Policy on the move: how policy advocates have framed the international transfer of Australia’s asylum seeker policies

Abstract

When a public policy is actually or potentially moved from one jurisdiction to another, policy advocates seek to shape public debate by discussing the opportunities and risks associated with policy transfer. This is especially the case concerning controversial policies, such as those regarding irregular migration, in response to which international policy commentators argue quite strongly in favour or against. Specifically, this article analyses how policy advocates have framed the international transfer of Australia’s asylum seeker policies, leading to reflections on the findings in relation to the scholarly debates on policy transfer. The findings demonstrate that the idea of policy transfer can take on a life of its own in policy advocacy documents. The concept of policy transfer is not just a valuable analytic category used in academic discourse; it is also used astutely by advocates for rhetorical purposes, explicitly or implicitly, to argue for or against the movement of policies across jurisdictions.

Keywords:

• policy transfer
• policy framing
• policy advocates
• asylum seeker policies
• Australia

Acknowledgement

This article is a condensed and revised version of a research project submitted to the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, in 2017 as part of a Master of Public Policy. The valuable academic support of the Crawford School of Public Policy is appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.