Australia’s Asylum Seeker Policy and Christmas Island Michelle Jasmin Dimasi Thesis submitted in total fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Swinburne Institute for Social Research Swinburne University of Technology 2015 ABSTRACT Debates about asylum seekers who arrive by boat regularly feature in Australia’s political and media spheres. Many of these discussions make reference to Christmas Island, an Australian outpost located in the Indian Ocean, where asylum seekers are detained. While most mainland Australians only hear or read about asylum seekers via the media, the people of Christmas Island experience asylum seekers face to face. While Christmas Island is often cited in discussions about Australia’s asylum seeker policy, little research has been conducted at the actual site of Christmas Island. This study seeks to provide insights into how Australia’s asylum seeker policy plays out at the Australian border. This research asks: How have Christmas Islanders responded to asylum seekers from 1992 to 2011, and what meaning can be made of these encounters? Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted on Christmas Island from 2008 to 2011, this thesis tells the story of the Christmas Island host community. Islander encounters with asylum seekers produce numerous and paradoxical responses that are best interpreted through the shifting nature of hospitality and are anchored in the various forms of proximity that are geographically shaped by the island’s location and the boundaries of detention. Islander responses to asylum seekers can be understood through the island’s history of marginalisation, shared experiences with asylum seekers, bearing witness, protest and the border economy that prevail within this island host community. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This PhD thesis could not have been made possible without the generosity of the people of Christmas Island. They volunteered their time and knowledge, and I am eternally thankful. I hope that I have fairly represented their responses to asylum seekers and to the government’s policy of detaining people on their small island. Special thanks goes Kelvin Lee, Chris Su, Lin Gaff, Robyn Stephenson, Ebony Caramia, Susan De Cruz and Helene Bartleson whose assistance was greatly appreciated. Gordon Thomson, I cannot thank you enough for your hospitality, laughter, generosity and helping me to understand Christmas Island. While this island has witnessed many tragedies that I do not wish upon anyone, it will forever remain in my memories. Words here are not enough to thank my supervisor Linda Briskman. You have been an amazing supervisor and the faith you have had in me to complete this project was unbelievable. In among numerous supervision meetings over breakfast, lunch, pedicures not to mention trips to Christmas Island and Iran, we managed to laugh, and you have made this journey so much more enjoyable. Thanks also goes to my other supervisors Klaus Neumann, David Corlett and Peter Browne, who provided insight, their expert knowledge in the field of asylum seekers, and assistance along the way. Thanks to Brian Costar who assisted me with all subject matter relating to parliament and politics and to Peter Mares in the earlier stages of research. There were a number of wonderful friends who read chapters along the way and gave me ongoing support for which I am grateful: Kuni Takeshima, Baheer Wardak, Nadine Clode, Niamatullah Ibrahimi, Amy Nethery and May Ngo. Completing a PhD can be quite a lonely experience and I need to thank some of my friends at Swinburne who cheered me to the finish line: Robyn Sampson, Chris Wilson, Scott Ewing, Michaela Callaghan, Christina Ting and Annika Lems. To my family, thanks for being there, especially my father who has continually believed in me. His kind words of support in the last stages of completion meant a lot to me. ii Thanks also to my copy-editor Neil Conning who responded so quickly to my requests at such short notice, and to my employer MAX Solutions, which was extremely flexible with extended periods of study leave. To the asylum seekers who are still detained on Christmas Island and offshore, my thoughts are with you. I hope one day that you will find the freedom, peace and hospitality that you so desperately asked of Australia. iii DECLARATION This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award to the candidate of any other degree or diploma. To the best of my knowledge it contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text. This text has been proofread and copy-edited by Neil Conning. The editing detected and corrected errors and inconsistencies in the text including accepted spelling, punctuation, grammar and usage and ensured accuracy and completeness of references. It did not change the substantive content of the thesis. Michelle Dimasi April 2015 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i Acknowledgements ii Declaration iv List of figures and tables vi Abbreviations vii CHAPTER ONE Introduction: Encountering Asylum Seekers 1 CHAPTER TWO Becoming Christmas Island 31 CHAPTER THREE First Asylum Seekers: 1992 to 1999 54 CHAPTER FOUR Islanders and Boat Arrivals: 1997 to 2001 77 CHAPTER FIVE ‘Everything changed after Tampa’ 98 CHAPTER SIX Tampa Aftermath: 2001 to 2002 123 CHAPTER SEVEN Asylum Seeker Arrivals: 2003 to 2007 140 CHAPTER EIGHT North West Point Immigration Detention Centre: 2002 to 2008 162 CHAPTER NINE Community Detention: 2008 to 2010 187 CHAPTER TEN Boat Crash and Riots: 2010–2011 221 CHAPTER ELEVEN Conclusion 244 BIBLIOGRAPHY 250 APPENDICES Interview schedule 265 Ethics clearance and declaration 266 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 267 v LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 2.1: Chinese cemetery 36 Table 3.1: Chinese and Sino-Vietnamese arrivals. 