The Sydney Morning Herald Treatment of refugees 'repugnant' Date: 28/01/2002
By Peter Fray Herald Correspondent in London Writer Peter Carey has stepped up his attack on Australia's detention of asylum seekers, calling it "torture" and "total terror". In an interview with the BBC, Carey described mandatory detention of asylum-seekers as "morally repugnant". He accused the Howard Government of "diminishing" the Australian people by its intolerant conduct towards Afghan asylum seekers. The hunger strikes and protests by Afghan refugees at Woomera are receiving almost daily coverage in Britain's quality press and radio. The Independent newspaper, in a page three picture spread of protests and children at Woomera, compared the treatment of al-Qaeda fighters at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Guardian and its sister Sunday paper, The Observer, and the Independent on Sunday, published prominent articles criticising Australia's policy. The resignation of Neville Roach as an adviser to the Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, was also widely reported. Carey told the BBC's Radio 4 Today program that the Australian Government had over-reacted to a "very tiny" immigration problem. "It's just total terror," he said, pointing out that the number of asylum seekers was comparatively small. "They have developed a very punitive policy, presumably because they want the whole damn world to know that if anyone comes to Australia they are going to be punished and tortured. "I think this is a government that diminishes us and people have begun to realise this." Australia's stance on asylum seekers, however, has proved popular with ordinary Britons, with many praising the Howard Government on talkback radio last year for not allowing the Tampa to stay in Australian waters or offload its cargo of refugees. This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. -- ------------------------------------------------------------ "The power of accurate observation is commonly call cynicism by those who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/ until 11 March, 2001 and Recoznettwo is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznettwo%40green.net.au/ from that date. This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use."
