Policy Paper against “Australia by boat, no advantage” Policy



Policy Paper against “Australia by boat, no advantage” Policy

Introduction

This paper intends to create a sound policy against the "Australia by Boat, No Advantage” policy implemented by Australian government recently. The policy initiated by the Australian government basically intends to deter the boat arrivals from coming to Australia. The policy calls for all vulnerable people to be detained indefinitely including accompanied minors. The purpose of this paper is to provide strong arguments against the policy framework of the “Australia by Boat, No Advantage.” Various mental health impacts and unforeseen long term costs on the government of Australia will be the basis of the arguments. The paper will provide a brief introduction to asylum seekers, policy overview and statistical overview on number of boats arrival. Moving on, arguments on the impacts of this policy will be discussed. Lastly, my preferred options other than detention for asylum seekers will be provided. The purpose of this paper is to make the reader aware about the negative aspects of "Australia by Boat, No Advantage” policy and to create a sound policy against it.

Discussion

The policy of "Australia by Boat, No Advantage” is basically set to deter boat arrivals from coming to Australia. The policy calls for all vulnerable people to be detained indefinitely including accompanied minors. I believe that the implementation of this policy will create immense impacts on mental health of the people due to prolonged detention. Separation from families will also significantly impact the mental health of detained people. Moreover, I believe that the government did not realize the long term cost impacts of such detentions.

Researches has showed that during Howard Government, the same policy failed and majority of people who were sent to Nauru eventually settled in Australia anywhere. There are no guarantees that these people will settle elsewhere thereby causing more strain on government revenue towards mental health for former asylum seekers. People who were detained during Howard government, most of them are still recovering. So this policy overlooks the longer term cost and also tends to play gamble with people's lives that are already vulnerable. Government needs to think of some other policies rather just detaining vulnerable people for the purpose of dealing with asylum seekers.

Asylum Seekers

Asylum seekers are basically the people who have the fear of persecution for various reasons. The basic reasons witnessed for the fear are related to the discriminatory practices on the basis of religion, race or even political opinion. Asylum seekers tend to cross the international boundaries for the purpose of entering into countries where they hope to possess a refugee status. In other words, asylum seekers are the people who intend to find safer living environment in foreign countries mainly because of wars, terrorism, famine or extreme poverty. They leave their home countries usually because of unsafe environment or lack of resources (Hatton & Lim, 2005).

It remains extremely important for the people to understand the basic difference between the asylum seekers and the ...