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Australians’ Attitudes towards Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Name of Student:
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Date of Submission: ____________________________ AE Teacher:
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AE Class:
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Abstract The purpose of this paper is to report on attitudes held by Australians regarding refugees and asylum seekers. The survey instrument, which included 22 questions on refugees, detention centres and personal experiences, was used to collect data. Participants were comprised of 15 women and 15 men, between the ages of 17 and 23. The aim of the investigation was to identify perceptions about refugees and the results indicated that Australians tend to be fairly positive. It was concluded that existing literature on this topic may be limited and it is, therefore, recommended that further research be conducted so that government policy and media reporting can more accurately reflect the views of the Australian people.
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Introduction
In recent years, there has been much discussion about how to manage increasing numbers of refugees and asylum seekers. This is an important issue because it involves “human rights” responsibilities of the Australian Government and Australian citizens.
A “refugee” is someone who will not return to their own country because of: a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion” (United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 2003).
An “asylum seeker” refers to someone who does not go to a neighbouring country then seek resettlement in a more distant country. The people may choose to try to go directly to a country, such as Australia, and then seek protection or “asylum”. “Asylum seekers” do not follow the typical immigration procedure, which involves applying and waiting for a visa so are often called “queue jumpers” (Refugee Council of Australia, 2003). Australia has a policy of mandatory detention for asylum seekers, which means anyone arriving in Australia without a visa is detained and, if they cannot claim asylum, eventually deported (Jupp, 2002, p. 187).
Literature on this topic highlights two significant inaccurate perceptions that Australians have towards refugees and asylum seekers. One perception is that refugees entering Australia are “illegal” immigrants. However, International Law enforced by the Refugee Council of the United Nations (U.N.) claims that “Australia is the law breaker when it penalises refugees (National Council of Churches in Australia, 2001).
Another negative idea is that refugees and asylum seekers take Australians’ employment opportunities. Yet, according to National Council of Churches in Australia (2001), refugees bring capital to invest in businesses, which stimulates the economy. In addition, their skills and numbers increase Australia’s productivity and tax base. These funds contribute to government services provided to refugees.
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The abovementioned inaccuracies appear to reflect a negative attitude towards refugees and asylum seekers. However, little research has been done on this. If negative inaccuracies about refugees arise, then negative attitudes towards them must also exist. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the attitudes of Australians towards refugees and asylum seekers. This paper will first discuss the methodology and question design chosen for this research, then the results of the survey will be interpreted, followed by a discussion and recommendations being made.
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Method Quantitative methodology was chosen for this research. This was due to the complexities associated with the unstructured interview technique and time constraints. A questionnaire was designed to assess student opinion on a number of issues related to refugees and asylum seekers. Three main types of questions were asked about, including (i) refugees (ii) detention centres and (iii) personal experiences. There were 30 study participants, who were all volunteers. 15 were male and 15 were female, all were between the ages of 17 and 23 and all were randomly selected full time University of Queensland students. Religion, political affiliation and socio-economic status were considered unimportant. Confidentiality was ensured by not recording names. Questionnaires were completed by students and the data was then collated and analysed. While the questionnaire was successful in obtaining information from the participants, it was also limited in two main ways. Firstly, the data method chosen did not allow much for participants to provide details of their experiences and understanding of the refugee issue. This meant that information gathered may have been somewhat limited. Secondly, some participants had problems answering question 7 on “national security”. This may have affected how they answered the question, making it difficult to interpret findings accurately.
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Interpretation of Results Questions 1 to 12 addressed attitudes towards refugees. The participants generally thought that accepting refugees was not particularly problematic. About half agreed or strongly agreed that refugees should be able to seek asylum in Australia. In addition, 60% did not believe that Australia is being swamped by refugees or that they are taking Australian’s jobs. A further 50% did not feel refuges threatened national security and 68% said that refugees should enjoy the same social rights as other Australians. While participants were neutral on a number of related issues, some negativity was expressed in relation to a few survey statements. About 30% were not in favour of refugees seeking asylum and about 40% felt Australia’s refugee policy was not effective and that refugees should ultimately return to their own countries. 50% also felt refugees were a burden on the taxpayer. Interestingly, most of the negative beliefs were held by male interviewees. Although such perceptions exist, they do not reflect a negative attitude overall. Questions 13 to 18 were about attitudes towards detention centres. Similarly, there was no evidence of a significantly negative attitude towards refugees. 44% of participants felt asylum seekers were ill-treated in detention centres, 66% believed they were not fully aware of their legal rights and 70% thought community based programs or complete freedom was preferable to mandatory detention. Although a significant number of responses were neutral, evidence of slightly negative attitudes also existed, with 26% of participants supporting mandatory detention and 30% not believing that it was a breach of human rights. Surprisingly, both men and women expressed these views. In general, attitudes appear to be slightly positive, although some perceptions are clearly negative. The final set of questions, 19 – 22, were concerned with informants’ experiences. Not surprisingly, responses were not generally negative. 30% of interviewees knew one or more refugees, 18% belonged to refugee volunteer groups and a further 18% intended to join such a group. Participants also commented that more awareness of refugees was needed. It was, however, surprising that 70% did not know any refugees and over 80% did not intend to belong to a volunteer group. On the whole, participants’ attitudes towards refugees were fairly positive to neutral.
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Discussion and Conclusion
This report sought to test whether Australians hold negative attitudes towards refugees and asylum seekers. Interestingly, the results show that Australians generally do not hold negative attitudes towards this group of people.
