Demonization and integration of 'boatpeople' in Howard's Australia: A rural city's struggle for human rights of asylum seekers

Abstract

Rates of migration worldwide have barely changed over the last 100 years, but in recent decades immigration policies in receiving nations have become increasingly restrictive towards particular groups of prospective migrants, notably those with minimal economic and social capital. Hostility from politicians, the media, and residents towards these migrants, particularly refugees and asylum seekers, has also increased. In the late 1990s to early in the 21st Century, increasing numbers of undocumented arrived in Australia by unauthorised boats, and overwhelming negativity was evident towards the 'boatpeople'. The federal government introduced several measures designed to cope with the increasing numbers of arrivals, and while Australia prides itself on offering resettlement to refugees identified in overseas refugee camps, it instituted the Temporary Protection Visa (TPV), which meant that asylum seekers arriving as 'boatpeople' were granted only limited protection compared to the full residence status given to other refugees. Amidst government, media, and public hostility to this category of migrants, however, there were many sites where ordinary residents welcomed the former boatpeople and supported their settlement and integration. Because of the especially difficult circumstances of the TPV, volunteers from all sectors of the community, both those aligned with NGOs and faith-based groups and those non-aligned and who in many cases had never been involved with refugees before, assisted them.