For long, Australians felt itself far removed from the problems of the rest of the world. The refugee crisis has changed all that. From as far away as Iraq and Afghanistan, people are fleeing to Australia in the hope of being allowed to enjoy its prosperous and stable existence. The tide of displaced and helpless people caught the Australian government unprepared. It led to muddle and mishandling which last month attracted the censure of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Like any other prosperous nation, the Australians have found themselves in an extremely difficult situation. Anxious to act humanely to those whose lives are in danger in their own countries, the government in Canberra has also had to take into consideration its existing immigration policy, and the responsibility it owes to those waiting patiently for their legal applications to be processed and considered.
The danger from Canberra’s point of view is that it will be seen that queue-jumping pays. If those asylum seekers who have given small fortunes to professional people-smugglers to sneak them into Australia are treated sympathetically by the authorities, then would-be legal immigrants will ask themselves, with justice, why they should continue to wait in line for their turn. Why should they not just find some way of entering Australia illegally, thus hugely speeding up the process? That would be the smart thing to do. There is a feeling that the Australian government has been too tough in its attempt to choke off the flow of refugees. The riots that have broken out at the Woomera detention camp are an indictment of the generally unsympathetic way that asylum seekers are being handled. A more sympathetic approach would have short-circuited the buildup of resentment which the troublemakers can exploit.
Unfortunately, the Australian government of Prime Minister John Howard secured a third term of office largely on a policy of getting tough with illegal immigrants. Behaving more humanely instead will not sit very easily with the government’s supporters. But that is clearly what is needed, both for the effective control and processing of these unfortunates and also for the sake of Australia’s international reputation.
If Canberra wants to get tough on refugees, the people to go after are the smugglers who charge thousands of dollars from their clients, many of whom become victims as they are left to drown in sinking hulks or asphyxiate inside sealed cargo containers. Indeed, Australia might think about taking the lead in a worldwide campaign against these evil men. Their networks and methods have become increasingly sophisticated. There is growing evidence that organized crime has begun to take over the people-smuggling business. Where organized crime can go, international terrorists cannot be far behind.
Putting the people smugglers out of business can, therefore, become a legitimate objective for the anti-terrorism war. If they are hit in their banks accounts, have their property seized and face long prison sentences after trial by an international tribunal, the prices charged to illegal asylum seekers will rocket and fewer will be able to afford them, so the flow of helpless refugees will be reduced.
