Australia alienating refugee resettlement options

Transcript

PAUL POWER - It's part of my role with the refugee council of Australia I'm involved in government NGO and UN discussions about refugee resettlement and other refugee issues and as I've been to different meetings over the last couple of years, just the number of refugees on Nauru and Manus island has grown, I've been taking the opportunity to talk quietly to officials from other governments about whether or not they would consider taking refugees from Nauru and Manus island and I must stress, I'm not doing this on behalf of the Australian government. I'm strongly opposed to what the Australian government are doing. I'm doing this because we're constantly like many organisations in Australia receiving communication from people on Nauru and Manus island and have a sense of the psychological pressure that people are under, so what I've been told again and again in these quiet discussions with people from other governments is there are no government interest. The slightest bit of interest other than New Zealand and the United States entertaining any idea of resettlement of refugees who are regarded as Australia's responsibility and the fact that Australia is strutting the world stage, lecturing other countries about how to solve their problems with refugees, doing this particularly in Europe, I mean they're just undermining any acquired diplomacy that they're trying to find resettlement places for refugees. I mean, I don't think people in Canberra realise how badly Australia's been viewed around the world and you can't go to Europe and tell them, copy us we'll solve the problem of refugees on the move and then have your diplomats quietly going to the same government, can you take some refugees off our hands because we don't know what to do with them. I mean what's clear is that Australia hasn't solved the problem that it claims to have solved and that the implication of Australian policy are that there's very very heavy impositions on other countries, on Nauru and Manus island, in Papua New Guinea in relation to the detention of people, on Indonesia in relation to people being pushed back. I mean Australia is also sending people directly back to the countries from which they're swinging and there's clear evidence that its broken international war in doing that and now it's shopping around the world quietly trying to find resettlement places for refugees, for everyone regards as being Australia's responsibility. I mean this is not a policy as workable as politicians in Canberra would like to pretend if the resettlement arrangement with the United States goes well, then maybe the majority of them may find an answer, but several hundred of people are going to be left behind after the arrangement has finished and Australian politicians don't have an answer for that and UN and HCR who is potentially one of its allies in finding places for refugees, you know, now it's signalling that it's extremely cheesed off with Australia's behaviour. What I've also discovered in my discussions with officials from other governments is that some governments might be prepared to consider individual referrals from UN and HCR. There's no way they'll accept a direct approach from Australia, so I just don't think the Australian government is aware of how obnoxious its behaviour is regarded in different parts of the world and its really created a huge hole and it has absolutely no strategy for how to get itself out of the hole that its dug.