Uh huh. Unless I am mistaken, Oz tough border policy was largely attributed to the former Prime Minister Abbot, rampant racist and chauvinist extraordinaire. It will be interesting to see what occurs under the new leader.
Not true, Shalimar. Mandatory detention was actually introduced by a Labor government before John Howard came to power. It was on Australian soil though and the refugees had access to our legal system.
Then John Howard came into power and used the boat people as a political chip. Australians have a deep vein of xenophobia and the children overboard lie (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_Overboard_affair) won him an election he looked like losing. The asylum seekers became known as "illegals" even though they were breaking no laws and after 911 the fear was that terrorists were lurking among them, just waiting to bomb Australians. Howard passed legislation declaring that large parts of our northern coast and islands weren't part of Australia for the purpose of being considered to have arrived here. This allowed him to ignore international responsibilities to the asylum seekers and they could not have access to the courts. At best they had temporary protection visas and could be shipped back home if the government decided that they were no longer in danger. Howard introduced the Pacific Solution where asylum seekers were dumped on Nauru and Manus I. (PNG)
When Labor was returned to office it was partly because Rudd said "me too" to everything that Howard was doing except for the industrial relations policies. Howard had taken a step too far in cutting workers pay and conditions and it not only cost him government, it cost him his seat in parliament.
Rudd did nothing much to help the asylum seekers but he did dismantle the Pacific Solution and kept refugees on the mainland again. Then the numbers began to increase. From 2009 to 2013 they rose from 2726 to 20,647. Julia Gillard tried to negotiate a regional approach to the problem but was blocked in the senate. This would have involved the establishment of assessment centres in Malaysia and Indonesia with immigration accepting countries taking them from there in an orderly fashion. Anyone who came by boat would simply have been returned to a regional centre to wait their turn. An appeal to the High Court said that we couldn't send anyone to a country that was not a party to the Geneva Convention under our current legislation and the senate refused to allow the legislation to be changes. So it was back to Manus and Nauru. The old camps were dismantled so the refugees were sent to a tropical hell hole to live in tents in the blazing sun. This included pregnant women and nursing mothers.
Tony Abbott is only the last in a long line of abusers of vulnerable people. He made "Stop the Boats" his election mantra and he achieved this aim by very ruthless means. At least we think he achieved his aim but the secrecy surrounding boat towbacks and refoulement means we have no idea what has happened to these people. It is even against the law for Australians working for the camps to talk to a UN representative when they visit. To do so is to risk imprisonment. This applies to medical staff and teachers as well as guards. We do know that a Syrian man, desperate to end his imprisonment on Nauru has been talked into going back to Syria and an Afghan man was sent back to Kabul but was murdered by the Taliban as he tried to return to his home in the north. This tiny pieces of information are very worrying to people who care about our obligations as a civilised country.
Abbott is gone but neither his successor nor his chief opponent is prepared to take the electoral risk of bringing the asylum seekers back to the mainland for processing. At the moment there is scant processing taking place anywhere. The people are in a limbo that looks more like hell.
There is a case before the High Court commencing soon and interestingly Nauru has suddenly said it will process all of its detainees in a week and turn them loose on the island. They will not be free to leave it, however.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-07/australian-offshore-processing-examined-by-high-court/6828464
The whole policy, from Keating to Turnbull has been one of escalating bastardry and the Australian people are to blame for it. Do not copy us.