Back to the future: Australia's "Pacific Solution" reprise

Murray Hunter

Australia is now sending refugees again to Nauru just like the Howard Government did almost a decade ago. Accommodation there are makeshift tents with little ventilation and very basic conditions. There are a number of cases of self mutilation, hunger strikes, and attempted suicides. The Australian Government talks about the facility in Nauru being a "Best Practice " with recreation and sporting facilities, internet, and excursions, etc. In reality the Nauru camp is not much more than a prison camp in hot and humid conditions where people are denied access to basic amenities and confined to their tents. There is little transparency as the Australian authorities have closed off the facilities to the media to inspect. In addition the Government just last week began resending refugees to Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.

According to 2011 UNHCR figures there were about 23,500 refugees in Australia. Most boat people come from Afghanistan (1,613), Iran (1,549), Iraq (542), and Sri Lanka (362), where some academics speculate that Australia's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan was partly the trigger for these flows of refugees coming to Australia on boats. 5,175 refugees arrived by boat in 2011 which accounted for only 49% of total refugees coming into Australia. The other 51% or 6,316 refugees tend to have more financial means of support and are able to obtain tourist visas and arrive by plane in the country. These people came from China (1,122), India (555), and Egypt (427).

But the numbers of boat people have dramatically increased to more than 12,000 this year bringing a sense of panic to the Gillard Government.

When one considers that Australia's total migrant intake each year is around 180,000, the number of refugee arrivals by boat is an insignificant amount and has taken up an over proportion of resources to set up and operate detention camps in far off places like Christmas Island and Nauru. In addition a number of motels have been converted into makeshift detention centres around Darwin putting upward pressure on accommodation costs for locals.

Very little is done by authorities about those who come into the country by plane and overstay their tourist visas. This is actually a much more serious matter as unlike the boat refugees, those that have flown into the country have deceived Australian authorities at the time of making their visa applications.

These issues are basically ignored by the media because higher costs for accommodation in Darwin and immigration incompetence in screening visa applicants doesn't make as good a story as the country being swamped by people arriving by boat. To some degree the media has placated the government's line, but at least over the last few months some investigative journalists are now seeking the truth, which the government appears to be covering up and the opposition doesn't want to talk about.

Both sides of Australian politics while in Government have played on the fear of Australians being overrun by refugees. The Government has played up the fact that refugees are paying for passage and trying to circumvent Australian immigration rules, painting them in opportunists rather than refugees. "People smugglers" predominates the narrative by the minister and immigration spokespeople giving a narrow and distorted view of the whole issue of refugees, while visa over-stayers are hardly mentioned, where a great lapse in enforcement exits in this area.

The Australian Human Rights Commission voiced concern about the physical and mental health services for people in immigration detention and concern over the prevalence of self mutilation and suicide in the camps. The commission has also voiced concerns that the Australian Government is also trying to avoid its international obligations by transferring asylum seekers to third countries.

The Government has made policy on the assumption that if it goes soft on boat arrivals the country will be flooded with refugees. This Austro-centric view has been long in the Australian psych ever since the days of the old white Australia policy where Australians believed that "everybody" wants to come and settle in the country.

The reality is that most refugees prefer Europe, the United States, or Canada to Australia, which is evident in the much larger number of refugees that are now in those countries awaiting processing. In the UK alone there are almost 10 times the number of refugees awaiting processing than in Australia.

However this policy is very useful for winning votes in the electorate and probably won John Howard the election in 2001 when he falsely claimed refugees were throwing their own children overboard to seek asylum.

In response to a rapid rise in refugees arriving by boat, Prime Minister Gillard has turned around 180 degrees implementing her version of the "Pacific Solution" identical to the Howard policy she condemned in 2003 as "costly, unsustainable and wrong as a matter of principle". Gillard blames factors like the Sri Lankan civil war, which actually ended a couple of years ago. But as Howard knows facts never gets in the way of good rhetoric that can emotionally sway the Australian people. Innuendos about asylum seekers concealing terrorists has turned the Australian public against boat people, encouraging the Government to take firm action.

