The changes to Australia's asylum policy announced last week by the immigration minister, Chris Evans, were as inevitable as they were sensible. They are also incremental: they remove some of the worst aspects of a cruel system but leave intact much of the deterrent apparatus inherited from the former government.
But any policy will only achieve its goals if the question around asylum seekers and refugees ultimately is recast. It is not a matter of how effective our border controls are and how many people we 'let in', as much as what is causing the people to seek refuge in the first place. Is the Rudd Government willing to take on the causes of forced migration? If not, the victims will inevitably continue to suffer. - Fr David Holdcroft, Eureka Street (click below for full article)
http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=8349
