Crying wolf...we all know the story. It's rather disappointing to see that asylum seekers continue to be used as a political bonfire by both major parties in Australia. Tony Abbott wants to be seen taking a strong stance while Julia Gillard is not really doing anything productive, in my opinion.
Border control is important for all the obvious reasons, but why do our politicians forget that refugees and asylum seekers are risking their lives because they find themselves in countries that have not signed the Refugees Convention.
In 2009, Australia has a very small number of refugees within its borders, compared to other countries with a similar population: Total Refugee population by country of asylum, 1960-2009.
Syria..............1 054 466 (that's right, over 1 million!)
Venezuela........201 313
Nepal...............108 461
Cameroon.........99 957
Netherlands......76 008
Malaysia............66 137
Australia............22 548
Taking a look at GDP per capita (PPP), we have the following:
#22 Netherlands..US$ 39,200
#23 Australia.........US$ 38,800
#86 Venezuela......US$ 13,100
#77 Malaysia.........US$ 14,800
#146 Syria..............US$ 4,600
#180 Cameroon....US$ 2,300
#207 Nepal.............US$ 1,200
Clearly we are much better placed than other countries to care for people who are genuinely seeking refuge.
The lack of infrastructure to handle population increases should be blamed on the people that are actually responsible for creating that mess: our politicians.
Let's bring an extinguisher to this political bonfire.
Image credit: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Sphere: Related Content
Opinion piece that highlights how few refugees Australia is taking...we can't solve all the world's problems, but are we even trying?
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