Just recently three eminent Australians led by the former Defense Chief Angus Houston strongly criticized the Billions of Dollars spent on enforcement and the unnecessary lives lost through the Government's policy. The panel went on to say that Gillard's policy is truly costly, unsustainable and wrong as a matter of principle, in the same rhetorical language Gillard used in 2003.

In addition the mathematics behind the Governments logic is dubious to say the least. In the "Malaysian solution" mooted last year, which failed to pass the Senate earlier this year, Australia agreed with Malaysia to take 4,000 people registered as refugees in Malaysia for 800 refugees sent by Australia for offshore processing over 4 years. However this deal fell through when human rights lawyers pointed out that Malaysia was not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention or UN Convention Against Torture. In Nauru, it will cost $1.7 Billion to house 700 refugees for 4 years.

The irony, if not hypocrisy of the story is that the Australian Government just introduced a new immigrant visa that will be granted to anybody investing $5 Million in Australia exempting requirements for family ties, language, and professional qualification requirements. This takes all fairness and equity out of the Australian immigration policy, the justification made in the first place for the "Pacific Solution". What more, the annual bill to the Australian taxpayers for the "Pacific Solution" is in excess of $2 Billion per annum, not forgetting more than 700 deaths on the high seas.

The immigration debate in Australia has sacrificed humanitarian concerns for politics, with the Government ignoring outright criticism from human rights watchdogs like Amnesty International. Will the Pacific and Asia be strewn with Australian detention camps in the near future?


24.11.2012

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Gillard after signing up as deputy sheriff now supporting the state use of assassinations without trial

Murray Hunter

Just the day after being anointed the US deputy sheriff in Asia Gillard in her comments about the Israel and Hamas escalation implicitly supported the Israeli assassination of the Hamas leader Ahmed Said Khalil al-Jabari. In her comments about the escalation, Gillard condemned repeated attacks by Hamas on Israel, but was silent on the Israeli assassination of the Hamas leader.

Government assassinations are both against international law and Australian Government policy. However Gillard's silence over the matter, just like her silence over numerous US drone assassinations in Pakistan over the last few years seems to indicate a change in Australian foreign policy. It is apparent that any breach of international law by either the US or Israel will always have the tacit support of the Australian Government even though some actions may be wrong and against  any sense of moral ethics and international law.

Now we live in a world were state assassination of people, even their own citizens without trial is acceptable. Last year the Obama administration deployed a drone to kill one of its own citizens Anwar al-Awlaki without any trial whatsoever. The raid on the alleged Osama Bin laden in Pakistan also had no legal basis, other than being an 'act of might'.

In war, terrorism, and insurgency both sides undertake morally reprehensible and illegal acts. However Western democracies have now decided that the means justify the ends and have dropped all legal concepts of justice in pursuit of their ends.

We are told to trust government in this post 9/11 era as if they know best. With the same bodies collecting intelligence, judging it, and then making assassinations we have a situation where the basic division of powers, police, judiciary and penal system, once separated, now act as one.

This is the product of democracies that have decided to throw away all forms of visible checks and balances. This zero-sum game will act only to aggrieve more people who will be encouraged to take up insurgency and terrorism as a last resort, escalate the current situation in the Middle-East which we are about to see again with rockets fired on Tel Aviv and an impending invasion into Gaza which will cost hundreds if not thousands of innocentlives, and make Western nations further targets for acts of terror. Now Australia is proudly among these targets with Gillard putting her nation in harm's way.

16.11.2012.

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Hillary to Julia "You take India and I'll take Pakistan", while an ex-Aussie PM says "Enough is enough with the US"

Murray Hunter

We are now into Hillary Clinton's 2nd day of "blitzkrieg" in Australia where she is showing her potential presidential charm and vision of dividing up the world just like the "axis" powers tried to do during WWII.