One minor set of interviewee responses was consistent with the hypothesis that Australians hold negative attitudes towards refuges and asylum seekers. The survey results showed that a minority of Australians were not in favour of refugees seeking asylum and that refugees were a burden on the taxpayer. Some also supported mandatory detention, believing that it was not a breach of human rights, in spite of the fact that chemical restraints, handcuffing, force feeding, assault, isolated detention, intimidation and police lock up are part of life in detention centres (Bessant, 2002, p. 15-16). It was also evident that not many Australians were members of volunteer groups or intended to become members. These results reflect a slightly negative attitude towards refugees, which is similar to negative ideas presented in the literature that asylum seekers are “cue-jumpers” (Refugee Council of Australia, 2003), “illegal immigrants and take Australians’ jobs (National Council of Churches, 2001). These perceptions appear consistent with, and may be a result of, negative government and media messages about refugees and asylum seekers.
However, another more significant set of participant responses was not consistent with the hypothesis that Australians hold negative attitudes towards refuges and asylum seekers. The results showed that most Australians believed refugees and asylum seekers had no negative effect on Australia in terms of Australia being “swamped” by refugees, jobs taken and threats to national security. They also thought that treatment in detention centres was poor and mandatory detention was undesirable. This openness to refugees and concern with their plight could partly be explained by the fact that Australia accepts relatively few refugees by world standards, with only places for 12,000 refugees and displaced people under its 2001-2002 Humanitarian Program (Amnesty International, 2003). In addition, media attempts to “disparage refugees and prevent Australians from being sympathetic” by, for example, labelling them as “cue-jumpers” (National Council of Churches in Australia, 2001), may be unsuccessful in creating negative views amongst everyday Australians.
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A final set of survey responses was unrelated to the hypothesis that Australians hold negative attitudes towards refuges and asylum seekers. These results may have arisen due to survey questions being irrelevant and the sample group not being representative of the broader community. The questions could be improved through making questions more specific to the topic. More care needs to be taken with questions in future studies.
This report aimed to test whether Australians have negative attitudes towards refugees and asylum seekers. On the whole, the research findings were inconsistent with this hypothesis. The findings challenge previous knowledge of the topic by demonstrating that, although ideas such as refugees being “cue-jumpers”, “illegal immigrants” and taking Australian’s jobs exist, they are not held by the wider population. In fact, they seem to be held and promoted primarily by the government and the media.
SAMPLE REPORT ©MyAssignmentExpert.com, 2010 Recommendations
Since the findings indicate that Australians do not have negative views about refugees and asylum seekers, it can be deduced that ideas presented in the literature are not necessarily accurate in representing the wider community. The implications of these results are that more research needs to be conducted to provide a more comprehensive understanding of Australians’ perceptions towards refugees. This research will provide the government and the media with a better understanding of community perceptions of refugees and asylum seekers. As governments seek to represent their people and as the media claims to report the truth, this knowledge will be valuable in informing their future policies (in the case of government) and reporting (in the case of the media).
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References
Amnesty International Australia 2003, Debunking The Myths About Asylum Seekers, [online], Available: http://www.amnesty.org.au [2003, March 16].
Bessant, J. 2002, ‘The Camps, A Site Of Exceptionality: Australia’s Detention Of Asylum Seekers’, Social Issues, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 1-25.
Jupp, J. 2002, From White Australia To Woomera: The Story Of Australian Immigration, University of Cambridge, Cambridge.
McMaster, D. 2001, Asylum Seekers: Australia’s Response To Refugees, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.
National Council of Churches in Australia 2001, Refugees and Displaced Persons, [online], Available: http://www.ncca.org.au/rdp/articles.html [2003, March 16].
Refugee Council of Australia 2003, Frequently Asked Questions, [online], Available: http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/html/facts_and_stats/facts.html [2003, March 17].
U.S Committee for Refugees 2001, Worldwide Refugee Information, [online], Available: http://www.refugees.org/ [2003, March 16].
United Nations High Commission for Refugees 2003, Basic Information About UNHCR, [online], Available: http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/basics/ [2003, March 17].
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Appendix A Questionnaire Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Australia Personal Information Sex: male / female Age:
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Course:
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Year:
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key:SA
Strongly Agree
A
Agree
N
Neutral
D
Disagree
SD
Strongly Disagree
A
N
Please tick the box that best reflects what you think. Refugees
1. I am not in favour of refugees coming to Australia and seeking asylum.
2. Australia is being swamped by refugees.
3. Australia’s refugee policy is more effective than those of other countries.
4. Boat people and illegal immigrants are queue-jumpers.
5. Refugees are taking jobs from Australians. 6. Refugees require social benefits and entitlements, which is a burden on the Australian taxpayer.
7. Refugees are a threat to national security.
8. Australia’s refugee policy is a good one. 9. Australia receives more than its share of refugees compared to other Western countries.
SA
D
SD
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10. Refugees should return to their country of origin after the situation in their homeland has improved.
11. Refugees should not enjoy the same social rights as other Australians. 12. For how long should refugees be given assistance from the government after their resettlement in Australia?
6 months___ 1 year___ 2 years ___ More than 2 years___
Detention Centres
SA
A
N
D
SD
13. There should be compulsory detention for asylum seekers.
14. Mandatory detention is not a breach of international human rights.
15. Mandatory detention deters refugees from arriving in Australia.
16. Asylum seekers are treated well in detention centres.
17. Detainees are fully aware of their legal rights and entitlements. 18. Rank the following alternatives to mandatory detention - the most suitable is (1) the least suitable is (4). Community-based Programs_____
House Arrest _____
Complete Freedom_____
Refuse Entry _____
Personal Experience 19. How many refugees do you know?
0 ___ 1-2 ___ 3-4 ___ >4 ___
20. I belong to a volunteer group to assist refugees?
Yes ___ No ___
21. I intend to belong to a volunteer group to assist refugees.
Yes ___ No ___
22. How do you feel about refugees seeking asylum in Australia? ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ All responses will be treated confidentially. Thank you for your help.
