The Australian government has shown the way when it comes to the vexed question of immigration. Things have been scandalous, prior to the election of Tony Abbott's Liberal Coalition to government. Australia was beset by boatloads of economic migrants, mainly via Indonesia, landing on its shores demanding refugee status, together with all the entitlements attached. Genuine refugees were squeezed out.
The Commentariat, and the Left in particular, had long employed a faux guilt and pity approach which framed turning the boats back to be completely reprehensible, cruel, unthinkable--and so forth. Anyone who even suggested such heresy was pilloried immediately as a moral monster. You know the drill. But how times have changed--and quickly. Miranda Devine takes up the narrative:
AN extraordinary graph nestled in a press release issued today by Immigration Minister Scott Morrison encapsulates the humanitarian triumph of the government’s border protection policies.Because the government has shut down the faux refugee inflow, it is now able to concentrate upon re-settling genuine refugees.
It shows two lines, one red and one blue, heading in opposite directions, from 2007 to 2014. Each trajectory is a mirror image of the other. When red goes up, blue goes down, and vice versa. This is the calculus of human misery.
Red represents the refugee places bestowed by Labor on “irregular maritime arrivals” — asylum seekers who arrived by boat. From nothing in 2007 to a peak of 5000 at the height of the madness in 2012-13. The blue line represents the number of “special humanitarian” visas awarded to genuine refugees waiting offshore in desperate circumstances. The people waiting in a queue we kept being told didn’t exist. Now that the Abbott government has all but stopped the boats, the queue is moving again. And so the blue line of offshore refugee visas will hit a record high of 5000 this year.
These are the most persecuted people on the planet, Iraq’s Christians and Yazidis who have been driven out of their homes, children catatonic with fear, after escaping the unspeakable barbarism of Islamic State psychopaths. If you want to know what a refugee looks like, see the long lines of distraught humanity picking their way on foot in near 50C heat across the rocky slopes of Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq. Yazidis, like Christians, are a religious minority under mortal threat from IS terrorists who have captured large swathes of Syria and Iraq in the past two months. . . .
Thanks to Morrison’s success in wresting back control of our borders from people smugglers, Australia is in a position now to give at least some of those refugees a lifeline. He has announced that 4400 refugees from Iraq and Syria, including Christians and Yazidis will be resettled in Australia this financial year. Morrison describes this as the “humanitarian dividend” of strong border protection policies, permanent resettlement in Australia for those “who would have otherwise had their places taken by illegal boat arrivals under the previous government”.
This financial year 11,000 of the 13,750 places in the annual humanitarian intake will be given to desperate people overseas, including 6000 places for refugees identified by the UN, and 5000 for refugees who have close family living in Australia. This is testament to Australian generosity and compassion, which have been so maligned by alleged refugee advocates.
Of course this in no way is meant to condemn the initiative or ambition of the economic refugees. Most come from impoverished circumstances. They are seeking a better life for themselves and their children. In their straightened circumstances they are easy prey to the human-smugglers who sell them the "dream" of a better life in Australia if they pay passage on a rickety boat. The immorality here lies with the people-smugglers who misrepresent the truth and exploit the poor with false promises and deceitful blandishments.
Sadly there are people in far worse circumstances than these economic migrants. As Devine points out, Australia is now concentrating upon the genuine refugees. What has made this possible? A firm, but consistent line by the Australian authorities, turning back boats of pseudo-refugees, the economic migrants. The message soon spreads, leaving the people-smugglers exposed and out to dry. This is a lesson the US might find useful.
All of this presents a welcome challenge to Christ's servants. Refugee migrants are often the hardest to assimilate into a culture because of the dislocation, coupled with the shock and horror of their circumstances. Consider for example the difficulties of helping Yazidis integrate who have long centuries of religion, culture, and practice built around, and linked to, a specific geographical location in Iraq, from which they have now been wrenched. To them, Australia will be a very alien land. On top of this, will be the horror of what they have recently witnessed and experienced.
Integration will not be easy. To be successful, above all, will require human-to-human contact, not human-to-bureaucrat officialdom contact. Smiles, genuine friendliness, helpfulness, and servanthood in all the "little things" of life. Cherishing people. Taking care of them. Once more, we know the drill. These are the things which Christ's servants can excel at doing and being.
Neighbourliness is a fundamental Christian ethic, for are we not commanded to love our neighbour as ourselves? Even Samaritans.
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