[Marxism] Bring 100,000 tsunami refugees to Australia

[Ozleft <ozleft@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

BRING 100,000 TSUNAMI REFUGEES TO AUSTRALIA. FAST!

The awesome scale of the natural disaster around the Indian Ocean rim 
has moved the world and Australia deeply. Australian doctors and nurses, 
military personnel and Federal police have volunteered in large numbers, 
and are doing courageous and dangerous work in immediate disaster 
relief, with the full support of other Australians, who are responding 
generously to the relief funds. The enormous proportions of the disaster 
is brought home to Australians by our increasing connections with the 
region. Many relatively recent migrants have relatives in the affected 
areas. Southern Thailand in particular is a favorite Australian tourist 
spot, which is why the Australian victims are largely concentrated 
there. The Australian Government has pledged an initial $ 60 million in 
immediate disaster relief, a good start.

The question in the minds of many Australians is what more can we do? 
What will be most effective?

There are some historical precedents. In the immediate post second world 
war period, the then Labor Minister for Immigration, Arthur Calwell, was 
personally shattered when confirmed evidence of the brutal Nazi 
holocaust against the Jewish people in Europe became apparent. Calwell’s 
response was to bend the existing immigration rules, and to even 
dedicate a special ship to bring holocaust survivors to Australian. For 
this he was reviled by some newspapers and anti-Semites, particularly 
the recently deceased conservative MP Joe Gullett, who made an 
extraordinary anti-Semitic speech in the Parliament. Nevertheless 
Calwell stuck to his guns, and those holocaust survivors have 
contributed enormously to Australian life.

THE VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE

After the end of the Vietnam War, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese 
who supported the losing side in that civil war, took to the south China 
Sea in small boats.To his great credit, Malcolm Fraser, the then Liberal 
Prime Minister, adopted a proactive attitude to this problem, and 
recognizing Australia’s moral responsibility as a protagonist of the 
South Vietnamese side in the civil war, launched a refugee program, 
additional to the existing migration program. Under these arrangements 
many tens of thousands of people from Indochina settled in Australia. 
Along with family members and chain migration family reunion migrants, 
the Vietnamese community in Australia now numbers over 300,000 people. 
They are a hard working productive section of Australian society. One of 
the deep ironies in this situation is that this connection has led to 
substantial Australian trade with Vietnam and remittances from 
Vietnamese Australians to families back home have played, and still play 
a significant role in Vietnam’s economic reconstruction.

AUSTRALIA IS ONE OF THE RICHEST COUNTRIES ON EARTH WITH A BOOMING 
ECONOMY AND A RELATIVELY SMALL POPULATION.

Despite the current drought, and significant environmental problems, 
Australia has a modern, relatively stable economy, so much so, that in 
some sectors there’s a certain labor shortage, which has led reactionary 
conservative politicians to float the idea of bringing in 10,000 so 
called guest workers from China, who would not have the rights of 
permanent residents. Quite properly the Australian Workers Union has 
opposed this scheme, pointing out that the precarious situation of guest 
workers without permanent residency, makes them vulnerable to 
exploitation, and introduces the possibility of breaking down Australian 
wages and conditions.

A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR AN EMERGENCY MIGRATION PROGRAM FOR VICTIMS OF THE 
INDIAN OCEAN RIM TSUNAMI DISASTER.

Australia currently has a migration program that brings in around 
100,000 new migrants a year, of which a relatively small number are 
refugees. I propose that there be a one off tsunami refugee program, in 
addition to the existing migration program, to bring in 100,000 extra 
people. There are five million or more people who have lost their homes 
and livelihoods in this enormous human catastrophe. They face the 
prospect of living in terrible conditions in primitive refugee camps for 
many years. The United Nations are already talking about a 10 year 
reconstruction program. The most effective thing Australia can do in the 
short and longer term would be to turn all of our modern techniques and 
resources to bringing 100,000 of these people to Australia, with initial 
full permanent residency, leading quickly to Australian citizenship. 
This program should be a bipartisan program, supported by all Australian 
political parties. Unless such a program is adopted quickly we face the 
possibility of thousands of refugees again trying to come to Australia 
in leaky boats.

The breakdown of sources for these migrants would look something like this –

1500 from Somalia; 1500 from the Maldives; 2000 from Burma; 5000 from 
Thailand; 20,000 from Sri Lanka and Tamil Eelam; 20,000 from India – 
half of them from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; 50,000 from Aceh

The breakdown for the settlement in Australia might look something like 
this:

30,000 to NSW; 25,000 to Victoria; 15,000 to Queensland; 12,000 to WA; 
10,000 to SA; 3,000 to Tasmania; 2,500 to ACT; 2,500 to NT

The existing detention centers for refugees and asylum seekers could be 
easily converted to their original use as migrant holding centers, and 
the few hundred refugees left there released into the community under 
suitable arrangements.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL BENEFITS FOR THE TSUNAMI SURVIVORS AND THE REGIONS 
THEY COME FROM

It’s a well know fact about migration, particularly refugee and disaster 
migration, that immediately they get work, such migrants remit a large 
part of their earnings to families back home. If such migrants in 
Australia are properly paid, and not subject to intimidation like “guest 
workers” it’s easy to envisage the enormous income stream flowing back 
to the home regions from employed family members in Australia. This was 
true of my Irish ancestors, who immigrated to Australia, in the 
aftermath of the Irish Famine in the nineteenth century, and it has also 
been true of the Vietnamese, East Timorese and many others.  An 
immediate transfer of a significant number of refugees from the camps to 
Australia would obviously ease the pressure in the refugee camps. This 
emergency migration program would be the most powerful and effective 
help that we could give.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL BENEFITS FOR AUSTRALIA

Such an emergency immigration program would solve the short term labor 
shortage in some sectors of the economy, for a few years, until this 
cohort of migrants eventually moved up to better jobs, which is an 
inevitable part of the migration process. It would solve the labor 
shortage without the vicious anti social aspects associated with any 
scheme for “guest workers” without permanent residency.

The rapid immigration into Australia of economic and social refugees 
with the rich kaleidoscope of races and religions in the Indian Rim 
region, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims, will further 
breakdown xenophobic racism in Australia as human familiarity evokes the 
usual warm response in Australians to people of other cultures whom they 
have actually come to know. The response of ordinary Australians in 
country towns to Afghan refugees demonstrates this. In addition, such a 
program will go a long way to integrating Australia in the Asian region, 
and relegating the White Australia Policy to the distant past, in the 
minds of both Asians and Australians. In addition, the economic benefits 
of increased trade between Australia and the Indian Ocean Rim are obvious.

The human scale of the catastrophe in the Indian Ocean is enormous and 
the circumstances demand a quick and effective response.


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