Posted 3-Sep-2002 The July 26 2002 submission from NetIPR is available on netipr's home page http://users.senet.com.au/~netipr ************************************************ AUSTRALIAN SENATE Hansard Tuesday, 6 August 2002 Legal and Constitutional Committee [2:53pm OO, Dr U Ne, Secretary, Network for International Protection of Refugees CHAIR -- Welcome. You have registered with the committee your submission, No. 24. Are there any amendments or alterations that you would like to make to that submission ? Dr Oo -- No, I do not have any amendments, but I should like to make an opening statement. CHAIR -- I invite you to do so. Dr Oo -- Before I make my opening statement, I would like to encourage you to ask questions if you do not understand me very well. I did not fly here from Adelaide to be misunderstood by this committee. CHAIR -- We will try and understand you to the best of our capacities. Dr Oo -- My accent is difficult to understand. CHAIR -- We have a little bit of time. Dr Oo -- Could you also please speak a little bit slowly so that I can understand. CHAIR -- Sure. Dr Oo -- Firstly, I would like to thank this committee and the Romero justice community in Adelaide for enabling me to come here and present my organisation's view. I am U Ne Oo, a Burmese exile and refugee living in Adelaide. I was sent to Australia in 1988 by the Rangoon University physics department to do a doctorate under the Australian government's Colombo Plan Scholarship, and I obtained a PhD in physics from Adelaide University. I applied for refugee status in Australia in 1992, and the government granted a refugee visa in 1993. Since then, I have survived as a refugee in Australia and as an exiled person from Burma. Over the years, from 1992 to date, as a Burmese exile I have had an extensive involvement with Burmese democracy and human rights movements. As the committee members may have noted from one of the attachments to my submission, I began to be seriously concerned about the refugees in Australia in 1997-98. In response, I started a South Australian based grassroots refugee advocacy group, the Network for International Protection of Refugees, and its objectives are outlined in an appendix to my submission. Our organisation seeks to address the government's views on the human rights of refugees and displaced persons at the policy level. In a personal capacity I am also involved with several other refugee support groups in South Australia. Our organisation is disturbed by the Australian government's continuing inhuman treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. Over the years we have seen the Australian government carry out misinformation campaigns about asylum seekers and refugees in this country. Day after day the government ministers regurgitate untruths about asylum seekers so as to dehumanise asylum seekers. The children overboard scandal was one such example./ As the senators may understand, refugees in any society are marginalised and powerless. It is so unfair of the government to launch misinformation campaign about refugees, because refugees have no capacity whatsoever to conquer such campaigns. This current amendment bill, just like many of other government initiatives on the so-called border protection, is just poking around the refugee issue whenever the Australian government desires popular attention or wishes to create political distraction. It is immoral for Australian government to use refugees and asylum seekers as pawns to further its political aganda. Our organisation is greatly concerned that the Australian government is heading towards the old apartheid system of south African and will be shunned by the rest of the world. Mr Chairman and committee members, you no doubt find it disturbing when you hear about the behaviour of human smugglers. You are disturbed when human smugglers exploit refugees and asylum seekers. Your are distressed when human smugglers make money out of these vulnerable people. You feel outraged when humam smugglers show callous disrespect for the wellbeing of their human cargo. You find human smugglers despicable because they make a profit out of vulnerable people, such as refugees. Now, here in this parliament, your very own government is using refugees and asylum seekers as pawns in its political agenda. The government exploited refugees and border protection issues to win the election. The government shows callous disregard for the lives of asylum seekers by intercepting and turning away refugee boats on the high seas. And, most importantly, the government has demonised and given inhuman treatment to refugees in order to sustain its political power. This is inhuman conduct committed on a grand scale by the Australian government, and it is much worse than what any human smugglers have done. I ask: don't you find that disturbing ? I certainly find the Australian government's conduct inhuman, despicable and disturbing. I would like to complete my statement by highlighting our organisation's recommendations. Our organisation, the Network for International Protection of Refugees, calls on the Australian government and the Prime Minister to: -- Apologise to the