A ‘modern risk management approach’ to refugees

July 30th, 2008

The rights of the illegal immigrant will be placed ahead of the right that ordinary Australians have to feel protected in their own country. This is a bad signal to be sending out to the rest of the world, let alone legislating for the Australian people. It is exacerbated by the government saying it will only detaining people “as a last resort”.

The minister for immigration recently said that “The debate about temporary migration, quite frankly, is over”, even as more Australians wake up to the problems of sustained mass immigration. Having reduced our immigration standards the same minister now wants to weaken our asylum policy by introducing a risk-based approach to detention.

In a time when Europe and the Unites States are grappling with ways to contain illegal immigration, now is not the time for the minister to be watering down our immigration and asylum systems and steering Australia closer to their failed policies.