Asylum Seekers as a Political Weapon

Asylum Seekers as a Political Weapon


Choose either the GFC or Climate Change or Asylum seekers and discuss how
it has been useful for two political parties. (With dispensation to write
only about the Liberal-led Coalition).





Kevin Rudd's unexpected announcement on 19th July 2013 of a new asylum
seeker deal with Papua New Guinea, sent shock waves through the local, and
indeed the global political community. The fact that a few short weeks
before a federal election, the newly re-elected Labor leader felt the need
for such a radical policy change demonstrates just how important the issue
of asylum seekers has become to the voters of this country. Asylum seekers,
particularly those who arrive in Australian waters by boat, have become a
major electoral issue with asylum policy having the potential to win or
lose a federal election. As such the asylum seeker issue has been useful to
Australian political parties, both when in Government and when in
opposition.

This essay will argue that the issue of asylum seekers was enormously
useful to John Howard's Coalition Government to the extent that it helped
them win the 2001 federal election. It will also argue that the issue of
asylum seekers has been enormously useful to Tony Abbott's current
Coalition opposition and may well once again help propel a Liberal-led
Government to power in Canberra. In arguing these two points, first this
essay will define what exactly is meant by the term Asylum Seeker and
provide some empirical background on the issue. Then this essay will
consider the events surrounding the politicisation of Irregular Maritime
Arrivals (IMAs) in 2001 before finally assessing how Abbott's shadow
government have used Howard's legacy and Labor's inability to "stop the
boats" to their considerable political advantage.


According to both the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an asylum seeker
is defined as someone who has left their country of origin for fear of
persecution, applied for protection in another country, and is awaiting the
decision on their application for refugee status
(http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/62assistance.htm) (UNHCR 2006).
Australia has an agreement in place with the UNHCR to take around 13,750
officially sourced refugees per year with this figure having remained
steady over the last decade (Asylum seekers and refugees 2011). The
majority of asylum seekers arriving in Australia do so through official
channels, identified and indeed referred by the UNCHR (Phillips and Spinks
2013, p. 26). However, it is not these officially sanctioned asylum
seekers, but the IMAs often referred to as "boat people", that generate the
strongest reactions within the general public and as such have been the
most useful to our local politicians.

Until the early 1990's, Australia, having signed almost all of the
pertinent international human right's treaties, was globally respected for
its generosity towards asylum seekers (Edwards 2003, p. 191). And, unlike
in much of Europe, the matter of refugees, asylum seekers and resultant
policies enjoyed wide, bipartisan support and was therefore not an central
electoral issue (McAllister 2003, p.445). This was altered irrevocably with
the "Tampa Incident" of 2001; a "turning point in Australian politics"
(Goot & Sowerbutts 2004, p. 2) when the matter of border control became a
major issue which "changed the course of the federal election" (McAllister
2003, p. 447). According to some commentators, "the Howard Government's
tough stance on asylum-seekers and boat arrivals swept it to victory"
(Phillips & Spinks 2013, p. 9). How did this happen and how did John
Howard's ruling Coalition use the issue to its own advantage?


The Tampa Incident began in earnest on the 26th August 2001 when a
Norwegian freighter, the MV Tampa responded to an Australian request to
rescue 438, mostly Afghan, asylum seekers from a sinking 20 metre
Indonesian wooden fishing vessel bound for Australian (Willheim 2003, p.
161-162). On the grounds that the incident took place in Indonesian waters,
the Australian Government subsequently refused the Tampa permission to land
on Australian territory. After a stand-off lasting several days, Howard had
the Tampa boarded by nearly 50 armed Australian S.A.S. troops, an act
described as a "masterful stroke of political theatre" (Flanagan 2010, p.
2). Interestingly, one of those 45 troops, the deputy commander Peter
Tinley, is now a state Labor MP in Western Australia. Perhaps
unsurprisingly given his political affiliation, he is not so complimentary,
calling the boarding an "outrageous" use of the S.A.S. for political gain
(Tampa Incident 'outrageous' use of SAS 2013). A compromise was
subsequently reached which saw New Zealand take 150 of the asylum seekers
with Australia sending the remainder to Nauru to have their claims
evaluated (McAllister 2003, p. 448).

