Research Catalog

Title

Asylum by boat : origins of Australia's refugee policy / Claire Higgins.

Author

Higgins, Claire M. (Claire Michelle), 1982-

Publication

• Sydney, NSW NewSouth Publishing, 2017.
• ©2017

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

250 pages; 21 cm.

Summary

"In the late 1970s, 2000 Vietnamese arrived in Australia by boat, fleeing persecution. Their arrival presented a challenge to politicians, but the way the Fraser government handled it, and the resettlement of tens of thousands more Indochinese refugees, marked a turning point in Australia's immigration history. Turn-backs and detention were proposed, and rejected. Claire Higgins' important book recounts these extraordinary events. It is driven by the question of how we moved from a humanitarian approach to policies of mandatory detention - including on remote islands - and boat turn-backs. Like now, the politicians of the time wanted to control entry. Unlike now, they also wanted to respect Australia's obligations under international law. It's about how governments and policy-makers have dealt with the confluence of issues emerging from the end of the `White Australia' policy, a recognition of international responsibilities, and shifting public opinion. Strikingly, it also shows the extent to which the attitudes and statements of politicians and policy makers can shape the mood of the country, for better and worse."--Publisher description.

Subject

• Boat people > Government policy > Australia
• Political refugees > Government policy > Australia
• Refugees > Government policy > Australia
• Australia > Government policy

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

ISBN

• 1742235670
• 9781742235677

OCLC

• 991781000
• SCSB-10569118

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library