political views
Harry Minas
Former immigration ministry adviser (on the council for asylum seekers and detention) Harry Minas, believes that asylum seekers in detention are already very vunerable due to what experiences they have had in the past, and detention centres make this worse. To prove this point he makes a good analogy: 'if you had a large number of nurses and psychiatrists and doctors, it really wouldn't make that much difference if the situation is as it is now. its a bit like, loking at another health problem; you put people people on a toxic dump then you put a health team in place. its not really a smart thing to do. so, if the circumstances themselves are resulting what's been described as incredibly frequent self harm, attemots and suicide and als whats been descruived as episodes of standover tactics, even torture and violence, then we need to be looking at the context and not attricuting all of that to the particular people who are invovled'. In summary he is saying that putting a medical team in place to help the asylum seekers simply is not enough, because the cause of the problem is still there, along with the threat of the consquence. Harry Minas is making a good pitch to his fellow political bodies; that our government needs to fix the problem, not stick a 'band-aid' on it and hope it goes away.
See full interview here: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3810322.htm
LABOR PARTY: Former PM Julia Gillard/Former PM Kevin Rudd/ Opposition leader Bill Shorten:
Julia Gillard, unlike Tony Abbott, believes that sending the boats back is really the wrong thing to do. She believes that these boats should be stopped before they even leave the dock so that people do not die at sea, nor do they suffer in detention. Ms Gillard believes that the asylum seekers also need to be stopped to make the Australian population sustainable; like all other politicians she is considering this from the economical perspective. The economical perspective is a reasonable one, but just not the ethical one. Just like Ms Gillard, Kevin Rudd does not like the idea of asylum seekers coming into Australia but instead wants them to be processed offshore. He decided ( when he was in power) that no one who comes by boat will ever be settled in Australia, forgetting that majority of asylum seekers come by plane. He claims this is compassionate as well as important in protecting our borders, but is ignorance is clear both in the idea that all asylum seekers come by boat and that sending them to live in a detention centre in a country (Manus and Nauru) that is already struggling to keep up with appropriate conditions for living on its own.
The current Labor leader Bill Shorten on the other hand is Pro-asylum seekers, believing in a bigger Australia. Whilst his intentions are to boost the economy, and it not yet known about his ideas of processing these people, the pro-asylum seeker ideal is one of the first of its kind to be seen at such a high level in parliament and offers hope for the future of people seeking asylum into Australia.
Tony Abbott (Current PM)
Tony Abbott, before he became prime minster appeared on Q&A and said that he believed that introducing temprorary protection visas would be the best thing for any asylum seekers that appeared in Australia, despite reports that temporary proction visas do more damage than good. This however, is not as bad as his opinion on turning the boats around. Tony Abbott claims that it would be 'compassionate' to turn the boats around; as less people would be dying at sea. Whilst Tony Abbott is putting forward a humaniatrian view is clear from his answers in Q&A ( see link below for full interview) , like all political bodies, he really only wishes to ensure the economy is proseperous. Just like Mr Abbott all politicians try to put foward the idea that they do the best for Australia and for asylum seekers, but it is clear from their lack of humanitarian based policies ( regarding detention in particular) that all they want is money and a high reputation for Australia on the global market. They have gone so far as to ensure this that they have begun to introduce the term 'illegals' because they believe that asylum seekers are a threat to our national security and are endangering their own life. The term is used in hope that people will turn against asylum seekers. 'Illegals' makes the asylum seekers sound like they have committed a criminal offense, when under UN law they have not. They are not trying to terrorise our country, because if they were why would they get on a leaky boat? It would be much easier for them to get fake travel documents. Asylum seekers are simply people who are on their last chance of survival. It is not them who is making this an issue for the government, it is the approach of the government and the ideas expressed in the media that is making them go about it the wrong way and causing it to be an issue when the answer is simple. Lives come first- and if we are not careful this issue may get bigger, with speculation that because the boats are being caught out people are risking their lives in shipping containers- where there is no air and even less chance of survival
see full Q and A interview here: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s2859473.htm
Former immigration ministry adviser (on the council for asylum seekers and detention) Harry Minas, believes that asylum seekers in detention are already very vunerable due to what experiences they have had in the past, and detention centres make this worse. To prove this point he makes a good analogy: 'if you had a large number of nurses and psychiatrists and doctors, it really wouldn't make that much difference if the situation is as it is now. its a bit like, loking at another health problem; you put people people on a toxic dump then you put a health team in place. its not really a smart thing to do. so, if the circumstances themselves are resulting what's been described as incredibly frequent self harm, attemots and suicide and als whats been descruived as episodes of standover tactics, even torture and violence, then we need to be looking at the context and not attricuting all of that to the particular people who are invovled'. In summary he is saying that putting a medical team in place to help the asylum seekers simply is not enough, because the cause of the problem is still there, along with the threat of the consquence. Harry Minas is making a good pitch to his fellow political bodies; that our government needs to fix the problem, not stick a 'band-aid' on it and hope it goes away.
