Resources

RAC Myth-Buster Countering the latest list of political porkies. (Dec 09)

Myths & Facts In Oct 09 A Just Australia wrote an updated "myths and facts" to dispel the lies and rumour-mongering of the Rudd government.

Myths & Lies Told About Asylum Seekers Facing the facts behind the scare-mongering causes hostility to disappear and people to become more accomodating towards refugees.

Debunking the Myths about Muslims 19.12.05 Edmund Rice Centre publicly released this document to combat stereotyping and discrimination which Muslim Australians have had to face in the wake of the "war on terror" and the riots on Sydney beaches.

Try this quiz In November 2007 on a street stall, RAC ran a quiz to test people's knowledge about the contribution refugees can make to societies which accept them.

Dumped at the Gate (583Kb PDF) Recommendations for minimum standards for post-detention settlement of Asylum seekers.

Whingers get their come-uppance
This article was commissioned by the Australian government to assist politicians who had been deluged with complaints
from their constituents whingeing about government generosity to the wrong people. It even provides the origin to the great lie.

Settlement Services for Refugees is a government document which dispels the myth that refugees get more from the government than the rest of us

Deported to Danger 2 The Continuing Study of Australia's Treatment of Rejected Asylum Seekers : September 2006

Deported to Danger 40 asylum seekers rejected and deported by the Australian govt were followed to their destinations by Edmund Rice Centre for Justice & Community Education, who, with the School of Education at Australian Catholic University, published their findings in September 2004.

Working with Wasim Four academics in Western Australia look at the role of the Australian community, in both allowing the hard-line treatment of asylum seekers by the Howard government, and in turning it around.

Locked out: ASRC paper on homelessness among refugees living in the community. December 2009. (4Mb)

Immigration detention & offshore processing on Christmas Island A report by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (2009)

The Palmer Report The last straw came on the infamous occasion when Australian resident Cornelia Rau got trapped in one of these horrible detention centres. Former Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Palmer was engaged to conduct an inquiry.

Mental Death arises from threats to psychological rather than physical integrity. Ex-nurse Pamela Curr, who found this article, is not the only one struggling to understand why certain ex-detainees behave in certain ways. The article deals with the specific consequences of totalitarian control and gives us quite a few insights.

The Counter Kit (3.02Mb PDF)

Former Minister for Immigration in the Howard government, Amanda Vanstone, accused a number of Australian school teachers of political bias for encouraging debate about the Australian government's treatment of people who seek asylum in our country.

She subsequently released an educational pack "Australia says yes to refugees!" which was sent to schools around the country. It portrayed Australia as an open, humanitarian country that actively welcomed refugees into the community, but made no mention of mandatory detention, forced deportations, the Pacific Solution, or TPVs. In fact, no reference was made to any of innumerable injustices to which asylum seekers and refugees in Australia were being subject to at the time — and as of February 2010 are still being subject.

In turn, Refugee Action Collective (Victoria) offered the Counter Kit linked below, "Australia should say yes to refugees!" We hope to correct the distortion of what we take to be a deliberately misleading and poorly researched document.