Former prime minister John Howard has defended the tough approach his government took on asylum-seekers, saying it paved the way for more migrants and refugees to come to the country in an orderly manner.
On the day the Federal Opposition committed itself to a “refined” version of the Howard policies, Howard himself told an international audience how public opinion had been changed for the better.
“We ended up seeing in Australia increased public support for a high migration program and also for the maintenance of an orderly humanitarian refugee program,” Mr Howard told BBC World News.
“On a per capita basis, under my government and continued under the present government, Australia takes a larger number of humanitarian refugees … than most other countries.”
Earlier, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull revealed the Coalition’s asylum-seeker policy would be a refined version of the Howard government policy.
“We know that the previous policies of the Howard government certainly worked in the sense that there were for many years very few, little or no arrivals,” Mr Turnbull told Fairfax Radio.
Reintroducing those policies, including the restoration of temporary protection visas, was something the Coalition would look at, he said.
A future Coalition government would put in place policy that “over time” would stop a surge in boat arrivals.
Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone went further, saying a Coalition government would include “the suite of measures” Labor dismantled last year.
“(Including) looking at the type of visa,” she told Fairfax Radio.
Labor replaced the Coalition’s temporary protection visas with permanent protection visas in August 2008, saying it wanted to treat asylum-seekers fairly and with dignity.
The Howard government introduced temporary protection visas in 1999 to discourage people-smuggling.
Refugees were denied access to social security benefits and were not allowed to sponsor family members for settlement in Australia.
They also needed to reapply for protection visas.
The Australian Greens have been quick to condemn the Opposition, describing the Howard policies as “atrocious”.
Australia was the only country that had a temporary protection visa, Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“I don’t want us to go back … to the dark days of the Howard regime,” she said.
Source: The Australian
