Tasmania’s Asylum Seeker Debate Exposes Popular Myths and Ugly Truths

First published in The Mercury, 30/4/11.

The problem of asylum seekers, and what to do with them, has been a touchstone issue in Australian politics for well over a decade.

From the Tampa debacle, the “children overboard” controversy, the awful tragedies of the Siev X and the Christmas Island boat disaster, to the Villawood riots – asylum seekers have been an ever-present source of community angst.

Now the asylum seeker circus has come to Tasmania, and it’s already getting rough.

The recent fiery public meeting in Pontville exposed genuine, deep-seated fears about the risks that asylum seekers may pose to community safety.

Tasmanians will soon have to confront some tough questions.  Perhaps the toughest, most uncomfortable question to ask is: ‘what’s driving this fear of asylum seekers?’

To cut to the chase, and to ignore social niceties, is it just that we don’t like Muslims?

It’s not considered polite to ask the question, but earlier this year Essential Research conducted national polling to find out.

The results may come as a surprise to some.

The research found that around one quarter of Australians believe the Australian Government should exclude Muslims from our migrant intake.  That’s right – one quarter of Australians think that no more Muslims should be allowed to live in Australia.

Furthermore, over half (57 per cent) of Australians polled said they were either “somewhat concerned” or “very concerned” about the number of Muslim people in Australia.

This concern crosses political boundaries and age groups.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, people who identify themselves as Liberal/National Party voters were the most concerned about Muslim immigration (69 per cent).

Labor voters were split straight down the middle – half were concerned, and half were not.

And even Greens voters shared the anti-Muslim sentiment.  Nearly one in three Green voters (32 per cent) said they were concerned about the number of Muslims living in this country.

Look deeper, and the level of concern about the level of Muslim immigration in Australia appears to based, at least partly, on some widespread myths.

One of those myths is the number of Muslims who are already living here.

Nearly one in five Australians polled (19 per cent) believed that Muslims made up over ten per cent of the national population.  Another 20 per cent of Australians believed that Muslims made up between 5-10 per cent of the national population.

All up, 67 per cent of respondents over-estimated the real figure – 1.7 per cent – while another 18 per cent admitted they did not know.

The response to the announcement of the Pontville detention centre has also highlighted another myth: that seeking asylum in Australia is illegal, and hence asylum seekers are criminals.

Seeking asylum in a foreign country is not illegal, and refugees are not by definition criminals.

The misconception, however, has been carefully cultivated by opportunist politicians and talk-back kings who understand how to get people worked up and angry – which is how refugees came to be described as “illegals”.

Housing asylum seekers in prison-like facilities, with barbed wire and search lights, and treating them as criminals, only reinforces this myth.

And let’s face it, events such as the riots at Villawood play straight into this view of asylum seekers as a threat to honest, law-abiding Australians.

It is perhaps little wonder that some Pontville residents feel they would be at risk of being assaulted robbed and raped if ‘detainees’ were to escape.

A sensible, rational community debate about the proposed Pontville detention centre will only happen if people who are opposed to it take a step back from the hysteria, and look beyond the popular myths.

Equally, people who support the establishment of the Pontville facility will need to acknowledge that worried local residents cannot be dismissed merely as “bogans” or “racists” (as they have by some).

In fact, this condescending and antagonistic attitude only adds to the level of community division, and does nothing to move the discussion forward.

We will all have to confront an uncomfortable truth – the widespread fear of asylum seekers is supported by a widespread feeling about Muslim immigration.

Accepting that we have a problem is the first step to overcoming it.  And if we don’t overcome it, the ugly, debilitating politics of race and religion is likely to infect Tasmanian politics for some time.

Stewart Prins