Australia's Immigration Minister Talks Tough on Asylum Seekers
Demonstrating a toughening of stance by the Australian government, the country’s Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison, defended the decision to ask his department to term asylum-seekers as “illegal” and “detainees.”
The
move comes four weeks since the new Coalition government launched Operation
Sovereign borders to refuse entry for asylum-seekers into Australia territory –
either turning boats back or transferring detained asylum-seekers to Manus
Island or Nauru.
Recently,
18 Indian nationals were reported to be detained, along with other boat people,
and are being deported back to India.
Speaking
at the Migration Institute of Australia in Canberra, Mr Morrison said he would
not apologies for the his hardline position on terming asylum-seekers as
“illegal,” claiming that he had the backing of international law on the issue.
"I am not going to make any apologies for not using politically correct language to describe something that I am trying to stop.”
Clarifying
that it was not illegal to seek asylum, he pointed out, that he had a problem
with the mode of entry adopted by boat people.
"I've
never said it was illegal to claim asylum - that's not what the term refers to,
it refers to their mode of entry. So I am going to call a spade a spade,"
Mr Morrison said.
The
Herald Sun report said, Mr Morrison had instructed departmental and detention
centre staff to change their terminology for asylum-seekers, referring to them
as "illegal" arrivals and "detainees" rather than clients.
The
report, meanwhile, quoted opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles
saying he was "really concerned" by the language used by the Abbott
government to refer to asylum-seekers.
Hard position is back
The
Telegraph, meanwhile, reports the modified terminology brings back memories of
the tough anti-boat people policies adopted by the earlier government led by
Prime Minister John Howard from 1996-2007.
The
newspaper quoted the famous 2001 election speech by Mr Howard: "We will
decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they
come."
Labor
government, had earlier softened their position on asylum seekers calling them
"irregular maritime arrival" and those held in detention centres as
"clients."
Soft policies of the former government towards asylum-seekers,
however, did not go down too well among Australian voters. In spite the
toughening its stance during the last couple of months, Labor lost the
elections, vacating government for the Coalition led by Tony Abbott, which has,
since been seeking to stem the flow of asylum seekers coming to Australia by
boat.
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