Labor and the Coalition are both going to turn back refugee boats.
By doing so, they will (incidentally) be committing the crime of people smuggling, contrary to section 73 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code. But who cares if we engage in criminal offences in order to close our doors to refugees?
The trouble is that a lot of MPs simply do not understand what they are going along with. I urge you to write to Federal MPs to see how much they actually know. If they don’t answer, you can assume they don’t know. They probably will not answer. Keep a record of the responses you get. Send the results to me. We will show up the MPs who do not even have enough manners to answer the questions.
Here is a discussion about the letter-writing experience of a very dedicated person from Niddrie. It is really useful to get this sort of information, so please let me know how you go.
I urge you to write to your local Federal MP, and to the candidate of the opposite major party. And if you have the energy, write to other Federal MPs.
There are some things you need to bear in mind if you write to MPs:
- Don’t tell them what you think: they are not listening.
- Ask just one or two questions.
- Ask questions which ask what they think. If they pass the letter to someone else to answer (eg, the Minister or shadow Minister, you will see they are not willing to give their own opinion.
- Keep the letter SHORT. It is harder for them to disguise the fact that their response is not an answer to your question.
The ideal letter goes something like this:
“Dear X
I am a voter in your electorate.
Do you think boat people are “illegal”? If so, what offence do they commit?
Your faithfully…”
If you get a reply, it will probably be a couple of pages of waffle which does not answer your questions. So write again, something like this:
“Dear X
I am still a voter in your electorate. Your response did not answer my questions. Here they are again:
Do you think boat people are “illegal”? If so, what offence do they commit?
Yours faithfully…”
If they duck your questions 3 times, you can assume that they either can’t answer your questions (so do not even consider voting for them) or they know the answer and are too embarrassed by the facts.
Follow this link to find the names and contact details of Federal MPs
Here are some sample questions:
- Do you think people who arrive by boat to seek asylum in Australia are “illegal”? If so, what offence do they commit?
- Do you think boat people in detention are treated humanely?
- Do you think it is OK to put children in immigration detention?
- In your opinion, what is the maximum time a child should spend in immigration detention?
- What is the average number of boat people who have come to Australia each year in the past 40 years? What is the average number of permanent new migrants who have come to Australia each year in the past 40 years?
- Do you believe people who seek asylum in Australia should be detained indefinitely?
- Do you believe indefinite detention of asylum seekers is humane?
- Do you believe people who seek asylum in Australia should be taken against their will to Nauru or Manus Island?
- Do you believe people who seek asylum in Australia and are held in Nauru or Manus Island are treated humanely? If yes, in what way is that a deterrent?
- Do you think it is acceptable to treat boat people harshly in order to deter others from seeking asylum in Australia?
- Do you know how much offshore detention costs per person, per year? If so, how much?
- What is the average time boat people spend in detention?
- Do you think there is a “queue” for refugees? If so, where is it?
- Do you support the idea of turning back asylum seeker boats? If so, have you checked whether turning back asylum seeker boats breaches section 73 of the commonwealth Criminal Code? Does it?
- Are you worried about boat people drowning? If so, how many people have drowned in boats that have been turned back?
- Are you worried about boat people drowning? If so, do you think it is alright to punish the ones who do not drown?
- In your opinion, could we process asylum claims in Malaysia or Indonesia and safely resettle people who are assessed as refugees?
- Do you think we need to be protected from boat people? If so, what risk do they present?
- Do you think we need to be protected from children who come to Australia as boat people? If so, what risk are they to us?
The more people who write to MPs, the sooner they will wake up to the facts: we are treating refugees cruelly, and it is utterly pointless.
Follow this link to find the names and contact details of Federal MPs
I strongly support the objectives above . Please make Australia a kinder , fairer place .
Thank you, great idea, ashamed of what our government is doing in our name.
Thank you Julian. Shared on Facebook, where further sharing will occur. Then, hopefully not just the few, but many more than that, will ACT.
Unfortunately the MP of my electorate happens to be none other than PM Tony Abbott.
if you are in Abbotts electorate or any Minister send it to them IN CAPITAL LETTERS !!!!!
ThanksJulian
That you Julian. Unfortunately I have the deadest of dead wood to deal with .. Warren Truss.
Thanks Julian
I’ll be writing
I would like to see all asylum seekers brought to the mainland & processed in the shortest possible time
I am copying and sending to my federal member.
Dear Ms Cowan
As a resident residing in your electorate of Indi I would like to ask your opinion regarding the term “illigal immigrants”and what you propose to do regarding the detention of women and children in what I call concentration camps in overseas countries.
