Welcome to Australia? A reappraisal of the Fraser government's approach to refugees, 1975–83

Abstract

The Fraser government's response to the Indo-Chinese refugee crisis and the presentation, for the first time, of asylum-seekers arriving in Australia by boat is almost universally acclaimed as having been proactive, generous and humanitarian in spirit—the antithesis of both the preceding Whitlam Labor government and subsequent governments, particularly since 2001. Adopting a policy of ‘forward selection’ of refugees from camps in South-East Asia, the Fraser government was able to stem the flow of boats and oversaw the relatively uncontroversial resettlement of nearly 70,000 Indo-Chinese. However, the author argues that this was not the brave and principled course of action for which Fraser and his immigration ministers are regularly fêted, but rather a delayed response that was motivated by fear and desperation rather than pure humanitarian intent. The celebrated outcomes of Fraser's policies belie the self-interested way in which they were constructed and neglect the fact that the government did not act until it was forced. Fraser's policies were neither a departure from the past nor the antithesis of current polices; to the contrary, they were the seeds of the contemporary Australian model of asylum.

弗雷泽政府对印度支那难民危机的反应，以及关于偷渡澳大利亚避难者的表述，被普遍认为是积极、慷慨、富于人道主义精神的——与之前的惠特兰工党政府和其后特别是2001年以来的历届政府形成反差。弗雷泽政府采取了从东南亚难民营向前选择的政策，扼制了偷渡潮流，并对较少争议的近70,000印度支那人的居留地进行了监管。不过，笔者认为，此举并非勇敢之举，亦非出于原则——弗雷泽及其移民部长们就是被这样赞美的。它倒是一种迟到的反应，出于恐惧绝望而绝非纯粹的人道主义情怀。弗雷泽政策皆大欢喜的结果掩盖了该政策自利的考虑，忽视了政府是被迫行动的事实。弗雷泽的政策与以往略无不同，并不是现行政策的对立面。恰恰相反，这些政策为当前澳大利亚难民收容模式埋下了种子。

Keywords:

• asylum seekers
• Australian refugee policy
• Indo-Chinese refugee crisis
• Malcolm Fraser

Notes

1. Even those who are more cautious in celebrating Australian governmental responses to refugees in the twentieth century, such as Marion Le (2001) and Klaus Neumann (2004), contend that Fraser deserves a special place in the history books. Nancy Viviani, Jack Smit and Rachel Stevens provide the only real counterpoints to this argument. In her seminal study of Vietnamese migration to Australia, Viviani (1984) documents the initial resistance of the Fraser government to allowing entry to Australia for any more than a token number of refugees. Smit (2010) re-examines the Fraser government's response to ‘commercial’ refugee voyages and argues that it marked the beginning of the criminalisation of asylum in Australia, while Stevens (Age 2012, 15) argues that Fraser's government ‘was resistant, ambivalent and at times pragmatic in responding to the Vietnamese refugee crisis’ (see also Stephens 2012). Katharine Betts (2001, 35–36) also notes, but does not elaborate on, the Fraser government's reluctant response to the Vietnamese boat refugees, pointing out that the government ‘only later made a virtue of necessity’.

2. The Philippines acceded to the Convention on July 22, 1981.

3. There is an extensive body of literature that describes, discusses and analyses the contemporary Australian model of asylum, particularly under Howard. See, for example, Betts (2003), Jupp (2002), Manne and Corlett (2004), Mares (2002), Marr and Wilkinson (2003), McMaster (2002) and Stats (forthcoming).