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Boat arrivals have defined and divided 21st-century Australia. This book examines the ‘Stop the Boats’ era from between the 2013 and 2022 federal elections. During this time the dominant political view has been that to accept a single boat, family or person is to risk being overwhelmed by many others. It follows that government must do whatever it takes to command Australia’s borders and deter unauthorized arrivals; that is, Stop the Boats! This book sets out the key political events and arguments for and against Australia’s assurance that anyone who comes without permission will never be able to stay. It examines the impact of this commitment on regional and international relations, on those who seek refuge in Australia, and on those who call it ‘home’. This volume serves as a valuable political history and analysis for scholars, policymakers, students, journalists and anyone who is interested in questions of contemporary exclusion and belonging.
Drawing on a wealth of academic research, statistics and interviews with key Australian media people including present and former Australian Broadcasting Corporation staffers, this book explores the transitions of the ABC under various types of organisational re-strategising, governance and political shifts. The book provides the reader with an authoritative narrative as to how the ABC has lost its iconic status in Australian society, and unfolds how the ABC has strayed from its respected public charter which endowed the ABC with a distinctive and important role in informing, educating and entertaining the Australian public. Successive federal government funding cuts have shrunk staffing levels and services while it has pursued a corporatist model that mimics the trappings and practices of commercial media. In that process it has become politicised and trivialised, thereby threatening its demise. The book is a unique and timely contribution at a time of dwindling interest for the funding of public assets everywhere. There is no other book in the market that addresses the decline of the organisation (the ABC) and analyses the reasons for its demise within an organisational theoretical framework. The book is written for an educated general audience, with academics and media practitioners specifically in mind, and has everyday applications for business organisations operating in the public sector by bringing together important findings of public funding, budgets, management and organisational strategies and evolution.
What kind of a world is one in which border security is understood as necessary? How is this transforming the shores of politics? And why does this seem to preclude a horizon of political justice for those affected? Border Security responds to these questions through an interdisciplinary exploration of border security, politics and justice. Drawing empirically on the now notorious case of Australia, the book pursues a range of theoretical perspectives – including Foucault’s work on power, the systems theory of Niklas Luhmann and the cybernetic ethics of Heinz Von Foerster – in order to formulate an account of the thoroughly constructed and political nature of border security. Through this detailed and critical engagement, the book’s analysis elicits a political alternative to border security from within its own logic: thus signaling at least the beginnings of a way out of the cost, cruelty and devaluation of life that characterises the enforced reality of the world of border security.
If you listen to some politicians and voices in the media, you might well believe that asylum seekers are ‘illegal’. You might think that they should wait their turn in the so-called ‘queue’. You might think that they pose a potential threat to our national security, and that the government is right to keep them from our shores. Or you might take a humanitarian stance, believing that drastic border protection policies, though harsh in effect, are necessary to deter asylum seekers from endangering their lives on risky boat journeys to Australia. However logical these conclusions might seem, the problem is that they are based on widespread misunderstandings about why and how people seek asylum, and what Australia’s international legal obligations are. This book rejects spin and panic to provide a straightforward and balanced account of Australia’s asylum policies in light of international law. Written for a general audience, it explains who asylum seekers and refugees are, what the law is, and what policies like offshore processing, mandatory detention, and turning back boats mean in practice. Using real-life examples, this book reminds us of the human impact of Australia’s policies.
What has happened on Nauru and Manus since Australia began its most recent offshore processing regime in 2012? This essential book provides a comprehensive and uncompromising overview of the first three years of offshore processing since it recommenced in 2012. It explains why offshore processing was re-established, what life is like for asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru and Manus, what asylum seekers, refugees and staff in the offshore detention centres have to say about what goes on there, and why the truth has been so hard to find. In doing so, it goes behind the rumours and allegations to reveal what is known – and what still is not known – about Australia’s offshore detention centres.
Forced displacement affects millions annually, as they search for safety, yet how many of us take the time to truly understand the asylum seeker experience? Not only confronted with the risks of irregular migration, asylum seekers must navigate border politics imposed by countries seeking to deter and punish those in need. Nameless bodies who wash up on the shores globally have become a contemporary norm. As humans are all deeply connected, a moral responsibility exists to comprehend why asylum seekers seek refuge even if the stakes of death are high. When understanding prevails, compassion and welcome often follow. However, policies of deterrence, signalling to refugees that they are “not welcome” have overshadowed an appreciation to understand. Despite asylum seeker deaths being well-publicised, government policies that focus on preventing “illegal immigration” often resonate with the populous. The question arises as to why a lack of understanding and hospitality is the dominant discourse. Possible clues are found on faraway Christmas Island, an Australian outpost located in the Indian Ocean, situated much closer to Indonesia than Australia. This book, the result of extensive research, reveals how Australia’s asylum seeker policy plays out at the Australian border. It examines how Christmas Islanders responded to asylum seekers and provides insights into why humans respond to strangers in need or turn them away. It opens the aperture for future discussions around the global complexities of welcoming asylum seekers, host communities and immigration border policies, and encourages replacing asylum seeker border deaths with hope and solidarity.
Migration policing experiments such as boat turn-backs and offshore refugee processing have been criticised as unlawful and have been characterised as exceptional. Policing Undocumented Migrants explores the extraordinarily routine, powerful, and above all lawful practices engaged in policing status within state territory. This book reveals how the everyday violence of migration law is activated by making people ‘illegal’. It explains how undocumented migrants are marginalised through the broad discretion underpinning existing frameworks of legal responsibility for migration policing. Drawing on interviews with people with lived experience of undocumented status within Australia, perspectives from advocates, detailed analysis of legislation, case law and policy, this book provides an in-depth account of the experiences and legal regulation of undocumented migrants within Australia. Case studies of street policing, immigration raids, transitions in legal status such as release from immigration detention, and character based visa determination challenge conventional binaries in migration analysis between the citizen and non-citizen and between lawful and unlawful status. By showing the organised and central role of discretionary legal authority in policing status, this book proposes a new perspective through which responsibility for migration legal practices can be better understood and evaluated. Policing Undocumented Migrants will be of interest to scholars and practitioners working in the areas of criminology, criminal law, immigration law and border studies.
The seeker's Guide to Learning Wicca is a comprehensive training program designed especially for solitary Wiccans and Witches in the northern hemisphere. This amazing book helps students learn by introducing interactive tasks that help them understand how to DO Wicca and Witchcraft and not just know about it. It's a complete training program for those who want to work toward their First Degree in Inclusive Wicca and who can't work with a coven for whatever reason. The book is also fully supported by an interactive web site and online community so students experience a deep connection with a real life, working Wiccan coven and church.
