Refugee children, boats and drownings: a history of an Australian ‘humanitarian’ discourse

Abstract

What are the stories of humanitarianism that Australians tell? What are the ‘collective narratives’ that create an imaginary of Australia as shaped by a culture of humanitarianism? This article explores one such story: that ‘we must stop the boats of asylum seekers so the children don’t drown’. This is a twenty-first-century narrative told by governments, media and the public that has served to create an idea of a ‘we’ who are in control and know best. In this article I move through the history of the development of this narrative, providing an exploration of when and how it emerged. I think through this narrative’s reliance on, and exploitation and further production of, humanitarian discourses and cultures, analysing the ways that it invokes a highly sentimental and racialised idea of who refugee and asylum-seeking children are and what they are imagined to need from the Australian state and public. Finally, I locate this narrative and discourse within a history of settler-colonial projects that work to create an image of Australia as a nation of ‘white saviours’, policy-makers as ‘good caring humanitarians’, and non-white children as requiring the ‘benevolent care’ of white governments.