Majority of Australians support equal legal protections for all asylum seekers
29 July 2009, 12:10PM
A new opinion poll conducted for Amnesty International has found that a clear majority of Australians believe all asylum seekers should be treated equally under Australian law. The survey also found that a majority of Australians mistakenly believe that most asylum seekers arrive in Australia by boat.
The results of the Nielsen poll commissioned by Amnesty International Australia show that 69 percent of Australians believe that asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat should have access to the same legal protections as those who arrive by plane.
“Currently under Australian law, asylum seekers who arrive by boat are discriminated against because of their method of arrival. The findings of this survey show that a clear majority of Australians disagree with this policy and support Amnesty International’s position that all people seeking asylum in Australia should receive equal treatment under the law,” said Dr Graham Thom, Refugee Coordinator for Amnesty International Australia.
“The Government should immediately move to end this discriminatory policy, provide the same legal protections to all asylum seekers, and stop processing asylum claims offshore on Christmas Island.”
The opinion poll also showed that a large majority of Australians have major misconceptions regarding the percentage of asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat. On average, Australians believe that about 60 per cent of asylum seekers come to Australia by boat. More than a third of Australians believe that over 80 per cent of asylum seekers arrive by boat. In fact, only 3.4 per cent of people who sought asylum in Australia in 2008 arrived by boat - the other 96.6 per cent arrived by plane.
“The misconception regarding the number of asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat is deeply concerning,” said Graham Thom. “There has been an almost hysterical response to the relatively small number of people arriving by boat in recent years.
“In reality, the numbers are small, and disproportionate to the huge outlay of resources required to maintain the discriminatory policy of offshore processing of asylum seekers who arrive by boat.”
Of those surveyed, only 31 per cent were aware that it costs more to process asylum seekers on Christmas Island than it would to process them on the Australian mainland. Of those who answered correctly, 51 per cent believed that the additional cost of offshore processing was unjustifiable.
“These findings suggest that some two thirds of Australians do not know what a heavy burden offshore processing places on taxpayers. Amnesty International believes that the excision policy is fundamentally unsustainable on a number of grounds, and is calling on the government to end its discriminatory excision policy and to close the Christmas Island detention facility - which cost over $400 million to build and many more millions each year to run” said Graham Thom.
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Comments
Comments are submitted by members of the public and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Amnesty International Australia. If you find a comment objectionable please contact the web editor.
Averil Greenhalgh
11 August 2009, 06:54PM
Australians are good people. They genuinely want to help and care for Refugees regardless of how they arrive in this country. The media thrives on Sensationalism, that is where the money lies! How long need anyone be ‘quarantined for health reasons’? When are they cleared from quarantine. There are health risks daily, everytime a plane arrives, a ship, a luxury liner, a commercial vessel - it is all just excuses…
Marilyn
6 August 2009, 06:37PM
When ministers flat out lie to the public it doesn’t help.
I just got a letter from Brendan O’Connor repeating the nonsense about people smuggling, after I told him it was not true.
And then said that we had to quarantine people for health reasons.
Arthur Baker
6 August 2009, 12:51PM
Part of the problem is journalistic ignorance. Journalists are not usually specialists in refugee issues, and are under heavy pressure to meet publication deadlines, so conducting full research on the subject is out of the question. So our public knowledge of refugees has, in recent years, been shaped by sound bites, mostly negative. That is, our public knowledge of refugees arriving by boat. Our knowledge of the 96 percent who arrive by air has been shaped by nothing at all. As the survey shows, they are almost entirely invisible to most people. And that also has something to do with journalists, who know that most Australians perceive people arriving at an airport as no threat at all, but people landing on a beach are apparently about to cause the end of the world as we know it. You can’t scare Australians by telling them about airport arrivals, so it’s not a story. But tell them a few bedraggled refugees are off the coast in a leaky boat, and you touch the hot button. Why?
joe
5 August 2009, 09:00AM
The undelying issue of the misconceptions of asylum seekers root themselves in the way media reflects them. AI should consider increasing the focused “education” of media so that the media reports these stories in a more contextualised and evidence based manner rather than hooking the story on sensationalism. I am aftraid its the “turn table concept” on continuous education of the media people. But general education is also important so that we are less tolerant to the lobb sided medai reports can often appear as news.
Antonius
4 August 2009, 05:46PM
Well I’m sorry to say I’d be in a lot of those percentages who answered incorrectly. Overall the results sound as though the population has a more realistic attitude toward asylum seekers than our government-elect. Still, it’s disturbing to see 49% think the excesses of offshore processing is justifiable. I wonder how they would want to justify it?
Nicole
1 August 2009, 01:39AM
It is great that 69% of Australians believe that all asylum seekers should be treated equally! However, it is sad that we have this skewed view about how many are arriving and by what method. Every individual deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. <3
Geoff
30 July 2009, 03:31AM
Human rights should be applied to all, equally! I am heartened to see that most Aussies agree with this principle.
Marilyn
30 July 2009, 03:13AM
Well tell Evans at the forum tomorrow night about the protocol against people smuggling which FORBIDS THE PUNISHMENT OF THOSE REFUGEES WHO USE SMUGGLERS AND THOSE WHO HELP THEM.
We are depraved and the public should be made aware of the $3 billion or more price tag for this lunacy over the last decade.
yvesmarie.perot
30 July 2009, 12:46AM
I am aggre with this Amnesty Position the same treatement for all asylum seekers
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