Responding to boat arrivals in Australia: time for a reality check

Read the full text.

pdfKoser, Responding_web

15 December 2010Boat arrivals have been the focus for a flurry of policy-making in 2010. This paper asks why, and whether it has been worth it.

It argues that Australia is not undergoing an asylum crisis of the sort that warrants such attention and policy reform.

None of the policies currently being proposed address the root causes of the problem, and are therefore likely only to be short-term fixes. They may not even succeed in their narrow aim of reducing boat arrivals to Australia. They also carry significant potential costs, both financial and political.

The paper recommends that the Government avoids enacting more border enforcement, and instead pays more attention to the other elements of a comprehensive approach to the challenge of boat arrivals.

Publication typeReport
Publisher TypeAPO Member, Think tank
CoverageAustralia, Asia and the Pacific
Permanent URLhttp://apo.org.au/node/23539
Views2498

Related Topics

Asylum seekers

Human rights

Interest rates

Migration

Trafficking

International

Politics

Social Policy

Justice

Related content

Most viewed: This week

1
Web and Information Coordinator - Australian Policy Online (Position number: 29499)
2
Can nations measure well-being?
3
Evidence-free policy making? The case of income management
4
Six provocations for big data
5
What do pop-up shops and homelessness have in common?

Noticeboard

Australian Community Sector Survey
03 May 2012

Strengthen our voice - take part in the Australian Community Sector Survey

There's just under two weeks to go for Victoria's community sector organisations to help us provide an authentic snapshot of the state of demand for services in the state.

Women's Health Victoria survey now open
08 March 2012

Women's Health Victoria (WHV) is a statewide women's health promotion, information and advocacy organisation, working with policy makers and health professionals to influence and inform health policy and service delivery.

The online survey is open to anyone who has used WHV's services, resources, or websites in the past 12 months. It covers: WHV publications, professional training, The Index database of gendered statistics, WHV Clearinghouse, BreaCan Service (supporting people diagnosed with breast or gynaecological cancer), capacity building, member services, and more.

Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (the ACNC) starting in July 2012
07 March 2012

In May 2011 the Federal Government announced that the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) would commence operations from 1 July 2012 and that it would initially be responsible for determining the legal status of groups seeking charitable, public benevolent institution, and other not-for-profit (NFP) benefits on behalf of all Commonwealth agencies. 

Topics

APO