09 July 2010

Asylum seekers: the Greens have it right


Tonight on the SBS News I heard that the Greens had released a policy statement on asylum seekers, the key elements of which are:

 - Close Christmas Island detention centre

-  Process all asylum seekers onshore in major metropolitan centres, where they will have access to support services

- Increase Australia’s humanitarian intake to 20,000 refugees per annum.

A fuller statement of the policy, by Greens spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, may be found here, and a Greens fact sheet The Facts on Asylum Seekers may be found here.  A transcript of Senator Bob Brown’s recent interview on the ABC TV program The 7.30 Report may be found here.

I don’t have much trouble with anything said in this material; the position of the Greens is much closer to my views than is the position of any of the major political parties.

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