Hillary now wants to "outsource" US cooperation with India to Australia so the US can work to clean up the mess in Pakistan created by clandestine missions and murder of innocent people with their drones. Hillary can't afford Pakistan asking why the US is giving assistance to its rival India, so she innovatively came out with the "outsourcing and encirclement of China" by proxy plan.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her Defense Minister Stephen Smith seemed thrilled to be called upon to play "deputy sheriff " again, and agreed to increase US marine numbers stationed in Australia from 400 to 2,500 by 2014. They also agreed to a spy satellite tracking station to be established in the North as well, but were hesitant about allowing more US ships into Australian ports, in the hope that holding out will get Australia service contracts for the Pacific Fleet in Adelaide. Watch this space!!!

Defense Minister Stephen Smith is on such a "high" that in a press conference he claimed that the US had listened to his advice about the strategic importance of the Indian ocean.

Meanwhile all the backbiting and unhappiness about Australian defense budget cutbacks have been smoothed over by Defense Minister Smith and US Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich after this website and others reported US unease last Sunday. Fortunately for all, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Asian Affairs Kurt Campbell had a bout of amnesia and suddenly recalled that the budget cuts were NOT on the agenda.

This is all going on while the Chinese leadership is in transition where Australia is acting like a school kid with the teacher out of the classroom. Last year's AUSMIN meeting riled China and Australia seems to be taking delight when the US is in town of 'rubbing salt on the wound' as far as China is concerned, which is not at ease with the Australia-India defense tie up-scaling. This is going to take a lot of explaining by Australian diplomatic officials to Chinese officials over the coming year to eliminate the tension Australia has caused with their rash behavior with the Hillary show this week.

The new leadership of China now has to deal with an Australia where another former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been "advising" the US to reserve the military option against them", according to Wikileaks cables.

It's just not China that is perturbed about all the childish behavior going on. Former Australian Prime Minister and the original visionary about Australia needing to stamp its place in Asia Paul Keating couldn't bear all the placating between Hillary and Julia and stepped in with some wise advice. Keating warned Julia that she is making the same mistake as conservative and self styled deputy sheriff, former Prime Minister John Howard in just falling over for the US without regard for the consequences throughout the region.

Australia's blind obedience to the US has compromised the region's perception of the country's independence. At the Keith Murdoch Lecture in Melbourne last night Keating said that Australia had been "traded down in the big stroke business" from the days it once played a key role in the creation of the APEC Forum. "Even states like Indonesia are dubious of us (Australia) because they do not see us making our way in the world or their world other than in a manner deferential to other powers, especially the US".

Meanwhile, Obama is getting ready for his Asian trip and ready to go all out for it. Expect a big pep-talk to Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra about boosting US-Thai military cooperation. Thailand is expected to join the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will fly in from Australia on Thursday to solve a few issues about Thailand's disappointment with lack of benefits arising non-NATO ally (MNNA) status before Obama arrives on Sunday. There are a number of covert matters which the US want such as access to the U-tapao airbase. Maybe a new initiative or two will be announced in the trade area to get trade relations back on track.

On November 19 Obama will then travel onto Burma to meet President Thein Sein, who is perceived as a potential US ally with the country's yearn to become less dependent on China. Obama's last stop is on 20th November in Cambodia to attend the 7th East Asia Summit (EAS) where he will meet with ASEAN leaders and work on stemming the close Cambodia-China alliance, where China is now Cambodia's largest aid donor, through the EAS platform.

Obama is in a region where China sees herself as a natural leader, and has earned this position through hard work. Obama is coming right up "nose to nose" against China which increases the stakes and risks the escalating into what could be metaphorically called a "cold war" without the political dogma.

However the United States is no longer the incumbent in the region and cannot dominate the game through aid. in-fact Obama has many fiscal problems at home he has to face upon his return. The rules are different now, and second time round, the Asian region is much wiser. As a consequence his strategy is one of high risk.

What will are about to see is Obama at his best, just like an Olympic 100 meters gold medalist before the start of the final. Suave, focused and confident, and a powerful persuader.

However China is yet to play any cards in retaliation and people forget China is the home of Lao Tzu and Sun Tzu. China is good at their game now with their newly installed young technocrat generation, with a capable resources behind them. For the sake of the US, let's hope Obama has some contingencies up his sleeve.

