That's a tough one, dingo girl. I'm going to bail out on the MDC boards for a while, but I'll try & answer your question first.
Australia has a history of apartheid & racial discrimination. They won't call it apartheid, but that's what it was. For many years the immigration policy was one of 'White Australia'- only whites (ie: northern Europeans) were allowed to immigrate. I believe this went on into the 1970's, altho exceptions were made for southern Europeans (Greeks, Italians) after WWII. Prior to this it was fighting & discrimination between Protestants & Catholics- very little intermingling between the two groups. My MIL has some crazy stories of growing up Catholic in the 1950's- mostly subtle, yucky discrimination stuff, nothing like being denied access to education or anything like that...... Prior to this there was conflict between the convicts, freed convicts, & their captors. Deportation to Australia as a criminal punishment only stopped in the late 19th century ('The Fatal Shore' by Robert Hughes is an excellent book about Aus convict history- pretty bloody & brutal & that's without even mentioning what happened to the indigenous people). IMO Australia had a sort of 'colonial hangover' from the early years, a sort of inferiority complex perpetuated (IMO) by the British Empire. That is changing, & the whole thing is way too complicated for a single post. In the 1980's increasing numbers of southeast Asians migrated to Australia (after the end of the White Australia policy), which jump-started the whole global multicultural society that Aus is evolving into today. Today, 1/3 of all Australians have at least one parent born overseas.
Fast forward to the 1990's, & a certain fish & chip shop owner named Pauline Hanson. Hanson was/is anti-immigration, anti-Asian, anti-multiculturalism, anti-indigenous land rights, anti-mixed marriage- you name it. (She also is a social agrarian, but that another story...). She founded the One Nation political party, & in 1998 i believe, they recieved about 8 % of the total vote. She pandered to people's fears about 'others', & was somewhat famous for claiming that Australia would be over-run by the 'Asian hordes from the North' (paraphrasing somewhat). That 8% of the vote came from the more conservative voters, which took votes away from both the Liberal & National party (the coalition gov't we have today). So, the Libs & Nats (but more the Libs) adapted & adopted some of Hanson's policies, thereby dropping One Nation's percentage of the vote to around 0.5 % today. ANd one of the policies they adapted with great gusto was the anti-boat people legislation. We have now excised most of our islands from our migration zone, making it very difficult to arrive at the mainland & claim assylum. ANother thing we do is drag fishing boats overcrowded with refugees back to Indonesia. Sometimes the boats sink, & sometimes you get disasters like the SIEV X tragedy. If they do manage to get picked up by another boat, that's when the 'Pacific Solution' comes in. We pay Nauru & PNG to hold people in, well, detention camps in horrid conditions, so that they can't even set one foot on this fatal shore..... And then we declare Afghanistan 'safe' & give them the option of either remaining in a detention camp for the rest of their natural life & charging them for it, or sending them 'home'. This is done in the name of protecting us from terrorists, but in reality it's just playing on people's fears.....
This history I think in part explains why Australians have been willing to go along with the detention. I should also add that detention for non-traditional immigrants was put in place by a Labor gov't (liberal/lefty). It's just that the Coalition has taken it to new extremes. Most people are still in favour of refugees being held temporarily for health checks & disease control, but more & more are coming around to the idea that after that initial health assessment refugees should be released into the community. This changing attitude can be seen in groups like Rural Australians for Refugees- compassion for refugees is crossing over into the more right-y sector of the population, & this is what gives me hope that the Coalition will be pressured into making changes before the next election (sometime in October or November).
I don't think that your average Aussie sees the camps as a Holiday Inn
![]()
, but you know, a lot of people live here in some pretty harsh, remote conditions in semi-desert, & they don't see how living in air-conditioning with TV & food is so bad...... The urban folks (the bulk of the population)... well, I don't really know what their justification is. The nearest big city to me is Brisbane (approx. 1 million people), & it takes two days driving to get there. Me, I live in a town of 150,000, with plenty of Aboriginals & Asians & Pacific Islanders & Italians & Greeks & a surprising number of Yanks, & quite frankly I don't always get what the big cities are on about. My town's not perfect, & it's beyond ridiculously hot in summer, but we mix up here in the North & that's got to be a good thing..... It can be red-necky, but in some of my personal friends I have seen a complete turn-around in their attitude towards refugees. Before they were just scared (by One Nation & the current gov't), but when you actually sit down & talk with people, sometimes their attitude changes. They see that you are not scared of the 'unknown people', the 'Asian hordes', or whatever box you want to put people in & they think maybe I don't need to be scared either.......
Bringing this novella to a close now...... I think Australians DO care, but in a certain sense they are tough, tough people..... so used to hardship (historically) that they don't see how bad it is for people to be locked away. As for the children in detention.... I've never actually heard any real person suggest that the kiddies should remain locked up (I'm sure they're out there tho). Mostly that rubbish comes from the pollies.... which is why I think the current gov'ts policy can be changed, & why I think letters from concerned mums & dads in America will help.
I won't be holding my breath though...... Au revoir.....
