As the Australian government hangs in the balance, I thought I would talk about one of the key issues of this election: asylum seekers. So, let's have a look at some of the myths surrounding asylum seekers in Australia. ALL of my information comes from the Parliment of Australia website - that's about as unbiased and factual as you can get! Here's the website if you want to look for yourself: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/BN/s
Myth 1: Most asylum seekers arrive by boat. This is false! Most asylum seekers arrive by air. BUT, the asylum seekers who come by boat are MORE likely to be genuine refugees that those that come by plane. 70-97% of people who come by boat are given refugee status, while 20-30% of those who come by plane are assessed to be genuine refugees.
Myth 2: "Boat people" are "jumping the queue". This is false! There is no queue! Only a very small proportion of asylum seekers are registered with the UNHCR (the people who make this so called 'queue'). Even worse, some countries do not even have an embassy to go to, where they might "properly" join the queue.
Myth 3: Australia gets more than it's fair share of asylum seekers. This is false! The number of people arriving unauthorised by boat in Australia, is small in comparison to the numbers arriving in other parts of the world such as Europe. Similarly, the number of asylum claims lodged in Australia is small in comparison to the USA, Canada and Europe.
Myth 3: We are being "flooded" by asylum seekers. This is simply not true - have a look at this graph representing population growth in Australia for 2009:
So, maybe we should stop over-reacting to the imaginary issues people think up to excuse their ignorance with regard to asylum seekers and show some compassion. Watch this video (produced by the Get up! organisation) to learn more:
