Refugee Rights Action Network - Western Australia

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Story by Yasmine Ryan, sourced from TakePart

[Photo: Publik15/Creative Commons]

As Australia’s politicians warm-up for national elections, boat migrants are once again a target. 

Conservative Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott issued a call to "stop the boats." His party, currently in opposition, is promising to bring back a string of controversial policies such as farming out asylum seekers to neighboring countries.

Not to be outdone in an election year, the progressive Labor government has frozen the processing of visa applications by Afghan and Tamil asylum seekers—a breach of international law, according to the Human Rights Law Resource Centre and Amnesty International.

But Australians terrified of climate migrants landing by the boatload from Asia and the Pacific might someday themselves be forced to flee their own climate, Sir Bob Geldof warned during a visit to Melbourne, the Age reports.

“You'll be the boat people, you'll be going there," the musician said. "Australia is half-a-degree hotter than the rest of the planet except for Africa."

Whatever Geldof might say, many voters are likely to respond to the tough talk. In a recent survey, Australians gave the Rudd Government just 4 out of 10 for its handling of asylum-seekers who arrive by boat, the Australian reports. It's an issue increasingly on the public's mind: over the past year, worry about asylum seekers jumped from 43 to 52 percent.

Australian politicians have a knack for pulling the migration card whenever they’re lagging in the polls. Harsh migration policies, the same ones Abbott is looking to dust off, helped Former Prime Minister John Howard carry the 2001 election.

So what might happen when climate refugees collide with a zealously shaken cocktail of climate change denial and anti-immigrant xenophobia?

Phil Chilton from the Refugee Rights Action Network (RRAN) told TakePart that the asylum seeker debate is never far from Australian politics.

“The whole thing is being fuelled by a great deal of racist scaremongering peddled by both major parties and carried enthusiastically by the corporate media. Australia is really flying under the global human rights radar,” he says.

He argues that renewed interest in the boat migrants is simply a case of political cynicism.

Pacific Islanders or Asians at risk for abandoning their homelands due to climate change might not be able to count on Australia.

“Unless there is a profound change in Australian policy, they will be treated like the current refugees are—poorly,” Chilton says.

Unlike neighboring New Zealand, neither of the Australia’s major political parties has made any commitments to help climate refugees.

Migrant bashing doesn’t play well with all voters, however. Many Australians are pushing to change the rhetoric on asylum seekers.

Campaigners plan to draw the public’s attention to the treatment of immigrants during the election campaign. Their actions are likely to include a visit to the notorious Curtin immigration detention centre.

On Wednesday, the country’s prime minister, Kevin Rudd, spoke out against the Liberal Party’s harsh policy. "We will not be seeking to outflank the opposition on either the rhetoric or substance," Rudd declared.

Will his promise for moderation last the course of the campaign? And does this mean climate refugees, along with those fleeing conflict, might have a chance to find a new home in Australia?

Climate-related migration from the developing world is likely to be a defining issue of the coming years. The Australian example will influence whether other world leaders respond to the crisis with open arms, or with closed doors.