Tragic day for Australians. Tragic day for asylum seekers.

Today is a sad day in the history of Australia! Despite the fact that theGreens were prepared to work with the Government on a new regional approach, Labor and Liberal, or rather 'Laberal', voted together to reinstate a harsher version of John Howard’s Pacific Solution.

The Greens want to save the lives of refugees right now, not by punishing them but rather by providing safe alternatives to boarding leaky boats. Condemning refugees to indefinite detention on the island prisons and mental illness factories of Nauru and PNG’s Manus Island is inhumane, immoral and illegal.

This regression back to the draconian policies used by Howard is against theadvice of experts such as former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, Julian BurnsideQC, Geoffrey Robertson QC, Australian of the year Patrick McGorry, refugee law academicsand the Refugee Council of Australia, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre,Amnesty International, Get Up!, Christian and human rights groups and others.

‘Laberal’s’ assumption that Howard’s off shore processing worked, is very wrong! The only thing that altered the number of people seeking asylum in Australia was a change in the situation affecting the country from which they were escaping.
Caring for refugees requires a regional humanitarian response based on legal protections for refugees, not a quick political fix.

The ALP should work with the Greens toward taking the pressure off refugees to board boats in the first place, rather than punishing them once they have. Refugee advocates approve the Green’s New Regional Plan of Action to provide safer pathways for people seeking asylum in Australia and if the government had any sense on this matter, it would too.