Framing Migration

Abstract

In this article, we review the terms of reference by the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers (the Panel) to unpack the framing of asylum specifically but irregular migration generically, finding that the interaction of the terms humanitarianism, security and economic development provide the discursive means to limit their separate ‘in-the-know’ or ‘in-politics’ meaning. In particular, neo-liberal politics and liberal internationalism restrict the range of meanings assigned to these terms, making security the limit of the humanitarian impulse and economic identity the limit of development. We interrogate the deployment of the concepts of economic development and humanitarian security as two parergons of the border frame, acting as pincers of what is to be deemed suitable for discussion within the policy frame (in-politics). Drawing upon Alexander Betts' concept of ‘targeted development assistance’, we argue that the assertion of Australia's border is consistent not only with its parsed state-making memory but also with an international system in which a certain reading of liberal idealism and realism squeezes the play of meaning into which policy is deemed ‘reasonable’.