It is not unlawful to seek asylum in another country.
Australia is a signatory to the UN Convention on Human Rights.
"Until a request for refuge has been accepted, the person is referred to as an asylum seeker. Only after the recognition of the asylum seeker's protection needs, he or she is officially referred to as a refugee and enjoys refugee status, which carries certain rights and obligations according to the legislation of the receiving country"
"A refugee has the right to be free from penalties pertaining to the illegality of their entry to or presence within a country, if it can be shown that they acted in good faith- that is, if the refugee believes that there was ample cause for their illegal entry/presence, i.e. to escape threats upon their life or freedom, and if they swiftly declare their presence. This right is protected in Article 31:
The Contracting States shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened in the sense of article 1, enter or are present in their territory without authorization, provided they present themselves without delay to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry or presence. (Article 31, (1))"
The ONLY issue with the current asylum seekers is generally the issue of 'coming directly' but this does not prevent them seeking asylum.
From a legal perspective its really really simple;
They are entitled to come here and seek asylum.
We are obliged to address those claims.
Where their claim for refuge is founded we are obliged to resettle them here or abroad.
If the claim is not founded they can be forcibly returned.
If they have not come here 'directly' then they may be subject to penalty (detention etc).
What is sad, and makes Australia laughable, is we go on and on about 'a fair go' and 'mates' and 'diggers' and all the good we do in the world like our great work our soldiers and UN people do and then we flush it down the toilet with the anti asylum seeker garbage. They are a drop in the ocean in not only the world asylum issue but the Australian asylum issue.
Australians are smarter than falling for the crap fed by the government and the media. Think about it. The only reason this all started was because John Howard (who I liked) grabbed onto it when his future looked bleak and he needed to push to the right to secure votes. Each government has kept it going to get voted in. The media use it as a cash cow to sell their product. Think about the questions the asylum seekers would have been asked by the media when they got back to Indonesia (Did they hand cuff you?. Did they manhandle you? How did you feel?) Media then spins this - Asylum seekers handcuffed and assaulted".
So there are some things we cannot control because we agreed to do them (UN HR).
There are some things we can control (Penalties for those who don't come directly, where they are resettled).
The STUPID thing is this. Australia has the power to deal with this simply, lawfully and cost effectively through our visa system. Forget the issue of whether or not they came here directly and deal solely with the asylum issue but with a simple twist.
If you come here indirectly you will never be issued permanent residency. You will be issued with a temporary visa while your claims are assessed and this will be revoked once your country is safe to return to. So we meet our obligations under the UN conventions and remove the pull factors. If you come here you will never be resettled here permanently - ever. You might have kids here, buy a house, buy a car but once your country is safe, and lets face it most places sought their crap out in a reasonably short time, you are going home. The ONLY benefit is that the kids they produce here would be Australian citizens but most would go with their parents.
Here is a link that shows the statistics of our immigration;
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/racial_discrimination/face_facts/ftf_2012_web.pdfGo to page 27 and check out the numbers and from where.
In 2011 we took 29,000 from China and 26,000 from the UK. In Queensland actual 'humanitarian' resettlement was 4% of the total. 26% was for family reunions and 44% for skilled migration.
26% simply came over from New Zealand.If anyone thinks we are being flooded by 'illegals' you are being fooled.
And I bet pounds to pennies that if us big tough Aussie myswaggers were in these peoples position we would fight like a thrashing machine - harder than the subjects of these media reports did.
