This report was commissioned to examine the behaviours and beliefs held by Australians in regards to the people identified as asylum seekers who arrive in Australia in search of humanitarian aid.
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
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To this end, the goals of social marketing, as opposed to commercial marketing, is to elicit positive changes in the behaviours and opinions of the population that will positively benefit society on a local, national and international level.
When using social marketing strategy to promote behaviour change amongst a specific target market, certain predisposed theories can be used to create a starting point for developing a social marketing program (Andreasen, 1995). A theory identified by Hastings (2007) that that best fits the goals of changing Australian society’s perceptions on asylum seekers is the Social Cognitive Theory. The Social Cognitive Theory hypothesises that human behaviour is determined by a collection of internal personal factors intertwined with environmental factors that help create opinions and behaviours towards issues (Maibach and Cotton, 1995).
The Social Cognitive Theory identifies the influences of peers, family members, personal characteristics and societal norms and culture as the main determinants of a person’s opinion (Hastings, 2007, Bandura, 1986). It identifies the reciprocal relationship between personal and environmental factors as an important factor that affect a person’s beliefs, opinions and behaviours toward a certain social issue. The concept of Social Cognitive Theory points out that, to change the perceptions and behaviour of the target
For many years refugees have been demonized by the country through the spread of fear and misconception. Furthermore, the disgusting treatment of refugees in the detention camps by the Australian Government has been roundly criticised by the international community.
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.
There are many different views about refugees in Australian society, where illegal boat people and over flowing detention centres are a controversial problem today. Go Back To Where You Came From is a documentary directed by Ivan O’Mahoney about a social experiment that challenges the dominant views of six Australians about refugees and asylum seekers. These six Australians are taken on a 25 day journey where they are placed into the troubled “worlds” of refugees. For a few of the Australians it is their first time overseas but, for all of them it is the most challenging and confronting experience of their lives. This essay will discuss
In May 2013, the Government made some extension in policy to apply to asylum seekers who arrive by boat anywhere in Australia. Under this system, Asylum seekers who have arrived by boat must be transferred to the third country. Additionally, if these people transferred to third country then their claims of protection will be processed under this country’s law. Reciprocally, if asylum seekers who arrive by boat are allowed by the minister to remain in Australia, then their claims will be processes under Australian law. However, as of June 2013, Australian Government has not yet started processing any claims by asylum seekers, who arrived after 13 August, 2013. This was the step taken by former government maybe under the pressure of its own people who are Australians. As far as Australians are concerned, it is true that Australians are racist and they won’t people of other countries to come and live in their country. Racism can be seen in clubs and pubs where those Australian see other people with angrily and heatedly. Even though, Racism factor is present in Australia; but still it is a beautiful and safe country. Meanwhile, as far as the Australians views are concerned in regarding to asylum seekers who arrive on boats or any other way to
Political unrest and local war happens around the world all the time. Many people live in a dangerous situation and suffered from violence. Hence, large amount of asylum seeker undertakes a huge perilous, try to cross the ocean and arrive Australia. To deal with this issue, Australian government enacted mandatory detention policy and offshore processing policy, these policies become highly contentious in the community with many arguments and criticisms. This report will focus on the nature and purpose of these immigration policies and the impact towards the asylum seeker as well as the criticism form international. To propose some advice about how the future policies should be framed.
Unfortunately, the narrative concerning refugees and asylum seekers as presented in the media is an overall negative one. Most of the fear present in Australian society is aggravated by media coverage. When discussing the representation of refugees it is important to take into consideration the language that is used and often associated with refugees. In most discussions presented in the national news, refugees are represented as a threat to
Another important stakeholder in this issue is the children themselves. Almost all of the children present in detention centres are asylum seekers whom arrived in Australia by boat, and are classified as ‘unauthorised maritime arrivals’ (Humanrights.gov.au, 2015). These asylum seeker children all held the same responses to some degree. Their responses were all surrounded by the main aspect of ‘Wanting to be free and safe’.
