Monday, November 13, 2017

Manus Island, economic or asylum


MANUS ISLAND – WHAT ‘OUR’ MEDIA IS NOT REPORTING and Government is hiding from us
* All the men on Manus Island paid People Smugglers to bring them illegally from Java to Christmas Island by boat.
* All the men of Manus Island have already had their claims for refugee status completed by the Papua New Guinea government.
* With the completion of the processing of all claims, the PNG government has now decided closed the Manus Regional Processing Centre (RPC).
* There are clear pathways ahead of for all those currently in the now closed processing centre;
~ Failed asylum seekers are in PNG illegally and should return to their country of origin (as hundreds already have done) with the Governments of PNG and Australia facilitating voluntary returns.
~ Those found to be refugees can settle within PNG, as agreed under the arrangement struck between the Australian Government and the Government of Papua New Guinea in 2013.
~ Those found to be Refugees who do not wish to resettle in PNG can apply for resettlement in the United States or apply to move to Nauru.
* While they await these outcomes, ALL refugees and ALL failed asylum seekers have alternative accommodation options;
~ Those found to be refugees can move to the East Lorengau Refugee Transit Centre (ELRTC) or the West Lorengau Haus (WLH)
~ Failed asylum seekers can move to the Hillside Haus.
* All of the alternative accommodation centres – ELRTC, WLH and Hillside Haus – are operational and ready to receive residents – with; food, water, shelter, toilets, as well as medical, security and welfare services are available at the alternative accommodation sites.
* It should be noted that several refugees and failed asylum seekers have already moved and they are comfortably accessing services and support at these locations.
* Political activists are encouraging failed asylum seekers and PNG-determined refugees to illegally squat on a PNG Naval Base, hoping that Australia will eventually take them.
* If these political activists were really concerned about the welfare of these failed asylum seekers and refugees, they would instead be encouraging them to access the services and supports (including; food, water, accommodation, as well as medical, security and welfare services) that the PNG government has generously provided at alternative locations. Instead these political activists are using these men as pawns for their publicity.
It would be very easy to say, “just allow all the failed asylum seekers to resettle in Australia” – but this would only put the People Smugglers back in business, and the deaths at sea would start again – and that’s something we are determined never to see happen again.
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The other side of Manus Island

https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/11/the_other_side_of_manus_island.html#comments
As the focus goes on the remaining asylum seekers on Manus Island, it is worth remembering why Australia has such an uncompromsing policy on not allowing people who arrive by boat to be settled in Australia.
This shows the number of asylum seekers arriving by boat every year since 2002. During the Labor Government the numbers increased exponentially. In 2013 there were over 20,000 arrivals by boat. If the policy had not changed that number was likely to keep growing. There could well have been a further 100,000 by now.
Instead there has been, well zero. Yes, zero. Why? Because incentives matter. People smugglers won’t convince desperate people to pay them lots of money and try to sail to Australia if they know that arriving by boat means they will never get to settle in Australia.
And this is the more compelling graph. The former “kind” policy saw hundreds drown at sea. I’m not sure there is any good way to die, but I am sure that a very bad way to die is in the middle of the ocean in a storm in an over-crowded boat. And many of those drowned were kids.
So the “kind” policy saw over 1,200 asylum seekers drown horribly at sea. The “nasty” policy has seen that number reduce to zero. Not ten, Not five but zero. And it has been zero for four years in a row.
So one can of course have lots of sympathy for the poor people on Manus Island. They wanted to live in Australia and instead they are now living in Papua New Guinea.
But decisions have consequences. If one allowed the few hundred remaining to live in Australia, then it is absolutely certain that the people smugglers would be back in business and the sailings and drownings would increase again. It is not a coincidence these numbers have reduced to zero. It is a direct consequence of Australia’s policy.

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