Equality Speaks
Australia may have dodged the bullet that has put the US, Britain and most European economies on life support, but our 2009 collection of essays shows that – despite our enviable economic position – Australia is not the egalitarian paradise that many believe it to be.
Equality Speaks features an eclectic mix of writers who highlight a common challenge – to use our (relatively) stable economic times to make the shift to a fairer Australia. It brings together some of our sharpest minds to look at paths to a more equal Australia in areas like transport, homelessness, education, women, tax, refugees, work and employment amongst others. It includes new research on the distribution of wealth in Australia.Refugees
"There is a growing recognition that those who arrive on our shores seeking our protection should be treated humanely, but there are yawning gaps between what we practice and what we accepted as our obligations when we signed such international treaties as the Refugee Convention, the Convention Against Torture, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights." Dianne Hiles
Australia is again holding children in detention, and there remains a ‘yawning gap’ between what we practice and what we accept as our international obligations for refugees, according to Dianne Hiles in the Rudd Government’s Report Card on Refugees: Can do better.
Rather than grasp the electoral nettle and explain our responsibilities under international law, the Australian Government continues duck and weave — trying to do the decent thing while not invoking criticism of being soft on asylum seekers.
Deterrent exercises have cost taxpayers hugely — around $1.5 billion dollars, but this expensive domestic policy has little impact on refugee movements. Hiles highlights that it costs $56 a day to support asylum seekers in community detention, compared with minimum daily costs of $1500 to detain someone on Christmas Island.
She concludes that Australia is missing the opportunity to act regionally — or to consider what we could do to prevent human rights abuses and ensure basic living standards in countries where currently many people are forced to flee.
Download Chapter 11 Refugees39.63 KB
