As many of my readers would know, from articles and essays I've written in the Australian press, talks I've given, or from my detention centre novel The Infernal Optimist, I am passionately - compassionately - concerned about the treatment of asylum seekers in this country, which has been almost uniformly, bipartisanly disgraceful. The mainstream media, for the most part, has too been slack at best and irresponsible at worst. As the recent, horrific tragedy of yet another boatload of people drowning on their way to Australia from Indonesia shows, it's a problem in urgent need of a solution. And as Robert Manne wrote in a recent column in the Sydney Morning Herald, perhaps those of us who have insisted on onshore processing of refugee claims need to reconsider whether there is indeed a better solution; if there is, it must be one in which offshore does not mean out of sight, out of mind, out of protection, out of rights. But neither of our main political parties seems interested in anything but removing the issue and the asylum seekers from sight.
One reason most refugee advocates like myself have consistently argued against offshore processing is that it isolates asylum seekers from the sort of vital, life-giving contact with community, volunteers, medical and legal personnel to which those who have their claims considered in Australia itself have ready access. My wish for this festive season and 2012 is that everyone take a step back from the politics and focus on the real people whose lives and whose rights are at stake, consider their common humanity and seek to arrive at a solution that respects that essential fact: my choice would be detention that is strictly limited to the time necessary to carry out health and security checks (three months maximum), followed by community release with the duty of regular reporting to immigration officials.
It's personal. My grandfathers were refugees from Russia, fleeing the Czar, forced conscription and pogroms.
The asylum seekers I visited between 2001 and 2005 at Villawood Detention Centre, whose stories helped to inspire The Infernal Optimist, are today Australian citizens, builders, taxi drivers, entrepreneurs, some of whom now run businesses employing several people. But there are several who were so damaged by long-term detention that they need ongoing support. This is not a theoretical issue for me, it's a human one. And so it should be for our politicians as well.
I've been talking about Australia's treatment of refugees here, of course but I'm sure there are readers in other countries who can relate. And if the issue is new to you, and you want the sort of unique insight that fiction can offer, I urge you to read (in addition to The Infernal Optimist of course!) Chris Cleave's Little Bee. It's funny, absorbing, beautifully written, suspenceful - and absolutely devastating.
Stephanie Dowrick's column on the subject in today's Sydney Morning Herald is also worth a read:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/deadlock-on-asylum-issue-strikes-at-the-heart-20111226-1pah8.html
There. That's off my chest. I'll go back to writing my next novel now. Peace to all.
