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Australia turns even less hospitable for refugees

Politicians keen to copy Canberra's tough stand on asylum seekers take note: The template they envy and which made Australia's shores among the world's least inviting is about to be recast in even sterner stuff.

New arrivals, no matter where they land, won't have the luxury of being locked up and processed at one of the country's grim onshore immigration detention centers. All, regardless of where they land, will be shipped to even bleaker offshore processing zones where those found to be genuine refugees will not have an automatic right to be settled in Australia.

The flow of asylum seekers to Australia, already reduced to just a trickle, is likely to dwindle further as people smugglers take stock of the tough new stance.

With the so-called "Pacific Solution" already having reduced the tide of asylum seekers from 1,000 a month in 2001 to less than that for the whole period since, why is Canberra again raising the bar? After all, the detention centers at home are emptying and the one on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea has been mothballed.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer explains the decision to turn the screws even further as a pre-emptive strike against a Netherlands-type dilemma where illegal immigration has got out of hand and calls for wholesale deportations are gaining currency.

"We don't want a situation which they've seen in some other parts of the world, particularly in Europe, where people, if you like, exploit the generosity of our country and we end up with a major problem," Downer said. "Our approach has been -- sure, it's been tough -- but I think it's been fair."

Critics say the conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard has a paranoia about the country being targeted with asylum seekers making the relatively short journey from Indonesia in easy-to-hire fishing boats.

Its fear is that civil unrest in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim country, could unleash an armada that would swamp its ability to either turn back the tide or accommodate those wanting to come.

Howard, prime minister since 1996, has won four elections and is the second-longest serving premier. His embrace of the Pacific Solution is credited with turning round the government's fortunes just in time to win the November 2001 election he seemed destined to lose.

The new ripple on Australia's immigration regime is a direct response to a big setback for Howard in his cherished relationship with Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono, Indonesia's first directly elected president.

Yudhoyono was riled last month when, against his express wishes, Australia awarded temporary protection visas (TPVs) to 42 asylum seekers from Indonesia's troubled Papua province who arrived by boat in January.

"Relations between Indonesia and Australia are entering a difficult time that is full of challenges," Yudhoyono warned Howard after the award of the TPVs, which grant an initial three-year stay in Australia and can be extended indefinitely.

To underline the seriousness of the warning, he recalled his ambassador to Canberra.

Yudhoyono expected, nay demanded, a face-saving formula from Howard -- and has got one with the new, strengthened Pacific Solution.

For good measure, Howard appealed directly to those among the 2.5 million Papuans thinking of making the crossing not to bother.

In a blunt message to the mostly Christian Papuans, Howard said: "Don't imagine for a moment that we want you to come to Australia."

Salvaging the relationship with Jakarta is on everyone's lips in Canberra.

Peter Costello, the treasurer and effectively the deputy prime minister, was open about the need to make up.

"We want to maintain good relations with Indonesia," Costello said bluntly.

"We don't want to let these things sour the relationship in any way, and we want to resume close relations, and continue close relations, that we've made such progress on in recent years," he said.
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