Asylum Seeker policy has become key political battleground in recent times. This stems from the end of Australia’s ‘White Australia’ policy in the 1970s; a policy which saw restrictions placed on non-European migration for over 70 years (Crock & Berg, 2011). Following the conclusion of the Vietnam war, a myriad of boats arrived in Australia, carrying asylum seekers from south east Asia. This lead to a stark increase in public concern over the arrivals and consequently, the term ‘boat people’ was born and spread through the media and public/political discourses alike (Grewcock, 2009).
In the following years, this increase in public and Government concern, culminated with the introduction of more restrictive measures towards asylum seekers,
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This lead Asylum seekers to be portrayed as threats in both a criminal sense towards society, our economic stability and international relations (Every & Augoustinos, 2008). The most important aspect of this discourse however, was that it (we argue that) it succeeded at its intended purpose and managed to convey the message in a way to which the legitimate concerns surrounding both the legality and the inhumanity of the treatment towards these people were effectively undermined and brushed relegated to a state of irrelevance. The Government managed to justify their actions as being in response to illegal actions by asylum seekers who importantly, were managed to be portrayed and perceived as a threatening ‘other’ (Every & Augoustinos, …show more content…
it accomplished something, it manifested itself through public talk and political discussion and it accomplished an action (the enacting of policy, which justified and legalised the rejection and subsequent incarceration of these asylum seekers). This concept of discourse being functional takes a perspective arising from the relatively new field within psychology known as discursive psychology (Edwards & Potter, 1992). Discursive psychology takes a social constructionist view upon the world, whereby reality, events and objects are constructed in language as we talk about them. That they are not objective material entities that exist we constitute them through language and talk. Discourse is constituted with discursive resources and practices including the use of metaphors, arguments and terms to describe actions and events and rhetorical common-places e.g. clinching arguments premised on common-sense notions on idioms, e.g. everyone knows that there are two sexes. Finally, discourse constructs identities for speakers, people can be positioned on a particular issue by particular ways of talking . A salient and pervasive example of this is with respect to asylum seekers, the very words of which people use to refer to them and describe them can generally indicate a persons position on the matter. For example: present a person a video of a news story regarding an asylum seeker boat that has been
The resettlement of refugees in Australia is a controversial topic; many people believe that they come here to commit crime, change our culture and steal our jobs. ‘The Happiest Refugee’ has enhanced my belief that refugees should be allowed to live in Australia. I believe that refugees are here to escape war and persecution; they are not criminals, nor do they want to change our culture or steal our jobs. Refugees are generally grateful for their new lives in Australia and they embrace our culture. ‘The Happiest Refugee’ is a source of evidence that supports this.
Twenty -four years later the legislation is till effective, the life of asylum seekers are shamefully manacles with torture, discrimination as they still languish in the holocaust of rickety bobbed wire fences inside the detention
In May 2004 the then immigration spokesperson, now Prime Minster Julia Gillard, said that ‘Labor will end the so – called Pacific Solution- the processing and detaining of Asylum seekers on Pacific islands- because it is costly, unsustainable and wrong as a matter of principle’. Back then Labor party closed down the Nauru centre and processed all asylum seekers onshore and at Christmas Island. And now the Labor Party is implementing the pacific solution again and it is also known that unaccompanied children and minors are being sent offshore to process their papers. With the new legislation and new
Innes (2010) argues that the negative discourse of asylum seekers as a threat to British society is portrayed in government literature
The media coverage in the United Kingdom especially in the present climate can be described as anti migrant and asylum seekers. There is a suggested sense of being under siege with threats of invasion of being overwhelmed via Calais. With Headlines such as ` Migrants 'threaten EU standards' ` (BBC News, 2015), and reports from the government does little to show a different image as the recent comment from `British Prime Minister David Cameron has defended his policy of restricting immigration, arguing that illegal migrants are trying to "break into" the country`. Regardless of the fact that there are little other means in which they can gain asylum but to enter illegally. In considering this I am not suggesting that one should have no systems in place to control and monitor immigration but feel that this negativity does not address that people have the right to claim asylum nor does it show positive images or outcomes of those that have made lives
Following Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s comments on the ‘danger’ of ‘uneducated and illiterate’ refugees and immigrants being accepted into Australia, debate resurfaced regarding the issue of asylum seekers and immigrants in general, and whether refugees deserved to be resettled in Australia. In an opinion piece for The Age newspaper, Kon Karapanagiotidis argues that Peter Dutton’s claims are false and that on the contrary, refugees and immigrants have much to contribute to Australian society. His arguments are fashioned in a heavily emotive tone, and overall the piece is compelling and compassionate while also heatedly opposing Dutton’s views.
