BY ROBERT COX
SYDNEY — On August 24-25, just before the anniversary of the Tampa incident on August 26, a conference was held in Sydney titled, "The Tampa: one year on". Pax Christi Australia (NSW) and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship organised an extraordinary line up of speakers to shed light on a dark event in Australia's recent history, presenting political, maritime and humanitarian perspectives on what Julian Burnside QC suggested was "a refugee policy all at sea!"
The conference was well attended and the discussion lively, although not many younger people attended. For me, the conference was yet another battery charge for a issue that requires so much emotional energy.
A Buddhist perspective was presented by the Venerable Tejadhamm Bhikku, who discussed fear, citing a Buddhist example of an evil force of fear, trepidation and terror, saying that the government has mirrored this force.
Equal opportunities commissioner Moira Rayner began pointing to those notably absent from the conference, such as the NSW children's commissioner. She called for a constitutional statement where rules of natural justice for children were upheld. "Children can not protect themselves", she said. "The moral choices are clear."
Child psychiatrist Dr Michael Dudley, who is also chair of Suicide Prevention Australia, provided a clinical analysis of the breakdown in the human spirit that can occur in detention.
On August 25, a softly spoken Iranian refugee eloquently shared his experiences during three years in detention. He recalled watching television broadcasts of the Sydney Olympics, featuring words of brotherhood and peace: "We all thought — what about us! What are we in this country?"
An Iraqi national described severe psychological torment by guards. He asked: "Why are they so cruel in their action towards us?" The government washes its hands of responsibility for such abuses, deferring to a privately run operation concerned only with profit, while cashing in on human misery.
Clinical psychologist Zachary Steele began his presentation with a jolting statement: "So, how does one work with people in detention?" His answer was resolute — " You get people out!" He then showed extraordinary video footage taken from the Freedom Bus which has visited Australian detention centres to protest.
Burnside pointed out that 150 children at Topside camp are still behind wire. He asserted ... "a peoples movement must make change!" Burnside also confided that he feels a sense of hopelessness, being a lawyer stymied by two old law students, immigration minister Philip Ruddock and Prime Minister John Howard.
Dr Mary Crock gave a legal analysis on the rights of asylum, arguing that asylum seekers "secondary movements" (for example from Afghanistan to Pakistan and then to Australia) should not change their claim in Australia for refugee status. The conference was completed by Donald Rothwell, who gave a passionate analysis of how the Australian government breached international humanitarian laws of the sea.
For a copy of the conference videotape, phone 0411 448 516.
From Green Left Weekly, September 4, 2002.
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