Margaret Royds’ letter of 17th December demands a reply. It demonstrates an ignorance that needs to be corrected.
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Australia is not being swamped by people seeking asylum. The numbers pale in significance when compared to the 50 million identified by the writer. As I write this letter there is a news item about 70,000 Syrian refugees just surviving in snow conditions in Lebanon, a number still far in excess of those arriving on our shores.
Ever since the ‘Tampa’ incident of 2001, Australian politicians have shamefully sought to make political capital out of the plight of asylum seekers. Except for the likes of Petro Georgiou, Judy Moylan and Melissa Parke, few politicians have been prepared to put an alternative view, when there is a desperate need to show leadership and educate and remind the public that we are a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocol.
As a signatory to the Convention it is assumed that nations will offer refugee status to those seeking asylum from the fear of persecution in their homeland and commit to a policy of ‘non-refoulement’, that is avoid the repatriation of asylum seekers back to their country of origin. Australia has sent Tamils back to Sri Lanka in defiance of the expectations of the Convention and International Law. It suggests we choose to utilise international law when it suits us, such as taking Japan to the International Court to curtail its whaling activities, but fail to heed its demands when it suits us concerning refugees.
I think we should recognise there is merit in acting as a ‘good global citizen’, which means a bit more than supporting the invasion of Iraq. There is a desperate need for us to express empathy and understanding for those fearing persecution, for we could so easily be labelled a ‘pariah state’ for our abysmal treatment of refugees.
Finally, it’s reassuring to recall that in July 2014 the Palerang Council declared the Shire to be a Refugee Welcome Zone, a gesture of goodwill shared with about 90 other local government areas that deserves to be applauded.
Michael Merrony
Braidwood