Asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat to be resettled in Papua New Guinea

Wow... Now this is one harsh solution for people arriving from outside the country!

FPrime Minister Kevin Rudd says asylum seekers who arrive by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugees.

Mr Rudd has confirmed a deal that will see asylum seekers sent to Papua New Guinea for assessment, and if they are found to be refugees, they will be resettled there.

It sounds like PNG will be adjusting to meet the new influx with new beds....

The package includes a significant expansion of the Manus Island detention centre to house 3,000 people up from the original capacity of 600.

Currently, about 145 people are housed on the island.

It must be quite a bad situation down there to warrant such a drastic and blanket approach as a solution?

Further down, is the opposing view, it would seem.

Human rights advocate David Manne says he is surprised by Mr Rudd's hardline stance.

"I am surprised on a number of fronts, first and foremost because Australia, having signed up to the Refugees' Convention in 1954 committed to protecting people who come to its shores, not exposing them to further risks elsewhere," he said.

Source

So what does everyone think of this approach? I'm trying to think of what would be comparable in the US doing, but can't come up with much. Resettlement to Guam? This strikes me as a real odd solution and ought to be a real major issue in the public across Australia, I'd imagine.

As an update to this, it would seem the people impacted aren't taking this well. Not well at all, I'm afraid.

The Nauru detention centre descended into chaos on Friday night with riots breaking out and reports a policeman had been stabbed and was being held hostage.

There were also reports of multiple explosions and parts of the centre being set on fire.
Between 150 and 200 detainees were involved in the rioting and many have breached the fence, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

Ugh... This sounds bad down there....

Another source said there was considerable anger in the Nauru government and among immigration officials no warning was given ahead of Mr Rudd's announcement asylum seekers would "never" be settled in Australia.
Food stocks are also believed to have been destroyed at the camp.

Source

Was there much public debate in Australia or warning about this resettlement idea being adopted as policy? It seems a harsh thing to have just come out of the blue? People sure have reacted alright. At least the people on the pointy end of the policy seem to have.

The entire refugee debate has been raging for about 3 years, on many levels. And has many points of view.

reply to post by Legion2024


Indeed... I'd followed that from a distance as it crops in in Media for Australia occasionally. Is the forced resettlement of new arrivals a long running issue and debate? That is what has struck me as something new?

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


It's a move to win votes, nothing more.

Australians welcome immigrants, the nation was built on immigration.

We just don't like the illegal immigrants.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
reply to post by Legion2024

 

Indeed... I'd followed that from a distance as it crops in in Media for Australia occasionally. Is the forced resettlement of new arrivals a long running issue and debate? That is what has struck me as something new?

Yeah, the last government had a policy that was kinda the same and when Labor won and got in to government they undid the policy and people on boats arriving to Australia grew in numbers in a major way, with countless deaths due to poor condition of the boats and the rough seas, Just a few days ago another boat tried coming here and something happen with the boat and a baby died and a few others older people

Another view is the treatment of the new boat arrivals has been criticized as well due to how we put them in to refugee detention centers on arrival due to security reasons as people arriving on boats bring no documentation of who they are, and stay in these places until they are verified exactly why they came here and who they are. and are they refugee's.

this is a very important move for rudd.
he wants to ensure he is re-elected! (thats the 2nd rule of government.)
the agreement with nui guinea is for 12 months.
a yahoo vote indicated 70% agreed with his idea and 30% did not.
oz govt warnings are dont travel alone in papua new guinea as gang rape is a danger, and also car jackings and robbings.
it IS an unsafe country compared to australia and will definitely traumatize some of the refugees and make them wonder if they have crawled out of the frying pan and landed in the fire. if you were in a taxi there and driver ran over a chook belonging another tribe, expect payback. death is an option for passenger and driver.

this move will be popular with most voters as they have no idea of the war torn/poverty stricken/geologically unstable environment the refugees have escaped from. most oz citizens have no idea of the desperation that forces these people to risk all on leaky wooden boats.
ozzies are pre-occupied with the fear mongering terrorist scare, (when they're not watching football and cricket), and expect a moslem terrorist on every boat. even though not 1 terrorist has ever been proven to arrive that way.
they are oblivious to the treasonist politicians that are already in office and who all stand up and proclaim we must fight on in afghanistan against "terrorism" even when our soldiers die meaninglessly at the task. thats one of the few times labor and liberals agree, because its the agenda they have been told to follow.
rudd will presumably call an early election whilst riding his wave of popularity. then perhaps when the true cost of this nui guinea move will be revealed or its found to be unworkable or unlawful or whatever, he will abandon it and try something else. it wont matter because he was re-elected. that was his sole aim. but he would still regard oz as a christian country as millions of ozzies would. despite the golden rule to do unto others what you would have them do to you.

so, in brief, he is popular at the moment, maybe his boyish charm/face, and i think he will win the election currently due in september. this gives him time to deal with the refugee problem, which is right now as i write this being swept under the rug of nui guinea where it will grow thicker and dirtier and more obscene. perhaps the small boat industry will mushroom there and the refugees will slip into queensland which is just a puddle away compared to the oceans they have crossed.

Originally posted by AlphaHawk
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

It's a move to win votes, nothing more.

Australians welcome immigrants, the nation was built on immigration.

We just don't like the illegal immigrants.