The prominence in relation to Asylum Seekers and Refugees has become a contemporary issue within Australian society and has amounted vast controversy in the media. A Refugee can be defined as a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster as found in the 1951 convention relating to the status of refugees, in which Australia is a signatory to. Every refugee has or will be an asylum seeker. An Asylum Seeker is a person who has left their home country as a political refugee seeking asylum in another but has not had their claim assessed. Asylum seekers have experienced serious breaches of their rights, religious freedom and justice to reach safety. If asylum seekers are found to be
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).
A recent analysis of The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald’s coverage of the issue found only 2% of all images to depict visually recognisable facial features of asylum seekers (Bleiker, Campbell, Hutchison and Nicholson 2013). This is a notable finding because audiences are most likely to feel compassionate and sympathetic towards subjects when close-up framing is used (Bleiker, Campbell, Hutchison and Nicholson 2013). Since the vast majority of images have a long social distance and focus on larger groups of people on boats, asylum seekers are dehumanised and portrayed to be threatening and invasive, rather than as victims of humanitarian crises. These representations feed the misconception that asylum seekers are opportunistic ‘economic migrants’, despite the fact that the vast majority of them are genuine refugees (Gilchrist 2013). Moreover, when large groups of Asian or Middle Eastern asylum seekers are primarily depicted alongside military or police personnel, the media perpetuates the racist notion that individuals of these cultural backgrounds are criminal threats to national security and incongruent with Australian culture (Croston and Pedersen 2013; Ellis, Fulton, and Scott 2016). In these ways, the media contributes to racist discourse through its visual representation of asylum
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
Good morning delegates of the youth parliament and observing members. Today I stand before you to discuss an issue that continues to evoke high emotions and create deep divisions within Australian society. I refer to the matter of refugees and Australia's immigration policy. Not since the second world war has the world faced such an upheaval with so many people displaced. In 2015 there were 65.3 million people forcibly displaced from their homes because of conflict and persecution. Developing countries hold 84% of refugees while wealthier countries like Australia prioritise the need to reduce asylum seekers within their borders. The current policy contravenes the proper treatment of refugees and asylum seekers; because regardless of their mode of entry, once here Australia has a duty to provide protection.
Asylum seekers in Australia always been the focal point of negative political concern for a long time. To stop asylum seekers continue arriving in Australia by boat, Australia enforces the policy of obligatory detention of asylum seekers, unauthorised asylum seekers arriving by boat will be sent to Papua New Guinea camp where operated by the Australian government (‘Asylum seekers: Australia’s shame’ 2017). However, this policy was reported as disgraceful because of the deficient living condition, indefinite and arbitrary of detention and lack of health care (United Nations 2017). Cohen (2011 p. 242) stated that moral panic could be more likely to develop in anything associated with 'immigration, migrants, multicultural absorption, refugees, border controls and asylum seekers’. Is Australia's response to asylum seekers an example of moral panic? By analysing the five criteria from the moral panic theory by looking at the Australian public reaction to asylum seekers with references support, it could be found that the reaction to asylum seekers in Australia is an example of moral panic.
This essay will reflect on the controversial issue of asylum seekers and refugees in particular the treatment that refugees and asylum seekers receive when attempting to enter Australia and whether it is ethical. Furthermore, the concept of illegal and legal refugees will be investigated as well as how the media and society chooses to portray them. Whilst taking into consideration the perspectives of the Federal Government policies and whether the treatment of these people follow the UN Declaration of Human Rights to overall establish the ……….
Many countries, Australia included, face the dilemma of balancing doing what is best for their citizens and also helping people from other countries looking to resettle as refugees. In times of unrest and unsafety in their homelands, people often look to immigrate elsewhere for protection. Australia is a large, wealthy country in comparison to many of the other places surrounding it, and therefore many refugees look to Australia for help in times of need. In order to have a structure for the large number of asylum seekers, the Australian government implemented a Refugee Policy in the 1970s. Over time this policy has undergone many changes and caused some controversy, but it continues to act as a guide for how refugee protection system works in Australia and proves its relevance in today’s current events.