Federal Government launches advertising blitz to promote PNG asylum seeker deal

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Federal Government launches advertising blitz to promote PNG asylum seeker deal
ABC Updated July 20, 2013, 3:10 pm

The Federal Government is running advertisements in newspapers across the country in an attempt to promote its new plan to discourage asylum seeker boats coming to Australia.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday confirmed a deal that will see asylum seekers sent to Papua New Guinea for assessment and - if they are found to be refugees - resettlement.

The plan, which Mr Rudd jointly announced with PNG's prime minister Peter O'Neill in Brisbane, will be backed up by an advertising blitz at home and in the region.

Advertisements are running in newspapers across the country today and the ABC understands the ads will also be placed in papers in in neighbouring countries.

Two radio advertisements have also been produced, telling asylum seekers that "the people smugglers' guarantee is worthless" and warning them that they are "buying a ticket to another country".

Mr Rudd has also released a video address with a stern message for people smugglers.

"Your business model is over," he said.

"People who come by boat now have no prospect of being resettled in Australia. The rules have changed."

Mr Rudd says the new deal, which could face legal challenges, may not stop people coming to Australia in boats.

"Nobody should expect the boats to stop tomorrow. In fact, the people smugglers will now try to test our resolve," he said.

The deal marks a dramatic reversal of the asylum seeker policies put in place by Mr Rudd when he first became prime minister in 2007.

Labor MP Doug Cameron, who previously called for asylum seekers to be taken off Manus Island, says he supports the new deal.

"I think it's consistent with the refugees convention," he said.

"I also believe it's consistent with all of the arguments that have been put forward over many years to get a regional framework and I congratulate PNG for taking the step to provide support for this regional framework."

Foreign Minister Bob Carr says Australia's regional neighbours have backed the plan, though he will not say which countries have been consulted.

"I'm struck by the level of support both in the Pacific region and beyond," he said.

"They understand that this is something that Australia's got to respond to with new approaches. The regional resettlement arrangement is something that they understand has real merit and real virtue; they see it as a robust response combined with our commitment to work at the regional level."

The Coalition has welcomed the deal but is demanding to know more details such as how much it will cost and how long it would take to build up the capacity at Manus Island.

Smuggler says policy bad for business, worse for asylum seekers

Meanwhile, a people smuggler has told the ABC that the deal with Papua New Guinea is a short-term threat to his business but is worse for asylum seekers.

The people smuggling contact, who has been providing information to the ABC for a number of months and spoke on condition of anonymity, says the new policy is a surprise.

Indonesia correspondent George Roberts says the smuggler told him the policy will make it difficult to launch boats to Australia for now.

But the smuggler told the ABC that smugglers have already made enough money, so they will survive.

The smuggler is an asylum seeker himself and says the biggest concern is that oppressed people now have less options for seeking asylum.

He says by shutting off options for people facing death, it will force them to get involved in conflict, further inflaming the situation in the Middle East.

He warned it would also have a flow-on effect to Indonesia, where there are around 10,000 registered asylum seekers and refugees.

Iranian refugee says PNG deal won't stop people seeking asylum

An Iranian man on a bridging visa says many of his countrymen are still facing persecution and will continue to seek asylum.

The man, who does not want to be identified, says he came to Australia by boat after fleeing Iranian authorities who detained and tortured him because his brother was critical of the government.

"For some people who have real problems it doesn't matter they just want to be safe," he said.

"They prefer to go anywhere other. They prefer to stay safe in other countries."

He says information about the new policy might not reach some asylum seekers.

"They keep people in an environment that we are not allowed to have mobile phones, we're not able to follow the news. And they already got money from people. They don't care about people they just care about money."

Opposition wants to see written agreement

The Federal Opposition has called on the Government to release the written agreement between agreement between Australia and Papua New Guinea in its entirety.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says the Government's announcement of the policy lacked a lot of detail.

"At the very least that should provide some guide as to where this is all going," he told AM.

"On key issues like resettlement, for example, there's no detail yet on what the Australian public will be on the hook for [and whether they] will we be paying pensions for people's terms of their natural life when they're sent to Papua New Guinea.

"Will there be a big upfront bond payment that's made as a transfer?

"I mean, these sorts of details the Government hasn't even thought through yet. It's not even on the table for a discussion and it just highlights the Prime Minister wanted to make a big announcement, but once again hasn't thought through the implementation, which is the true guide as to whether this thing can make a contribution."

 

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Iran's poor economy and religious, political and racial persecution blamed for refugees
By Connie Agius, ABC Updated July 20, 2013, 3:10 pm

The Federal Government has identified that many of the asylum seekers making their way here to Australia by boat are from Iran.

In a bid to stem the flow, Indonesia has agreed to .

Foreign Minister Bob Carr has suggested that many are economic migrants, but that is not what Iranians who have fled their country argue.

Iran is a dangerous place to be different, where people are persecuted for political views, their race, gender sexuality and religion.

Ali Akbar Mousavi, is a former member of the Iranian parliament, who left the country in 2009 and has settled in the United States.

"I was in prison and I've been tortured two times," he said.

"And then I left the country because the situation in the country and the security situation for me and my family was not very good."

Some may say Mr Mousavi's case is unique because he is a politician, but he believes ordinary Iranians are just as easily pursued by authorities.

Australian government figures support that. So far this year, 5,541 people have arrived in Australia, up from 2,749 in 2012.

"Lots of people [fled] since 2009, especially after the presidential election and crackdown of the government increased," he said.

"The freedom of expression is very bad in the country and since 2004 especially until now. Actually most of the people who left the country, they left because of that limitation."

Amnesty International's refugee spokesperson Graham McGregor says political persecution is just one reason authorities pursue people in Iran, but there are many others.

"Human rights abuses are still very widespread and are still carried out against both individuals and social groups," he said.

"The authorities still in Iran still can seem to discriminate really pretty harshly against non-Shia minorities, including other Muslim communities.

"The Kurds and a number of other ethnic minorities are all discriminated again in a similar way to women - both in law, so they don't have the same legal rights as the rest of the population, but they're also discriminated against on a day-to-day basis in terms of access to employment or education."

The Immigration Department says asylum seekers from Iran claim persecution on the grounds of their political opinion, race or religion.

However, Senator Carr took a different line when he said most arrivals were economic migrants.

Worsening Iranian economy a factor in refugee arrivals

The economic situation in Iran is a factor for many with inflation more than 30 per cent and the unemployment rate sitting above 10 per cent since 1997.

Mr Mousavi says these issues are also a reason why people leave.

"After eight years of governing the country by Ahmadinejad, the economy is very bad and inflation and unemployment it increased," he said.

But if political persecution and the economy aren't enough, some say international sanctions in response to the country's nuclear program are also playing a role.

Western countries, including Australia, have been slapping Iran with new sanctions every year since 2006.

Reza Marashi from the National Iranian American Council says the affect of these sanctions cannot be underestimated.

"You're hearing an increasing number of stories of medical supply shortages inside of Iran," he said.

"You see the prices of food increasing, you see the prices of automobiles, you name it; typical day-to-day items that many of us in the West take for granted all becoming far more difficult for Iranians to afford and access.

"The sanctions that have been put in place by the United States and other Western countries, Australia included, increasingly are the primary reason why life has become so much more difficult than it used to be even one or two years ago inside of Iran."