‘ History repeats ... again Vol. 65 March 2011 he current hysteria arising from the numbers of boat people arriving in Australian waters is sim- History repeats ... again ply a case of history repeating itself. Andrew Bar- tlettT examines the foundation of Australian attitudes by Andrew Bartlett to boat people and how quickly the ‘key values’ of the Patenting human genes Labor Government have been abandoned. Opinion piece by Senator Bill Heffernan In the ten or so years I spent in the some of the material that documents Senate, migration policy, and espe- decisions and actions by a range of cially asylum-seeker policy, was the Australian governments from the rel- Complementary or contradictory area that occupied more of my time atively distant past. Glenn Nicholls’ by Richard Denniss and Andrew than any other. The political and book Deported details a series of Macintosh media obsession about a relatively injustices, some of them deadly, per- small number of asylum seekers who petrated by governments that put this Sort of ‘Made in Australia’? arrive by boat, and the patholagising fear above all other considerations. by Ben Irvine of this as some sort of major problem (which it is to the asylum seekers, but Professor Klaus Neumann is another certainly not to Australia) was and re- who has written extensively on the, 2012: The year of the carbon tax? at best, ambivalent record of govern- by Richard Denniss mains irrational in the literal sense of the word. ments throughout our history when it comes to attitudes to, and treatment High stakes It is true that this obsession is shared of, refugees. Suffice to say, whilst by David Baker by some of the general public, but there are some positive examples, that is continually fed and validated as of course there are in more recent More hot air? by politicians and media commen- decades, there is no shortage of bad by Josh Fear tators rather than being seen as an examples. area where the provision of some ba- sic facts into the public debate would ear and anxiety about New publications and Institute be beneficial. the prospect of people notes flowing down into Aus- This irrational reaction to boat ar- tralia from the north was rivals was literally embedded in the F a major factor in galvanising foundations of the Australian nation. the separate British colonies on Fear and anxiety about the prospect the island of Australia to come of people flowing down into Austra- together in a federation. lia from the north was a major fac- tor in galvanising the separate British colonies on the island of Australia to Many of those who have followed the come together in a federation, and toing and froing of political debates has been apparent in many decisions and policies on refugees and asylum made by governments and ministers seekers over the last 20 years or so, ever since. especially those who have actively worked for more effective, efficient, Those who think the current level reality-based administrative and pol- ISSN 1322-1876 of distorted and perverted public icy approaches, would be looking on ACN 061 969 284 policy processes is some sort of un- the current situation with a mixture of ABN 90 061 969 284 precedented low in Australia’s his- despair and resignation. [email protected] tory would benefit from looking into Continued on Page 2 www.tai.org.au History repeats ... again from Page 1 The glass-half-empty view would be finitive ‘key value’ that ‘children, in- to argue that it is well past time for us cluding juvenile foreign fishers and, as a nation to have lifted our game where possible, their families, will not in this area. Backing up such an at- be detained in an immigration deten- titude is the disappointment that is a tion centre (IDC)’. People with any result of the rapid backsliding from experience of the then only recently what seemed like some real progress concluded Howard era were well towards a far more rational policy ba- aware that giving a detention cen- sis in the early stages of the Rudd tre any name other than ‘Detention Government under the leadership of Centre’ was all that was needed for then Immigration Minister, Senator a government to publicly assert that Chris Evans. people (especially children) weren’t being kept in a detention centre. So While short of ideal, the new ‘immi- scepticism wasn’t completely absent gration detention values’, which he when these new principles were re- is also when Prime Minister Rudd in outlined in a speech in July 2008, leased. provided a significant step forward effect took the public management of not just in terms of a more efficient, the issue out of the hands of Minister Sadly, the retreat from this new ap- more open, less harmful and less Chris Evans. proach did not take long to appear. It expensive policy approach, but also is hard from the outside to know for But it is still profoundly dispiriting that in terms of trying to move public dis- certain precisely what all the factors it took such a short time for the Rudd course on the issue to a more ratio- were that led to this new approach and then Gillard governments to walk nal level. unravelling so badly. It is hard not to away so completely from this policy While the specifics of the new policy see Kevin Rudd’s decision to high- (and so-called ‘key value’) so that were, as always, somewhat open to light his personal, and very public, we now have well over 1000 children interpretation, the very specific state- request to the Indonesian President kept in immigration detention, many ment by the minister that ‘detention in to intervene to prevent a boatload of them for prolonged periods of time. immigration detention centres is only of 255 Tamil refugees from reach- The promise has been so completely to be used as a last resort and for the ing Australia, diverting them instead broken that the government hasn’t shortest practicable time’ provided to the Indonesian port of Merak, as even bothered to put most of those genuine cause for hope. the key moment when the short-term detained children in places that are politics of the issue once again poi- not labelled a ‘Detention Centre’. Even more explicit, and perhaps soned policy implementation. It is most welcome, was the very de- probably not a coincidence that this The sense of history repeating is compounded by reports such as that recently released by the Com- ChilOut monwealth Ombudsman into deten- ChilOut, or Children Out of Detention, was formed in August 2001 by tion conditions on Christmas Island. concerned parents and citizens in response to the screening of the The similarities with the criticisms ABC’s 4 Corners exposé on the psychological and physiological break- and warnings in a range of reports from the Howard era are compelling. down six-year-old Shayan Badraie was suffering in the Villawood Im- Perhaps the most telling indication migration Detention Centre. At that time, 856 children were being held of how much things have regressed in indefinite mandatory detention. came with the decision by the dor- Over the next four years ChilOut, along with a number of other groups, mant child refugee advocacy group fought to convince the wider Australian public and policymakers that ChilOut, with a core focus to get chil- detaining children significantly harmed their development, was detri- dren out of immigration detention, to mental to their health and wellbeing and was not good policy for a reactivate so that it could once again take up the fight on an issue it had ev- civilized, caring society to pursue. ery reason to think had been won. ChilOut has recently decided to revive its network of supporters and If one were to take a glass-half-full recruit new volunteers. The group co-ordinates visitors to children in approach, it is reasonable to argue detention and assists with the welfare needs of detained families and that while the current situation with unaccompanied minors. boat-borne asylum seekers is bad, If you are able to assist ChilOut, please visit their website www.chilout. and the levels of unnecessary and org to learn more about how you can be involved unjust human suffering appalling, it Continued on Page 10 2 Patenting human genes he Patent Amendment (Human Genes and Biological Materials) Bill 2010 has received some criticism but it is merely an attempt to return common sense to the Australian patent system by banning the patenting of material that is naturallyT occurring or isolated from material that is naturally occurring. Senator Bill Heffernan defends the new Bill and explains the reasons for it. Recent criticism of the Patent rightly been cited as an example of Government conceded that ‘the Amendment (Human Genes and Australia’s contribution to improv- longstanding practice’, which had Biological Materials) Bill 2010 is ing world health, it is irrelevant led to the granting of patents for unfounded as this Bill seeks to re- to this Bill and adds weight to the isolated genomic DNA, was wrong. turn common sense to the Austra- question: do critics of the Bill un- According to the US Government, lian patent system and apply the derstand the distinction between the human gene BRCA 1, at issue law by legislating to ban the patent- discovery and invention? in the case, ‘was not invented’. ing of human genes and other bio- logical materials either isolated or Here are the facts: In Australia, under the passionate naturally occurring. direction of a multi-partisan group First, for nearly 400 years, patents of Senators, the Senate Commu- have been granted for inventions, The Bill will not prevent or reduce nity Affairs Reference Committee not for discoveries.