See full interview here: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3810322.htm
LABOR PARTY: Former PM Julia Gillard/Former PM Kevin Rudd/ Opposition leader Bill Shorten:
Julia Gillard, unlike Tony Abbott, believes that sending the boats back is really the wrong thing to do. She believes that these boats should be stopped before they even leave the dock so that people do not die at sea, nor do they suffer in detention. Ms Gillard believes that the asylum seekers also need to be stopped to make the Australian population sustainable; like all other politicians she is considering this from the economical perspective. The economical perspective is a reasonable one, but just not the ethical one. Just like Ms Gillard, Kevin Rudd does not like the idea of asylum seekers coming into Australia but instead wants them to be processed offshore. He decided ( when he was in power) that no one who comes by boat will ever be settled in Australia, forgetting that majority of asylum seekers come by plane. He claims this is compassionate as well as important in protecting our borders, but is ignorance is clear both in the idea that all asylum seekers come by boat and that sending them to live in a detention centre in a country (Manus and Nauru) that is already struggling to keep up with appropriate conditions for living on its own.
The current Labor leader Bill Shorten on the other hand is Pro-asylum seekers, believing in a bigger Australia. Whilst his intentions are to boost the economy, and it not yet known about his ideas of processing these people, the pro-asylum seeker ideal is one of the first of its kind to be seen at such a high level in parliament and offers hope for the future of people seeking asylum into Australia.
Tony Abbott (Current PM)
Tony Abbott, before he became prime minster appeared on Q&A and said that he believed that introducing temprorary protection visas would be the best thing for any asylum seekers that appeared in Australia, despite reports that temporary proction visas do more damage than good. This however, is not as bad as his opinion on turning the boats around. Tony Abbott claims that it would be 'compassionate' to turn the boats around; as less people would be dying at sea. Whilst Tony Abbott is putting forward a humaniatrian view is clear from his answers in Q&A ( see link below for full interview) , like all political bodies, he really only wishes to ensure the economy is proseperous. Just like Mr Abbott all politicians try to put foward the idea that they do the best for Australia and for asylum seekers, but it is clear from their lack of humanitarian based policies ( regarding detention in particular) that all they want is money and a high reputation for Australia on the global market. They have gone so far as to ensure this that they have begun to introduce the term 'illegals' because they believe that asylum seekers are a threat to our national security and are endangering their own life. The term is used in hope that people will turn against asylum seekers. 'Illegals' makes the asylum seekers sound like they have committed a criminal offense, when under UN law they have not. They are not trying to terrorise our country, because if they were why would they get on a leaky boat? It would be much easier for them to get fake travel documents. Asylum seekers are simply people who are on their last chance of survival. It is not them who is making this an issue for the government, it is the approach of the government and the ideas expressed in the media that is making them go about it the wrong way and causing it to be an issue when the answer is simple. Lives come first- and if we are not careful this issue may get bigger, with speculation that because the boats are being caught out people are risking their lives in shipping containers- where there is no air and even less chance of survival
see full Q and A interview here: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s2859473.htm