62 Figure 3.2: No permanent residency: Kelvin Lee’s agreement 68 Figure 6.1: SIEV X memorial stones 136 Figure 6.2: Nurjan and Fatima’s graves 139 vi ABBREVIATIONS ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation ACM Australasian Correctional Management ACS Australasian Correction Services ACTU Australian Council of Trade Unions AFP Australian Federal Police AMSA Australian Maritime Safety Authority BPC British Phosphate Commission CI Christmas Island CIDHS Christmas Island District High School CIRAR Christmas Island Rural Australians for Refugees CLA Chinese Literary Association CLO Community Liaison Officer CPA Comprehensive Plan of Action CRG Community Reference Group DIAC Department for Immigration and Citizenship DIMIA Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and Indigenous Affairs DOFA Department of Finance and Administration DOTARS Department of Territories and Regional Services FESA Fire and Emergency Services Authority GSL Global Solutions Limited IDAG Immigration Detention Advisory Group IDC Immigration Detention Centre IOT Indian Ocean Territories IOTHS Indian Ocean Territories Health Services IRPC Immigration Reception Processing Centre JSC Joint Select Committee on the Christmas Island Boat Crash MOU Memorandum of understanding NTR Never to return NWP North West Point PNG Papua New Guinea RAR Rural Australians for Refugees RCC Rescue Control Centre RHIB Rigid-hulled inflatable boats SAS Special Air Service SES State Emergency Service SIEV Suspected irregular entry vessel SOCI Shire of Christmas Island TPV Temporary protection visas UCIW Union of Christmas Island Workers UAM Unaccompanied Minor UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees VMR Voluntary Marine Rescue WCG Walter Construction Group vii CHAPTER ONE Introduction: Encountering Asylum Seekers In December 2010, Australians watched their television screens as an asylum seeker boat smashed to pieces as it crashed on the rocks of Christmas Island. Media footage not only showed asylum seeker bodies floating in the water, but islanders witnessing the horror first hand. Fifty asylum seekers drowned, 42 survived and one community was broken. I was on Christmas Island at that time. For days after the tragedy, I smelled the diesel from the boat crash. I witnessed friends and family traumatised, some who still vividly recalled the asylum seekers’ screams long after the incident. I sat with survivors in the detention centre and comforted them while listening to their stories of pain and loss. Debates about asylum seekers who arrive by boat regularly feature in Australia’s political and media spheres. Australians often have opinions about ‘boat people’ that range from ‘send them home’ to ‘let them stay’. Many of these discussions make reference to Christmas Island, an Australian outpost located in the Indian Ocean, where asylum seekers are detained. While most mainland Australians only hear or read about asylum seekers via the media, the people of Christmas Island experience asylum seekers face-to-face. The story of what happens when Christmas Islanders encounter asylum seekers is largely an untold one, but important, as it provides insight into why humans respond to strangers in need, or why at times they do not. The central question of this research is: How has the Christmas Island community responded to asylum seekers from 1992 until 2011 and what meaning can be made of these encounters? This first chapter lays the foundations for the chapters that follow. An overview of Christmas Island is first provided before situating Christmas Island in relation to Australia’s detention policy. I then explain the motivation for the research and identify the field of Christmas Island studies. Concepts of proximity and hospitality in asylum seeker host communities are discussed. 1 Finally, methodological approaches are explained, along with an overview of the thesis. Introducing Christmas Island Situated much closer to Indonesia than Australia, this tropical island is 360 kilometres south of Java, while the nearest Australian city is Perth, located 2,660 kilometres away. Because of its closeness to the asylum seeker transit country of Indonesia, Christmas Island has become a destination for mainly Middle Eastern and Afghan asylum seekers who aspire to be resettled in Australia and granted protection visas. An exceptionally small percentage of millions of displaced people globally make the perilous journey across the Indian Ocean.