It seems that this trip is also about Hillary, the statesperson and becoming the first woman president of the United States.

However Australia's persona to the region is in a total shambles. The art of diplomacy is totally missing from the Australian psych.

One must also ask: Did Hillary do "a sting" operation on Australia?

15.11.2012.
 

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PUBLICATIONS:


      Entrepreneurship and economic growth? South-East Asian governments are developing policy on the misconception that entrepreneurship creates economic growth. - Murray Hunter

      Australia "Do as I say, not as I do" - The ongoing RBA bribery scandal - Murray Hunter

      Australia in the "Asian Century" or is it Lost in Asia? - Murray Hunter

      Surprise, surprise: An Islam economy can be innovative - Murray Hunter

      Do Asian Management Paradigms Exist? A look at four theoretical frames - Murray Hunter

      What China wants in Asia: 1975 or 1908 ? – addendum - prof. dr. Anis Bajraktarević

      ASEAN Nations need indigenous innovation to transform their economies but are doing little about it. - Murray Hunter

      From Europe, to the US, Japan, and onto China: The evolution of the automobile - Murray Hunter

      Missed Opportunities for ASEAN if the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) fails to start up in 2015 - Murray Hunter

      Lessons from the Invention of the airplane and the Beginning of the Aviation Era - Murray Hunter

      Elite educators idolize the “ high flying entrepreneurs” while deluded about the realities of entrepreneurship for the masses: - Murray Hunter

      The Arrival of Petroleum, Rockefeller, and the Lessons He taught Us - Murray Hunter - University Malaysia Perlis

      Ethics, Sustainability and the New Realities - Murray Hunter

      The Dominance of “Western” Management Theories in South-East Asian Business Schools: The occidental colonization of the mind. - Murray Hunter

      How feudalism hinders community transformation and economic evolution: Isn’t equal opportunity a basic human right? - Murray Hunter

      On Some of the Misconceptions about Entrepreneurship - Murray Hunter

      Knowledge, Understanding and the God Paradigm - Murray Hunter

      Do Confucian Principled Businesses Exist in Asia? - Murray Hunter

      Samsara and the Organization - Murray Hunter

      Integrating the philosophy of Tawhid – an Islamic approach to organization. - Murray Hunter

      What’s with all the hype – a look at aspirational marketing - Murray Hunter

      Does Intrapreneurship exist in Asia? - Murray Hunter

      One Man, Multiple Inventions: The lessons and legacies of Thomas Edison - Murray Hunter

     People tend to start businesses for the wrong reasons - Murray Hunter

     How emotions influence, how we see the world? - Murray Hunter

     How we create new ideas - Murray Hunter

     Where do entrepreneurial opportunities come from? - Murray Hunter

     The five types of thinking we use - Murray Hunter

     Evaluating Entrepreneurial Opportunities: What’s wrong with SWOT? - Murray Hunter

     How motivation really works - Murray Hunter

     The Evolution of Business Strategy - Murray Hunter

     Not all opportunities are the same: A look at the four types of entrepreneurial opportunity - Murray Hunter

     Do we have a creative intelligence? - Murray Hunter

     Imagination may be more important than knowledge: The eight types of imagination we use - Murray Hunter

     The environment as a multi-dimensional system: Taking off your rose coloured glasses - Murray Hunter

     Generational Attitudes and Behaviour - Murray Hunter

     Groupthink may still be a hazard to your organization - Murray Hunter

     Perpetual Self conflict: Self awareness as a key to our ethical drive, personal mastery, and perception of entrepreneurial opportunities - Murray Hunter

     The Continuum of Psychotic Organisational Typologies - Murray Hunter

     There is no such person as an entrepreneur, just a person who acts entrepreneurially - Murray Hunter

     Go Home, Occupy Movement!!-(The McFB– Was Ist Das?) - prof. dr. Anis Bajrektarevic

     Diplomatie préventive - Aucun siècle Asiatique sans l’institution pan-Asiatique - prof. dr. Anis Bajrektarevic

     Democide Mass-Murder and the New World Order - Paul Adams

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