Stung by the massive rebuke received from the new head of UNHCR we are now expected to believe Morrison is U-turning......well NO. He is clearly making policy on the run and its slective nature follows a pattern set when the public pressure was on him and the government when he had to front the HRC inquiry....pick and choose who to be merciful too while the rest suffer in hell holes.. And its not like the TPVs will be any better either even if this select group are not hauled off to the off shore gulags. No, shut these places down and admit deterrence has been a massive public policy FAILURE and introduce a humane on shore processing program. theguardian/world/2014/sep/10/scott-morrison-u-turn-offshore-transfer The government is considering giving temporary protection visas to some asylum seekers who arrived by boat after the policy of mandatory resettlement, marking a potentially huge U-turn in the Coalition’s hardline immigration policy. During a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra immigration minister Scott Morrison said the government was “open to alternatives” for processing asylum seekers who had yet to be transferred offshore but had arrived between July 19 (when Kevin Rudd introduced the so-called PNG solution) and 31 December. “Now, while it will continue to be the policy of the government that anyone who arrives illegally by boat will be transferred to offshore processing, as the 157 passengers on the recent Indian venture quickly discovered, the government is open to alternatives for the earlier July 19 to December 31 caseload, but not those who may arrive now or may have already been transferred,” Morrison said on Wednesday. Morrison indicated that those who arrived in that time period and had not been transferred could be given temporary protection visas as he continues his attempts to engage with cross bench senators to bring the visas back into use. “A temporary protection visa would ensure the people smugglers’ promise of permanent settlement would not have been honoured, maintaining the integrity of the government’s border protection regime, while providing an alternative to the costly and avoidable transfer of people, including families with children to Nauru,” the minister said. If the Coalition were to go through with the proposal it would affect hundreds if not thousands of asylum seekers – mostly detained on Christmas Island. Conditions for asylum seekers on Christmas Island - some of whom have been detained there for over a year - have been the subject of numerous scandals since the Coalition took office.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 09:18:59 +0000