Sunday 26 August 2012

Go Back to Where You Came From



Another Dumbo Feather conversation night. Held in the city at Manchester Press, a cafe in a former print building. Dr David Corlett, a case worker and researcher who has worked with refugees and asylum seekers. He completed a doctorate in 2003 on Australia's response to asylum seekers. He has hosted 2 series of a programme called Go Back to Where You Came From, which basically gets those antagonistic to asylum seekers in a position where they see what these people have fled. Dr Corlett's desire is to humanise the issue. For him, it's about protecting the people. The refugees and asylum seekers are fleeing countries in which Australian troops and peace-keepers have been deployed because the political situation is unstable so it is obvious that people would want to escape from that. Sending them back, which is what has been happening, is to put them back in dangerous situations.

A man in the audience referred to this week's news item that an extraordinary 53, 900 New Zealanders have moved to Australia in the year to July. This number dwarfs the 9607 asylum seekers who arrived in Australian waters by boat. And no one bats an eyelid. Well...except to mock our accent with requests for us to say fish and chips and sixty-seven and make some sort of comment about sheep. 

Interesting point.



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