For years now it has not been uncommon for breaking news bulletins to begin with: “Another boat has been sighted off Christmas Island with 89 asylum seekers aboard. Men,women and children”. Often this pronouncement was accompanied by footage of said rickety boat bobbing about on the vast blue ocean; updates on rescue efforts if the vessel was stricken and about to sink; reports of any drownings or safe arrivals and then a press conference later with a government minister who gave details and answered questions on the matter. When I was broadcasting on ABC 702 local radio last summer it had become routine to suspend usual programming to cross to such breaking news and press conferences. Although, admittedly, the boats were arriving so frequently then, there was robust discussion in the office about whether such events were newsworthy anymore. In the end, it was decided, they were. Such bulletins interrupted daily lives as we went about our ordinary business and prompted us to ask, again and again: “What would cause those people to risk their lives like that? How desperate must they be to put their children in such a perilous situation. Where do they come from? Why did they leave? What can we do to prevent them taking this deathly journey? Where are they now? How can we help? What can I do?” But of all that is no more. No more automatic daily bulletins about these arrivals, their depature points and destinations. Instead the Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison says he will “manage” the information. The statistics on boat arrivals will be disseminated weekly or even less frequently, he says. “It will be provided in a way that best supports the objectives of the operation to stop the boats,” said Minister Morrison.”My intention here is that these statistics over time become redundant. Because (the boats) won’t be coming.” His first press conference with three star general Lieutenant-General Angus Campbell will come on Monday. There now. Does that make you feel “relaxed and comfortable”? The news that the government has clamped down on information issued by his department and border protection agencies about asylum seekers coming by boat to Australia should surprise no-one. Least of all Fairfax and the ABC, who reported this latest development as if it was “breaking”. They reported that their inquiries about boat arrivals were now being stonewalled. During the election campaign, the Opposition said very clearly that is what it would do if it won office. The Stop The Boats national emergency would become an “operational matter” for Operation Sovereign Borders overseen by the military, said Morrison, then shadow minister. The asylum seeker issue would be, in effect, put on a war footing. And with that, necessarily, restrictions would be imposed on information. But perhaps the true effect of the new policy was underestimated. Its heart-stopping message not understood. Its cynicism not quite believed. As so many have observed on Twitter , the boats haven’t stopped coming. They have simply been “disappeared”. And along with them – perhaps the new government hopes – our questions and compassion. When outgoing Immigration Minister Tony Burke said on ABC’s Lateline that the decision to disappear the boats heralded a new “culture of secrecy”, he was being somewhat disingenuous. The message had already been well-delivered by the ALP government and its predecessors. As Antony Loewenstein wrote here at The Hoopla, successive governments in Australia have outsourced the management of asylum seekers to corporations such as G4S and Serco (the latter now has more than $1.86 billion worth of contracts with Canberra). These outfits operating in remote facilities like Manus Island are barely monitored or assessed. Haven’t been for years. The distressing plight of asylum seekers and their children in detention is one contributors to The Hoopla have written about many, many times*. Often through the eyes of mothers whose compassion, no matter what, can’t be blinkered or blinded. As far as I can see, all the Abbott government has done is shift the secrecy and indifference offshore by some few nautical miles. In Sydney, radio 2GB shock jock, Ray Hadley routinely updated his listeners on asylum seeker boat arrivals pledging to keep his listeners “informed”. Preceeded by a foghorn sound effect he would read out the stats of the boats that had arrived, the number of souls on board and recite the failures of the ALP government to Stop The Boats. Have the worries of Ray’s listeners vanished if the statistics are unavailable? Both the ABC and 2GB were reliant on that information from government for the benefit of their listeners. Now any who arrive will inhabit a bureaucratic Bermuda Triangle that Minister Morrison will “manage”. Out of sight and mind? Hopefully, the questions from the dedicated few will not stop. The demand for answers will intensify. I wonder what Ray and the national broadcaster will do this summer without the relevant statistics? BREAKING NEWS: “Let’s cross to the cricket”. Or indeed, the sound of crickets. *RELATED ARTICLES This policy brought to you by Two of our sons on different boats PNG Solution: Harsh, fair or both? When will we learn? The asylum seeker witch hunt They. Are not. Illegal. Playing in dangerous waters The End of the Malaysian Solution? The world is watching this The sad writing’s on the wall. 1488 2 4
Posted on: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 10:47:35 +0000
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