Refugees and asylum seekers are currently a heavily debated topic. The main argument held by opposing view holders is that Australia is currently taking in way too many refugees. Along with this there are many reasons people appose refuges such as the threat they pose to Australia and its security, the ‘increase’ in crime as a result of them being here and finally the fact that there are too many of them here. Yet all these points are weak! Most of these are fake and the media has played a huge role in expressing them. Australia doesn’t need to stop accepting and sending the helpless people back on their broken boats, instead we should stand up and help these people.
Many claims that Australia takes in too many refugees, however this is not the case. Australia barely resettles refugees. Since 1945 Australia has accepted only 800,000 refugees, which is only averagely 10,900 per year, over the past 73 years. Germany alone took in 443,210 refugees in 2016, according to research done and recorded by ABC news. On top of this Uganda resettled 532,735 refugees. When Australia is compared to other nations, it’s refugee intake is very small. In fact, there are numerous boats which head towards the Australian soil, however are turned around out of Australia’s borders by navy ships controlled by the government. The UN states that the refugee’s must be accepted once they enter the borders of Australia, that’s why there are hundreds of boats cruising along the sea, looking out for refugee’s and turning them back. There have been 826 deaths in the past 5 years due to the sinking or breaking apart of boats. Therefore, the thought of Australia taking in too much refugees is just a wrong though in numerous people’s minds, this can possible occur due to media influence. Australia is far from the most ‘generous’ nation when it comes to refugees and asylum seekers.
Nowadays whenever we hear about crime the first thing that comes to mind is the refugees and asylum seekers. The media has corrupted our minds so much that we are blinded by the fact and see the fake world we are being shown. There is statistics that opposes the fact that crimes are interrelated to refugees. Quantitative research has consistently shown that foreign born people are not highly associated with crime. These undocumented immigrants, tend to keep a low profile to reduce any chance of attention form coming their way, and to earn money to survive. It is true that Sudanese and Somalis people are statistically the most likely to commit crimes, however this does not mean that all of them do. People come on boats from all over the globe, due to upcoming or recent natural disasters, violence acts in their nation, environmental degradation and so on. Yes, it is true that people come from war torn countries, but most of them come to Australia to get away from the fighting, rather than to start it again here. These are just a few reasons which support the fact that not all refugees come to Australia just to increase our crime rates.
Many people continuously point out the false fact that refugee’s pose a security threat to Australia. Yet people skip over the fact that most of these refugee’s come from UN refugee camps. Therefore, the filtering of people who have the tendency of committing crime occurs before they even enter Australia’s borders. This implies that most refugees that come from these UN based camps are innocent and worthy of being called and labelled refugees. Not terrorists! Thus, it is very unlikely or almost impossible for a person who would pose a threat to come into the borders of Australia from these campsites. With all the ships consistently cruising the Australian borders it is almost impossible for a war criminal or terrorist to enter Australia on an illegal boat. If people are found, coming through these unapproved channels, they are subject to mandatory detention. They are also required to undergo countless numerous security checks and character tests. If the refugees don’t seem to pose a threat to Australians and the nation, then there shouldn’t be anything stopping us from accepting these humans.
A major rebuttal people hold is that Australia shouldn’t take in more refugee’s as they are ‘queue jumpers’. Yet this is not the case. People who arrive on our borders, aren’t simply accepted, as what many people think happens. The media does not show the depth of the matter, thus numerous misconceptions are being made. There are two factors which belong with our Refugee program, consisting of onshore and offshore resettlement. Onshore resettlement is what the refugee’s must go through. Through this resettlement program the refugees are proven worthy and are given permission by the government to stay. Therefore, it isn’t illegal anymore.
Asylum Seekers and refugee’s will always be at the doorsteps of nations, whether it be today or tomorrow. This issue is not simple, and the less we do the greater of a problem it will be in the future. Misconceptions such as Australia takes in too many refugees, along with the false accusation that most refugees are criminals and finally the point that refugee’s pose a security threat to the nation are all false. What Australia needs to do is be a part of a greater cause and accept more refugee’s.