Saturday, July 28, 2018

Australia: A Model for Curbing Immigration

by Giulio Meotti • July 28, 2018 at 5:00 am

"Europeans think it's easy in Australia to control our borders, but they're just making up excuses for doing nothing themselves." — Major General (Ret.) Jim Molan, co-author of Australia's asylum policy.
"We have got hundreds, maybe thousands of people drowning in the attempts to get from Africa to Europe... [The] only way you can stop the deaths is in fact to stop the boats". — Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
"My long experience in Australian politics has been that whenever a government is seen to have immigration flows under control, public support for immigration increases, when the reverse occurs hostility to immigration rises." — Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
It must be crushing to live in a country where governance might be questionable at best, and economic opportunities limited, if that. People know they are risking their lives in search of a better break. But if the West is not to be overwhelmed, these problems seriously need to be addressed.

The Manus Regional Processing Centre in Papua New Guinea, where Australia used to send illegal immigrants turned away from Australia. It was formally closed on October 31, 2017. (Image source: Australia Department of Immigration and Citizenship)

Four years ago, the Australian government sparked criticism after it ran an advertisement aimed at discouraging asylum seekers from traveling illegally to the country. "No Way", the poster read. "You will not make Australia home. If you get on a boat without a visa, you will not end up in Australia. Any vessel seeking illegally to enter Australia will be intercepted and safely removed beyond Australian waters".

It was an extremely tough message, but it worked. "Australia's migration rate is the lowest it's been in 10 years", said Peter Dutton, Australia's Home Affairs Minister. Speaking last week on the Today Show, Dutton added that the drop was about "restoring integrity to our border". The Australians are apparently happy about that. A new poll just revealed that 72% of voters support Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's immigration policy. Australia, a Western democracy, has for years, tried to deal with a migration crisis from the sea.