September 2001 will of course long be remembered for the terrorist attacks
on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. John Howard's Coalition then
skillfully combined the issue of asylum seekers with the "war on terrorism"
claiming that the detention of IMA asylum seekers was necessary to ensure
relevant checks that they were not in fact terrorists (McCallister 2003, p.
448). Within a month of the Tampa Incident, on September 17th, the Border
Protection Act 2001 was passed; John Howard had thus changed the
constitution to ensure that all IMAs would be turned back where possible
and if not, detained and processed offshore in what became known as the
"Pacific Solution" (Phillips & Sparks 2013, p. 15). Howard's line to the
party faithful on October 28th that "...we will decide who comes to this
country and the circumstances in which they come" (Howard 2001) remains one
of the most famous soundbites in Australian political history. By
politicising the issue of asylum seekers and by directly associating IMAs
with terrorism, Howard turned a potentially embarrassing international
incident into an election winner.

In the first six months of 2001, Labor enjoyed a considerable advantage
over the Coalition in the polls; with a lead of up to 13 point in some
surveys, they "seemed set for victory" (McAllister 2003, p. 446).
Immediately after the incident, a Newspoll survey showed that Coalition
support had surged and they now held a 5% lead (McAllister 2003, p. 448).
With the events of September 11th further highlighting border control and
security issues, the Coalition pushed to a dramatic 15 point lead over
Labor, a lead they maintained right up to polling day on November 10th
(McAllister 2003, p. 446). For the first time since the 1960's, one in four
voters surveyed mentioned asylum seekers and border control as their top
electoral concern; 46% of those polled aligned themselves with the
Coalitions policies compared to a mere 15% who felt Labor matched their own
views on the subject (McAllister 2003, p. 451-452). Howard subsequently won
a third term in government with the largest swing to an incumbent party
since 1966; the ALP primary vote was the lowest since 1934 (McAllister
2003, p. 449). Border control and budget surpluses were to help keep Howard
in power for a further six years, but even in opposition, the issue of
asylum seekers has been just as useful to the current Abbott-led Coalition.



The issue of asylum seekers, or more specifically IMAs has been a major
political weapon for the Coalition and a major thorn in the side of the
current Labor Government. The 2013 Lowy Institute Poll, published on June
24th shows that by a margin of more than 2:1, respondents think the
Coalition would do a better job than Labor on handling the issue of asylum
seekers (Oliver 2013, p. 1). The Coalition have used the issue by
capitalising on John Howard's successful legacy with regards to IMAs, the
current Labor Government's perceived weakness in this regard and the
public's fear of being swamped by "illegals".

In the 2000 calendar year, the year before the Tampa Incident, a total of
51 boats carrying 5515 asylum seekers arrived in Australian territory
(Phillips & Spinks 2013, p. 22). In 2002, the year following the Tampa
Crisis and the subsequent establishment of the Pacific Solution, that
number reduced to single boat carrying a single asylum seeker (Phillips &
Spinks 2013, p. 22). Even given a UN reported 45% drop in global refugee
resettlement in 2002 due to factors such as the removal of the Taliban and
an easing of tensions in Sri Lanka (Jabour 2013, p.2) the figures suggest
that Howard's policies were an effective deterrent to IMAs. This point was
even conceded in 2011 by the then Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen (Bowen
2011). When Rudd's Labor came into power in 2007, they began to dismantle
the Pacific Solution, using detention only as a "last resort" and
abolishing the Temporary Protection Visas favoured by the previous
Coalition Government (Phillips & Spinks 2013, p. 14). Boat Arrivals have
increased steadily since 2009 with a total of 278 boats carrying 17,202
IMAs arriving in 2012 (Phillips & Spinks 2013, p. 22). The 2013 arrivals by
boat looks set to be considerably higher still. These figures have been
enormously useful to the current, Abbott-led Coalition opposition.

