Responding to boat arrivals in Australia: time for a reality check

Abstract

Boat arrivals have been the focus for a flurry of policy-making in 2010. This paper asks why, and whether it has been worth it. It argues that Australia is not undergoing an asylum crisis of the sort that warrants such attention and policy reform. None of the policies currently being proposed address the root causes of the problem, and are therefore likely only to be short-term fixes. They may not even succeed in their narrow aim of reducing boat arrivals to Australia. They also carry significant potential costs, both financial and political. The paper recommends that the Government avoids enacting more border enforcement, and instead pays more attention to the other elements of a comprehensive approach to the challenge of boat arrivals.