An outline of the issue and reasons for its emergence in the media
An asylum seeker is someone who has fled their own country and applies to the government of another country for protection for a fear of persecution either because of their race, religion, and nationality, or a political opinion. To seek asylum is to seek shelter or protection from a hostile country. Should asylum seekers be permitted in Australia? It is only a basic human right that asylum seekers be allowed into Australia because of their current circumstances, for example if their home country is presently in a war, if they come from a third world country full of punishing poverty with lack of education, food or basic hygiene’ or basic human rights containing their inherent value and dignity has been diminished. At the current rate of refugee arrivals, it would take 20 years to fill the MCG according to the Greens political party. Even though it is not illegal to arrive in Australia seeking asylum, this issue is large in Australia because mainland Australia shares no land border with any other country and is relatively distant from other world conflicts. The reasons for why it has emerged in the media consistently are because 95% of asylum seekers that arrive by boat are actually genuine refugees and in addition there are more asylum seekers coming in to the shores of Australia every year, though the Department of Immigration figures exclaimed that the majority of onshore asylum seekers arrive in Australia by air with a valid visa and then apply for onshore protection through Australia’s humanitarian program Last year, just around 3341 asylum seekers were given refuge, which is roughly 1% of the total migration program for that year.
- Major players and organizations
On July 6th 2010, an article in the Sydney Morning Herald named Gillard’s goal: wreck people smugglers, Gillard announced that the government would target ports of origin as it was aiming to stop people smuggling and stop the...