The comparison between Howard's record on IMAs from 2001-2007 and Labor's
record since 2007 is frequently held aloft by senior figures in the Liberal
Party. Alexander Downer, writing for the Adelaide's Advertiser, recently
compared the 43,000 IMAs to arrive under Labor to the South Australian
country town of Whyalla with almost exactly the same population (Downer
2013, p. 2). He encouraged readers to "draw your own conclusions" on the
two party's respective policies on IMAs to ensure that "you be the judge,
not me" (Downer 2013, p. 2). If the Lowy Poll is an accurate reflection of
public sentiment on the issue, it would appear that Australians have done
just that and it doesn't look good for Labor's current election prospects.

Mr Downer is not the only Liberal using asylum seekers to score political
points; the Coalition's would-be Immigration Minister, MP Scott Morrison
has frequently used inaccurate, inflammatory language when discussing boat
arrivals. His latest five page press release, "Restoring Sovereignty and
Control to our Borders" features the word "illegal" or "illegally" no less
than twenty times with reference to IMAs (Morrison 2013). One would hope
that as Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Mr Morrison would
be aware that IMAs who seek asylum have not committed a criminal offence
and cannot be prosecuted; they are instead classed as "unlawful non-
citizens" per Article 14 of the United Nations 1948 Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (Pederson, Fozdar & Kenny 2011, p. 3). Their right to enter
Australian territory without authorisation is protected by Article 51 of
the 1951 Refugee Convention which recognises the good reason for their
unauthorised entry (Asylum Seekers and Refugees 2011). Use of such language
by both sides is nothing new in the asylum debate but adds little but
confusion to the public's perception and understanding of the issue. It
could be argued that Mr Morrison's continued use of inaccurate and emotive
language is irresponsible but in an election campaign with increasingly
little to separate the two major parties, it is hardly a surprise. However,
few have found the asylum seeker issue more useful than Mr Abbott himself.


Since becoming Liberal leader in 2009, just as boat arrivals began to
increase considerably, Tony Abbott has campaigned ceaselessly on the
subject. Indeed, one can still join the Liberal's "Stop the Boats" campaign
which they launched in 2010
(https://www.nsw.liberal.org.au/stop_the_boats). He has claimed that, if
elected, he would stop the boats in a single three year term (Blenkin &
Veiszadah 2013). He has used the asylum issue to claim that current
immigration policy is making the nation weaker and he would reduce overall
annual immigration to Australia by close to 40% (Abbott 2010). Only last
week, and in a move which may puzzle those at the UNHCR, Mr Abbott claimed
that boat arrivals were a uniquely Australian problem and not a global one
(Ireland 2013). This week, not to be outdone by Rudd's leap to the right,
Mr Abbott has suggested a military solution to the IMA problem, claiming he
would put a three star military general in charge of the issue (Wroe 2013).
Given then just how often Mr Abbott publically promises to "stop the boats"
it is something of a surprise then to see that border control and asylum
seeker policy is only point number 20 in the Liberal's current election
manifesto (Real Solutions for all Australians 2013).


This essay has sought to demonstrate that the issue of asylum seekers has
been useful to both John Howard's Coalition government of 2001 and the
current Coalition opposition. John Howard used the issue of asylum seekers,
and the MV Tampa incident in particular, at a time of increased global
security tensions to politicise IMAs and snatch victory from the jaws of
defeat in the November 2001 federal election. The current Coalition federal
opposition have used Howard's legacy and Labor's handling of the asylum
seeker issue to torment the current Government at every opportunity, with
considerable success. Indeed, Labor's dramatic shift to an asylum policy
arguably more draconian than the Liberal's Pacific Solution they once
sought to dismantle may well have had some basis in this torment. Torment
that has generated the public opinion so ably demonstrated by the current
Lowy Poll. With an election date expected to be announced any day now,
there is not long to wait to discover how useful the Asylum Seeker issue
has been to the Coalition this time around.




REFERENCES

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