Some of the measures that the Government has introduced are tough - but let me tell you, they are by no means as tough as measures introduced overseas - they are tough, but they are fair.
-Philip Ruddock, Minister for
Immigration and Multicultural Affairs,
Australia's
Immigration Policies - An International Perspective,
Address at the Victorian Press Club, 26 March 1998.
According to Amnesty International, Australia is the only western country to mandatorily detain asylum seekers who arrive without documentation.4
As most of you would know, I have a long-standing and deep commitment to an immigration program that does not discriminate on the grounds of race, religion, ethnic origin or nationality
-
Philip
Ruddock, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs,
Immigration
Reform: The Unfinished Agenda,
Address at the National Press Club, Canberra, 18 March 1998.
1. We calculate the chances of a refugee from a given region being granted asylum in Australia as the number of places allocated to people from that region in Australia's humanitarian program, divided by the total number of refugees originating in that region.
2.Breakdown of Australia's offshore program by region of birth: Department of Immigration Report "Population Flows: Immigration Aspects 2000 Edition" Section - "The migration and humanitarian program" (part 4), http://www.immi.gov.au/statistics/publications/popflows/popflows.htm
3.Breakdown of world refugee population by region of birth: US Committee for Refugees report "Principal sources of refugees" http://www.refugees.org/world/statistics/wrs01_table4.htm
4.Amnesty International, Australia, Local issues, Aug-Sep 2001.
5. From US Committee for Refugees report on Principal Sources of Internally Displaced Persons. The chart above is based on average values when the USCR report estimates a range.
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