refugees who were being wrongly accused of throwing their children overboard -- conduct an independent inquiry into the death of two women asylum seekers in November 2001 -- Carry out speedy processing and resettlement of asylum-seekers who are held in off-shore detention centers -- Cease the interception of refugee boats on the high seas and put a halt to the Pacific Solution -- Repeal Temporary Protection Visa legislation of October 1999 -- Remove existing excision bill of September 2001 and withdraw current amendments. CHAIR -- Dr Oo, you have given us a press statement from December 1998 in which you mention office-holders: patron, Sister Janet Mead, and chairperson, Reverend Martin Chittleborough and so on. Are they still your office-holders ? Dr Oo -- Yes. The only change is in the executive committee members. This is the original document that was out out in 1998. CHAIR -- On page 2 of your submission you say that an analysis of unauthorised arrivals shows an increase in the percentage of women and children since the introduction of the temporary protection visa legislation in October 1999. Could you provide us with the sources of information that you relied on for that statement ? Dr Oo -- I cannot give you out of hand which source I got that from, but I have been interested in these issues over the years, so I sourced this fact from somewhere. If the committee wants it, I will provide it to you. Would you take that question away with you to find the source of the information and give it to the committee ? Dr Oo -- Yes. You also state that the policies are not well thought out in a legal and constitutional sense. Are you saying that there are some constitutional problems with the legislation ? Dr Oo -- I am not a lawyer. That certainly does not help my capacity to fully comprehend all those legal and constitutional implications. But, as graduate activists and a refugee advocacy group, we take data from reliable sources like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and human rights committees. CHAIR --If you could take that question away and find the source of that constitutional concern, you could come back to us with it. Senator STEPHENS -- Regarding your organisation's experience, perhaps you would comment on the impact of the restriction that refugees currently in Australia on temporary protection visas granted after 27 September 2001, who spent more than seven days in a safe country en route to Australia, will not be eligible for a permanent protection visa. This means that although the person may be recognised as refugee, they will not be able to bring their family out to Australia, they will not be able to leave the country without their TPV being cancelled and, if they try to re-enter Australia, they will be deemend an illegal arrival. Has that been the experience of your organisation ? Dr Oo -- Our organisation has more of an advocacy role, and I do not have a direct involvement with refugees and resettlement issues. I only look at the policy and policy implications of those refugees. Senator PAYNE -- There are number rof statements you have made with which not every member of the committee would agree. I am probably going to indicate that there are number of statements that I do not agree with, but I am interested in a number of points that you make in your submission. In considering that document and some of the aspects that you have raised today, what is your organisation's view of people who, some might say, in their role as people smugglers extort from, but most certainly exploit, vulnerable individuals and make them pay extortionate amounts of money to transport them around the world and bring them to places like Australia in pretty average circumstances -- of transport at least ? What do you think about people smugglers at your organisation ? Dr Oo -- The people smugglers do break the laws and they are not good people, but, as an organisation and human rights activist, we are more concerned about the government implicating the refugees in association with the human smugglers. Senator PAYNE -- I understand that that is your concern. Do you think governments, of any colour, who are in a position to do so, should make any efforts to deter people smugglers from doing what they try to do ? Dr Oo -- I did not quite hear you. What did you say ? Senator PAYNE -- I was wondering whether youthought governments in any context should take steps to deter people smugglers from doing what they do. Should we just let it go on all around us with little regard for the consequences either for the individuals being smuggled or for the people smugglers or the recipient countries ? Dr Oo--If governments try to make refugees less exploitable, that would be a welcome initiative. But to my knowledge, Australia's human smuggling law and penalties are so tough already that if Oscar Schindler were still alive, even he would not be able to smuggle into Australia. CHAIR --Thank you, Doctor. I think we can leave it there. The committee looks forward to receiving the information we have sought from you. Thank you and your organisation for your submission. Proceeding suspended from 3.11 pm to 3:30pm.