No kidding, this story absolutely dumfounds me. John Howard and his Liberal cronies are all over the news today claiming that their new scheme, to deport Asian refugees who turn up on Australia's shores, direct to the USA. In exchange Australia will let the USA deport Cuban refugees to Australia, This will, he crows, "deter" those pesky Asians from trying to come to the luck country uninvited.
Presumably, the Yanks likewise think being transported to Australia will likewise deter those Cubans from trying to come to the USA.
"That will teach the bastards!", I imagine Howard muttering sadistically, as he rubs the white cat sitting on his lap. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world evil mastermind George Bush again congratulates himself for allying himself with that ruthless Aussie Stalin. "I almost pity those poor Cuban refugees," he thinks to himself, "God knows how they will suffer in that antipodean hell-hole. But their fate will put the fear of God into any other Cubans who might be thinking of trying the same thing."
Has got to say something about what Australian and American government strategists really think of each other methinks. Sure, you can understand that the Asian refugees will be a tad disappointed with having to settle for the USA, rather than the best country in the world. But a "deterrent"? I mean, many of them have fled Burma, its hardly out of the frying pan into the fire, even the USA has to look like an attractive alternative to Burma! Is that really going to make their friends back home shake their heads and ruefully groan, "Thank goodness we weren't foolish enough to impinge on Australia's hospitality."
In fact, some people here are already worrying that Asian refugees trying to get to the USA might instead see coming to Oz as a convenient a short-cut. They are publicly wondering if George Bush is out of his tiny mind, letting John Howard hand out Green Cards to unwelcome Asian immigrants. After all, little Johnny has never been happy about the loss of the White Australia Policy, all Asian immigrants are unwelcome to his way of thinking.
No-one knows what Pauline Hanson thinks about swapping Asian, for Cuban, refugees. That's got to be another story altogether.
It will be interesting to see how it works out though. Will the Asian refugees have to be dragged, kicking and screaming for mercy, onto the plane taking themselves to their new lives in America. How many can we expect to immediately jump into a leaky boat and try to rowback across the Pacific to achieve their dream of becoming an Aussie?
We'll just have to wait and see.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,,2059988,00.html
Australia and US to swap refugees
Barbara McMahon in Sydney Wednesday April 18, 2007 Guardian Unlimited
Asylum seekers intercepted at sea while trying to reach Australia are to be sent to the United States under a controversial refugee-swapping scheme designed to deter illegal migrants.
Under the plan announced by Australia's immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, some of the boat people picked up in international waters off the coast of Australia will be re-settled halfway around the world.
In exchange, Australia will accept asylum seekers currently being held in detention at the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay, mostly Cubans and Haitians who have also been intercepted at sea.
The agreement between the two countries, ratified in Washington last week, will involve each country processing about 200 of each others refugees a year.
Commenting on the scheme in a radio interview, Australia's prime minister, John Howard, who has a famously tough stance on illegal immigration, claimed it would deter people smuggling.
"I think people who want to come to Australia will be deterred by anything that sends a message that getting to the Australian mainland illegally is not going to happen," he said.
The opposition Labour party criticised the plan. The party's leader, Kevin Rudd, said the policy would simply establish Australia as a halfway house for asylum seekers wanting to reach the United States.
Refugee organizations expressed outrage at the scheme, saying it would be cruel to resettle asylum seekers in countries where they have no cultural connections.
Pamela Curr of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said: "This is not a container load of washing machines that we've decided to reject. These are human beings.
"They're our responsibility and this policy is shredding the United Nations refugee convention."
The first group to go to the US will probably be 83 Sri Lankans and eight Burmese people, who were picked up in unseaworthy wooden boats in February and who have since been detained on the Pacific island of Nauru, where Australia processes some of its asylum seekers.