Yours sincerely Ed Kleingeerts
Looks like there is a error in the third last dot point i.e.”In your opinion, could we process asylum claims in Malaysia or Indonesia and safely resettle people who are assessed as refugees? If so”
What was it supposed to say?
Thanks for spotting that. I have corrected it. On reflection, there wasn’t an “if so ” question for that one.
Great tips! Thank you, Julian!
I wrote to my local Labor MP this morning and her representative called me within a couple of hours. I wasn’t prepared for that! I managed to probe a little further but I’m no lawyer or politician and will have to work on my confrontation discussion skills for next time.
Anyway, she said that Labor did not call these people “illegal”. And she went on to say that they do not approve of the conditions and that when parliament resumes they’ll be pushing a bill that has two main points – mandatory reporting and a child advocate. She also went back to the old turning boats back helps to save lives line. And assumed (rightly) that I’d also contacted LNP members in power.
Any tips for phone calls? 🙂
Thanks again!
This is promoting people to take unsafe journeys and then after that be forced to be detained. They end up as political footballs for the despotic Left. So tell me apart from Reza how many candles were lit for the 1,100 killed at sea after Rudd brokered a deal with the ugly Left to get rid of the Pacific Solution? How many Central African genuine refugees whose lives are cheap enough, have died and suffered because of the encouragement by the wicked Left for the Middle Eastern country shoppers to take these treacherous journeys. Oh yes, this is a non issue because you have your heads so far up your !@#$es in the sewerage of self righteousness and SJWs. Look at yourselves first.
Seeking refuge is risky: it always has been.
If they don’t get on a boat, but stay and face down their persecutors and are killed, they’re still dead, just as if they had drowned.
And would you like to try to justify the Liberal/Labor stance which amounts to this: “We’re so worried about you drowning, that if you don’t drown we will punish you”
Have just written to my local MP. Again.
Thank you Julian .. I will arm myself with pen and paper and buy stamps .. people risk their lives to flee persecution only to find themselves persuaded by their so-called rescuers ..
Thank Julian. I heard you speak last year and I had intended to right then. I did not. After these recent announcements (Bridging E Visa) by Peter Dutton and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, I am now taking action and will encourage my friends and family to do the same.
Thanks
Hi Julian,
I wrote to Malcolm Turnbull and Peter Dutton asking if they thought boat people were illegal and what offence they’ve committed.
I received a response from home affairs with some waffle regarding people smuggling and drownings and it also included some legal information which I can’t really understand.
Here are the last few paragraph’s:
‘Where the Government uses the term ‘illegal maritime arrivals’, the word ‘illegal’ refers to the mode of entry of persons who enter Australia without a valid visa. Australia has a universal visa system requiring most people who are not Australian citizens to hold a visa on entry to Australia. People who have entered Australia and do not hold valid visas are unlawful non-citizens according to the Migration Act 1958.
Article 31(1) of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol (the Refugee Convention) operates to protect ‘refugees unlawfully in the country of refuge’ from penalisation, including prosecution. Additionally, the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, defines ‘illegal entry’ as ‘crossing borders without complying with the necessary requirements for legal entry into the receiving State’.
Whilst seeking asylum is not an offence under Australian law, it is clear that the international law instruments discussed above contemplate that asylum seekers and migrants who are smuggled to Australia may breach border controls and domestic laws
in entering and seeking protection in Australia.’
Not entirely sure what that all means – curious what your take is? WOuld you like a copy of the letter? Where can I send/upload it?
Thanks,
Serge
Typical government nonsense.
Notice the words of the last paragraph: “…seeking asylum is not an offence under Australian law, it is clear that the international law instruments discussed above contemplate that asylum seekers and migrants who are smuggled to Australia may breach border controls and domestic laws in entering and seeking protection in Australia”
In short: The Refugee Convention acknowledges that unauthorised entry to some countries might be illegal, but it isn’t in Australia!
Hello Julian
A small group of us have been meeting monthly and writing letters to politicians asking the specific questions you have on your site. Since August, we have sent over 60 letters, and received replies from 14 politicians or their referred departments. Of those replies, only 4 responded to the specific questions in our letters. We continue to write, and repeat our questions, because we want them to know that there are people in Australia who do care about our country’s response to refugees and we want our politicans to respond to the human rights issues.
Good on you: keep writing to them.
Maybe at some point it would be worth asking whether they really regard themselves as representing their electorate.