 Labor's
New "Indian Ocean Solution"
David Sparkes
23 April 2008
Prominent refugee
lawyer David Manne last night expressed concern that the Labor Government
has established an "Indian Ocean Solution" to replace the abolished
Pacific Solution.
Mr Manne, Co-ordinator
of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre, said that many of the worst
aspects of the controversial Pacific Solution are continuing under the
new policy.
Speaking at a public
meeting hosted by the Refugee Action Collective in Melbourne, Mr Manne
said, "What we now have is what I would call the Indian Ocean Solution.
That is, many of the most problematic and objectionable aspects of the
Pacific Solution have in effect been imported back into our own territory
(in the Indian Ocean)."
The Pacific Solution
was started in 2001 by the Coalition Government. Under that system, asylum
seekers who were intercepted while trying to arrive in Australia were
processed in detention centres in the Pacific Ocean.
During the 2007 federal
election campaign the Labor Party pledged to abolish the Pacific Solution.
They did this within months of winning the 2007 election, closing the
Nauru detention centre in February.
However, under the
new policy asylum seekers will be moved to offshore detention centres
in the Indian Ocean, most notably Christmas Island.
Mr Manne said that
the Indian Ocean detention centres are outside the full influence of Australian
law, effectively maintaining one of the key aspects of the Pacific Solution.
"We still have
this peculiar policy and law in our country where parts of our territory
will be dehumanised. That is, human rights will apply there a little bit
or not at all depending on the political discretion of the day."
"There are places
(within Australian territory) where people don't have access to Australian
law for the purposes of pursuing what is a fundamentally legal question.
That is, (the question of) refugee status."
The Australian Government
is also paying for the construction of new detention centres in Indonesia.
Mr Manne cited this as further evidence that the Pacific Solution has
simply been relocated to the Indian Ocean.
Pamela Curr, from
the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, described Australia's use of detention
centres in Indonesia as "the most appalling situation."
The Asylum Seeker
Resource Centre represents some asylum seekers being processed in Indonesia.
Ms Curr said it is difficult to protect their rights in Indonesia, especially
since Indonesia is not signatory to the Refugee Convention.
She described one
meeting with asylum seekers in Indonesia: "On the 14 of December,
in the middle of an interview, in the middle of the day, we took half
an hour for lunch. We came back afterwards to resume the interview. The
Indonesian police had come and taken the men. The women didn't know where.
"Eventually we found out they were taken 450 kilometres away to Makassar
Quarantine Prison, where they have been incarcerated ever since."
Ms Curr warned refugee
advocates against assuming that last year's change of government would
bring about radical reform in refugee policy.
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