Troubled Waters: European and Australian approaches to Maritime migration during Tony Abbott's tenure

Abstract

Protecting Australia from an 'invasion' of irregular maritime migrants was one of the key policy objectives of Tony Abbott's government from September 2013 to September 2015. Restricted to this specific period, this article compares Australia's approaches to irregular maritime migration with the actions taken by the European Union (EU). By mirroring the journey of maritime migrants, the comparative analysis is structured around the 'departure' place, the 'transit' at sea, and the 'arrival'. Under Abbott, Australia cut humanitarian aid to source and transit countries, intensified military deterrence against maritime migrants and sustained punitive offshore detention camps. Despite problematic factors for the EU such as the proximity of conflict zones, the sheer numbers of refugees, and the vexed issue of burden-sharing between member-states, it advocated a humanitarian approach to the migration crisis. By providing a stark contrast between Australian and EU approaches to a humanitarian crisis, this article contends that the Abbott Government took exceptionally cruel measures to curtail the flow of people travelling to Australia by boat to seek refuge.