Media outlets often inflate or speculate about either the numbers of asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants. Hence causing the public to feel threatened by these numbers. Not only does the media scrutinise numbers but newspapers and television images and videos play “dominant stereotype of the young dangerous man breaking into Australia and threatening ‘our’ communities 7”. Unsurprisingly “31 precent of headlines and 53 precent of text about asylum across all newspapers has negative connotations. The media has had a detrimental affect on the outcome of the Australian security border protection by continually asking the question “What is being done to prevent these terrorist acts from the public? 7”
This report will discuss the history of asylum seekers coming to Australia’s coast line along with discover most recent rules regarding the issues adjoining completely new arrivals of asylum searchers. It will provide a review for the behaviour towards of asylum searchers within Australia as part of stimulating integration of individuals through diverse nationalities. This document will intend to deal with the problems of asylum searchers along with refugees are usually going through inside Australia. This coverage on Asylum Hunters as well as Refugees remains probably the most argumentative issues inside today’s Australia. Australians have got seen quite a few alterations of this type in excess of recent several weeks. These are going
This topic of this essay will be about Asylum seekers in Australia. Detention centres are meant to be a safe place, while Australian officials try find documents and I.D. However, 27 humane, innocent citizens have died in these so called “safe” detention centres. Yet the Government has done zilch to improve the status and condition of the Asylum Seekers and Detention Centres. This is why Australia must allow Asylum Seekers to enter the Australian community. If the government allowed Asylum Seekers to enter the community, then their rights will improve immensely, they will be educated while in situated Australia, and finally the government will be able to reduce funding for detention centres.
Pedersen’s article is quite confrontational outlining the major issues that Australian individuals portray today, through their beliefs and thoughts about asylum seekers and Indigenous Australians. The sample group taken in Perth, is used as a representation of the wider population of Australia, with majority of Australians revealing a strong negative view against both groups. “It was found that people are becoming increasingly hostile” (Pedersen, A. Clarke, S. Dudgeon, P & Griffiths, B 2005) and are becoming ignorant and unsympathetic about the current situations that the two groups face today. This is mainly due to the general aspect of racism, being misinformed and uneducated about the events that these cultures have faced or are still dealing
The research draws attention to different newspaper commentators and evidence found by the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre that displays an overall negative and ill-informed opinions regarding asylum seekers. Further investigation revealed that many Australians, because of political jargon and journalistic hate-mongering, aren’t fully informed on asylum seekers, their human rights, and the expectation that Australian, as a signatory to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, will assist them when they have been forced to flee from
In contemporary society, the technological advances and the presence of the mass media have significantly contributed to the prevalence of bias, prejudice and stereotypes that surrounds migrant families in Australia. The accrual of such factors in combination with the social challenges, often, experienced by migrant families give rise to biased perspectives, in regards to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Moreover, such stereotypes include phrases like “boat people”, “queue jumpers” and “criminals”, even escalating to “terrorists”. Whether or not such stereotypes are the direct result of the ambivalence surrounding the recent series of international terrorist attacks, one cannot be certain, but this factor has undoubtedly contributed to Australia’s perspectives, attitudes and values, regarding migrants in
Silove D,Steel Z, Mollica R 2001. Detention of asylum seekers: assault on health, human rights, and social development. THE LANCET. VOL 357,Viewed 8 November 2014, http://wiki.straightjacketstudio.com/images/a/ab/Silove-2001-DetentionOfAsylumSeeker.pdf
This project argues that due to certain circumstances affecting the security of the UK, the implementation of the immigration act in recent years has caused many immigrants to leave the country or face difficulties residing in the UK.
My name is Najeeba Wazefadost, and 12 years ago I risked my life on a dangerous journey. I escaped my country Afghanistan and came to Australia by boat. I know that there are no words to comfort those who have lost their loved ones in the recent boat tragedies. But also devastating is the fact that over the past decade, we have only heard politicians endlessly scare-mongering about the number of boat arrivals and how we can decrease these numbers, or deter asylum seekers altogether. Over time, the real human faces of the vulnerable have been turned into statistics about the number of boat arrivals. We have forgotten the devastating circumstances from which asylum seekers come. Afghanistan has been in a state of war for many decades, a war