Abstract
This article analyses the border policies of australia's federal Labor governments between 2007 and 2013. It argues that the policies of externalization pursued by Labor inevitably led to the restoration of the Pacific Solution introduced by the previous Liberal-National Party Coalition government and reproduced similar forms of state criminality and resistance.
Highlights
In September 2013, the conservative Liberal-National Party Coalition led by Tony Abbott, comfortably won Australia’s federal election
There were no significant differences of principle between Labor and the Coalition: the shrill rhetoric and ritual condemnations of each other’s policies operated within a long-established paradigm of exclusion, deterrence and punishment directed at refugees attempting unauthorized boat journeys to Australia
Within days an agreement was struck with the Coalition to pass legislation enabling offshore processing and the transfer of those arriving after 13 August 2012.22 In signing the legislative instrument designating Nauru to be a regional processing country, Immigration Minister Bowen declared it was in Australia’s national interest, inter alia, because Nauru has given assurances that it would not breach the refoulement provisions of the Refugee Convention; that claims for asylum would be assessed in accordance with the Convention; and that designating Nauru “will discourage irregular and dangerous maritime voyages and thereby reduce the risk of loss of life at sea”
Summary
In September 2013, the conservative Liberal-National Party Coalition led by Tony Abbott, comfortably won Australia’s federal election.
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