tested and proven when we encounter conflict’’

Have you ever been told that we live in a ‘’lucky country?’’. We have a diverse society and a vast range of different cultures, but why is it that we treat people seeking refuge like they are convicted criminals. The government knows that they are seeking asylum but they still lock them up until they are processed which may takes months or even years. Is this really the ‘’Multicultural Australia’’ that we have been brought up to believe? Do we really want our Australian character to be tainted because we aren’t helping the helpless?

Not only do we treat them like they are criminals but we send a huge portion back because they were ‘’screened out’’. The immigration department hasn’t defined in detail the process of screening out a refugee but what we do know is that that they are interviewed with no legal advice and no information about their rights. The government is using a quick process to bypass core human rights protections. The government decides if the refuge is able to stay on the basis that if they go back to their home country, their life will be endangered and even then, we put them in detention centres where conditions are terrible, but asylum seekers coming over for a better life are immediately sent back.
Not only do we not take in refugees who need assistance, the ones who make it through are placed in detention centres where the living conditions are as bad as where they came from. Asylum seekers are made to sleep on the floor and there is sometimes up to 10 living in one house. We place them in wired compounds like they are convicted criminals even though these people have committed no criminal offence, no charges have been laid against them and they have had no trial under the law.

Yes, they don’t have a Visa or identification papers, but they came from a place where it was near impossible to obtain them and where the living conditions where terrible but we just place them back in a situation where they are in terrible living conditions and leave them there with them not knowing if they will be sent back. Is this humane? Why is it that other countries like Norway for example have detention centres where the living standards are like a hotel? This is just shining Australia’s character in a negative light, since we are a first world country and still treat refuges like they’re convicted criminals. Also, why is it that countries like Switzerland, the stay of the refugee doesn’t exceed 6 months and all people detained have access to legal advice and once they are cleared and identified, they are released into refugee reception housing.
Another problem is the media. The media has largely focused on the transfer of asylum seekers offshore, but have failed to mention about the 5000 asylum seekers held in detention for years with no prospect of release. If the media doesn’t mention this issue and just focuses on the transfer, then the public, us, will not know what is actually happening and how the detainees are treated and without the public having knowledge, the government won’t implement policies.

We are a developed and first world country, yet we are one of the lowest ranked countries amongst other ‘’advanced economies’’ for the amount of refugees we take in compared to our population size. Compared to our GDP, we are ranked 79th in the world and compared to our population size, we are ranked 69th. This is an absolute disgrace and is embarrassing but we claim to be ‘’multicultural’’ and we sing ‘’for those who come across the seas, we’ve boundless plains to share’’ in our Australian anthem.  Where are all the boundless plains to share? Why are we sending all these people back?
From a young age, we sing the national anthem at assemblies, sporting events, national events, we hear it everywhere, but what we’re singing isn’t true. If we had all this land to share with people coming from overseas, why can’t we give any of that land to ‘’boat people’’. We say that we ‘’share’’ but why not with Asylum seekers? This is just embarrassing for Australia and shows that we are selfish. Ironically, this part of the anthem is sung in the second verse which is the verse that is hardly ever sung. Perhaps this is revealing the real attitude of Australians towards asylum seekers.
Why is it that a third world country like Pakistan can harbour almost two million refugees and Australia can only host around 21,000 refugees? Out of the 43.7 million refugees around the world as of 2010, only 0.2% are hosted in Australia.
The statistics are there. Why does the government and everyone else boast about a multicultural Australia and a ‘’lucky country’’ when we don’t even help people in distress and out of the insignificant amount of people that we do help, we place them in detention centres where the conditions are just as bad as bad where they came from.
Now I understand that Australia has a small population and that we have don’t have that much inhabitable areas and that they are a burden on us until we integrate them within our community but I believe the government should be making a bigger effort to help these people in need and change policies regarding treatment of asylum seekers.
We all need to raise awareness of asylum seeker treatment. Abuse and inhumane acts need to stop or Australia’s character will be forever tainted. I’m not saying everyone should go and petition outside of parliament house, but we all should raise awareness within our communities so that the government will change policies. Do you really want to live in a country where we turn back people in need and from the ones that we do take in, we treat them inhumanely? It’s your call.