With a Federal election looming and opinion polls consistently running against the Coalition it is no wonder that this conservative government has once again played the race card. The SIEV X sinking with over 300 lives, The Tampa and the ‘children overboard’ debacles of previous election periods come readily to mind.
On 2 October Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews chose to reiterate the government’s August policy of decreasing the refugee intake from Africa and increasing the numbers from Iraq and Burma. At the time Andrews maintained the policy change as a logical change given Australia’s involvement in a [dirty] war in Iraq and linked the change to regional considerations (i.e. Burma).
Such changes in emphasis in refugee intake happen from time to time. What makes this policy change open to the charge of playing the race card was Andrews recently stated ‘real’ reason for the change being the “trouble” caused by young men from recent refugee intakes originating from Sudan.
From the Melbourne Age newspaper 2 October 2007:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/minister-speaks-on-africans/2007/10/01/1191091031242.html
“Mr Andrews has previously skirted this issue, including stating in August that recent cuts in the African intake reflected "an improvement in conditions in some countries" in the region. But questioned yesterday about last week's fatal bashing in Noble Park of Sudanese refugee Liep Gony, 18, and whether better settlement services were needed, he said:
"I have been concerned that some groups don't seem to be settling and adjusting into the Australian way of life as quickly as we would hope and therefore it makes sense to put the extra money in to provide extra resources, but also to slow down the rate of intake from countries such as Sudan."
Andrews was clearly using race as a pre-election beat up. It later became clear that Sudanese Liep Gony’s attackers were not Sudanese but locals from Noble Park. Andrews position of ruling out the provision of any extra support services to these survivors from a war torn region of Africa makes his intention clear.
Three days after the 2 October interview the government’s intentions were unmistakable. Again from the Melbourne Age, 5 October:
“Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews has inflamed tensions with the African community by releasing a dossier claiming African refugees were involved in gangs, nightclub fights and drinking alcohol in parks at night.
Prime Minister John Howard yesterday said it was "contemptible" to suggest the Government was playing the race card, after this week's furore over Mr Andrews linking the drastic cut in African refugees to the failure of the Sudanese to integrate.”
And the election date has yet to be announced.
Many conservative commentators have rushed to the defence of Andrews on the pretext of limiting their “anaylsis” to the August statement “lets shift the intake to regions where Australia is involved and in any case Sudan is less dangerous these days”. The October statement and the release of the ‘dossier’ extended the government’s thinking clearly beyond the threshold of racism.
What is even more infuriating is the ALP Immigration Shadow Minister, Tony Burke’s, failure to utter even mild criticism of the government on this issue beyond calling Andrews “incompetent”. Interviewed on the ABC’s Insiders program Tony Burke stuck to the government’s August reasons for the policy change despite being pressed to qualify his position:
http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/content/2007/s2052835.htm
“Barrie Cassidy: ….. but now Kevin Andrews is saying the decision was taken partly because certain groups from Africa don't fit in, you disagree with that proposition?
Tony Burke: Well I disagree that that was his reason for the decision, the reason for the decision was given completely publicly, and they've been doing so for more than a year.
This is something that has been mooted for more than a year and a half, and it was done in the context, and the reasons were given publicly by Kevin Andrews that the context was the situation in Burma and the situation in Iraq.”
It looks as though Labor’s dodging of the issue. Not rising to the bait as some commentators have put it has killed the issue as a matter of public debate. It is doubtful that members of Australia’s Sudanese community will be thanking the ALP for its support.
This looks like the same “small target” policy that the ALP has used in following lock step with the Government on other issues. On the the Tasmanian pulp mill the ALP environment spokesperson Peter Garrett has put off till the future any promise to tighten polution laws. And on WorkChoices the ALP has adopted much of the government’s arguments – with little opposition from the unions