No Us Australians welcome legal immigrants not these folk who jump on these boats hoping to have everything handed to them on a silver plater, my opinion on the matter when a boat is found carrying illegals is to get everyone off then sink the boat then take them back to where they started

The people that talk about how inhumane this all is are not the people that actually have to live near them when they settle in australia. They have been letting in some real scum lately, the nSW police have commented in the past on the fact that somalies that have taken up criminal tendencies are more likely to seriously hurt their victims than the average criminal and do things like rob a person for their wallet and then kick them unconcious. I have lived near a lot of the ungratefull and likely to never work, drain on our economy refugees. And many of them see australia as a weak and soft place that they can exploit. Thats why they want to get here so desperstely.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Hopefully it will stop the people who spend tens of thousands of dollars to put themselves and their families on unseaworthy vessels captained by criminals and run by people smugglers. A lot of Australians are fed up with hearing about people/kids drowning from these rust buckets sinking.

Anyway... how the hell does a person who has thousands of dollars, qualify as a credible refugee when there are people in the world who have nothing, being persecuted and are in the que to get into this country?

These boat people have money.... so when they get to Indonesia... why not set up the family and start a business there? Why not... because they've been told they will get so many free handouts if they make it to Australia.
The Govt is responsible for those handouts/sweetners/bait that people risk their lives for... so take away the bait and then people won't die in the seas from sinking rusty boats, criminal captains and people smugglers making hundreds of thousands of dollars for each boatload.

Boat people are not refugees, they are economic migrants who dont care about our laws or way of life.

If things were so bad where they were I cant see PNG being a problem.

My fear is that this is just for votes, after the election and the 12 month trial are over something tells me it will go back to the way it was.

I dont know of any Aussies who are against this and I bet the Poms are a bit jealous right now

It is what the US needs to do.

There are immigration procedures in place.

FOLLOW THEM.

I guarantee that if the boat people stay in PNG, they will be better off in the long run than if they went to Australia. Sure there is little work there now, but the people themselves create a demand for products and services that they can fill for each other. I bet in a decade they will be flourishing.

This is a brilliant move on Australia's part. I wish USA would follow suit. The refugee provisions are abused with impunity.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

This reminds me of jilted lovers who pull crazy stunts hoping to win their ex back. Doesn't work. Now what country is going to want a bunch of rioters?

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

There are a few factors to all this but the crux of the matter is something had to be done.

On Rudd's 1st day *back* the opposition tore into labor on this issue, it was pretty nasty and highlighted another major problem, the ones doing the smuggling simply laugh at any of our border laws.

Indonesia said pretty firmly that sending the boats back would cause "problems" ie: you want a war little man?
Then.. no sooner than that was said there was a major "leak" from a involved party that basically stated the whole smuggling crisis is "how it's done" and runs deep into official territory.. more worry.. as it became clearer to anyone that was looking that Indo is laughing at us every time a boat is sent.

So.. no sooner than Rudd is re-instated he basically had a major diplomatic problem on his hands, as if labor had ignored liberal's goads it would be seen to be just as ineffectual as they were under gillard on the matter. Indonesia relished at this and did what they do best, stir the pot. yes, a bully standing there saying "what ya gonna do huh?"

Most immature.. but not uncommon on these matters.

It was obvious this whole affair had reached boiling point, those sending the boats keep sending boats even after repeated requests to stop that fall on "official" dumb ears, we don't want a war with indo.. so a sidemove needed to be played.. i think this was a good play to be honest. Now when Indo sends it "package" it goes straight to PNG, no further, ever. Those that follow proper channels and do things the right way still have an excellent chance of immigration, and they are fully welcomed. Those that go the illegal route and bribe indo end up at PNG.

We avert a crisis with the cheeky bully, but still have somewhere for the smuggled to be processed, that isn't on our soil. for the gov it's Win/Win. and for Indo it changes little.. they will still send the boats.. and THAT is the real problem, it's just a rather messy situation.. one that could be somewhat fixed by those who send the boats, we cant touch them without conflict (not our way down here) so we'll block them from game and take away the end prize.. in hopes word will spread that the only way is the legal way.. it's a big hope, and a mighty gamble but honestly our hands are tied and this is about our only option other than openly sinking ships.. nobody of morals would stand for that.

Quite a pickle...

There is a lot of hype around boat people/refugees etc. very politicized issue.

Unfortunately the general public, who aren't that bright, fall for it. I have heard this garbage about economic refugee and boat people paying thousands of dollars to get on a boat. Which if people engaged their brains doesn't quite add up.

The other thing that is mental, is some loonies think that an influx of boat people directly corresponds with government policy... If people had any idea how harsh our laws have been for the last 10ish years, no-one would turn up.

The simple fact is desperate people take radical measures. Given I'm not very patriotic, I never really feel ashamed of my nationality... But it would be nice if the general population of australia could just engage their brains occasionally.

Look it's quite simple.

In the past 5 years or so Australia has had illegal immigrants coming to our shores by the boat load. What a lot of these boats would do is call the Australian authorities to let them know they are there, and then sink their boat and wait to be rescued. People have died from it. People in Indonesia are making money off it.

When they were put in detention centres to try and figure out what to do with them, they would riot and cause damage and protest.

So we sent some to Nauru detention centres in a deal worked out by the governments of both countries.

Now they're all rioting becuase they know they aren't getting into Australia.

If they were Refugees they would be happy to just be getting away from their conflict or persecution. These are illegal immigrants trying to jump the immigration line. There have been huge increases in boat people coming to our shores and the things they do are getting more dangerous. Just a few weeks ago something like 150 people drowned.

It's been in the news for years. All political parties have sucked at finding a solution. To be honest. This is the best solution I have read about and i'm quit happy with it. Refugees get to avoid their conflict/persecution by living in Papua New Guinea. Illegal Immigrants never get to their country of choice unless its PNG. And this stems the flow of boat people coming into Australia in rickety ships that sink so often putting themselves in danger.