stan wrote:bennymacca wrote:im glad there is finally some international attention to this cause, it may force us into doing something about it
The article did state that the policies are working but then did raise a few good points.
My issue is that tbe "stop the boats" is been a political war front when really its not about vote winning, yet of course its tunred into one.
But the point is there too that if you can stop people getting in the water then yes his will save lives. However if your a hurd fleeing the violence in Syria then its probably safer on the water than on the ground and that needs to be taken into account.
As many have always known, turning back the boats results in more deaths at sea, not less. It is a push factor, not a pull factor, that results in asylum seekers coming by sea. The wars and conflicts throughout the world are what has led to the huge amount of asylum seekers and internally displaced people throughout the world. 'Turning back' the boats is a misnomer as it simply redirects asylum seekers to other, more risky pathways.
I found it very ironic when Tony Abbott commented that it was the fault of people smugglers that the three year old Syrian boy died and that this death confirmed the wisdom of his policy. After all, he did not travel on a boat arranged by people smugglers - they came on their own boat, independent of any people smugglers.
As Bennymacca commented, the right way to try to help asylum seekers is to organise the processing of them in Indonesia and Malaysia, then enabling safe passage to various countries of the region. This should be done according to the capacity of the country to care for them.
I also wish that Tony Abbott could see the hypocrisy in wanting Australia to be involved in bombing Syria, leading to more deaths and/or people fleeing and seeking asylum... and not allowing any to come to Australia.
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 5:48 pm
