Published 3 September 20123 September 2012 · Politics Welcome to Australia Jeff Sparrow Here’s how the Australian government addresses you if you’re rich and have time on your hands. Here’s how it addresses you if you’re poor and desperate. It gets worse. The clip below, from the same series, directly addresses Tamils, warning them that Australia has decided that their situation has improved and they’re not likely to receive asylum. Here’s what Amnesty International says on that subject: Amnesty International has warned that Sri Lanka remains a region of great insecurity and danger for many people and that there are no grounds for a blanket suspension on claims for asylum by people fleeing persecution in that country. Amnesty International is calling on the Australian Government to return to the usual process of assessing each claim for asylum on its merits, as thousands of people continue to face a real risk of persecution and abuse in Sri Lanka. […] More than 10,000 people, detained for suspected links to the LTTE, remain in detention without charge. As recently as 24 May hundreds of people demonstrated in Vavuniya, demanding that the Sri Lankan government make public the names of detained people and do more to help families trace missing relatives, many of whom, their families claim, were either arrested or abducted. Amnesty International continues to receive reports that LTTE suspects are being held in secret places of detention and tortured in those facilities. Killings in custody are also alleged. The police and the military have retained their extraordinary powers to arrest and detain individuals for lengthy periods without trial. Torture in detention remains common and enforced disappearances continue to be reported. If you thought that the asylum debate couldn’t sink any lower, think again. There’s no depths that won’t be plumbed. Jeff Sparrow Jeff Sparrow is a Walkley Award-winning writer, broadcaster and former editor of Overland. More by Jeff Sparrow Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays First published in Overland Issue 228 1 June 20231 June 2023 · Politics Turning peaceful protesters into criminals—again Evan Smith So the Summary Offences (Obstruction of Public Places) Bill 2023 has been passed by South Australia’s Legislative Assembly and will become law. Fifteen hours of debate in the upper house, led by the Greens and SA Best, could not overturn the bill that was reportedly rushed through the lower house in just twenty-two minutes a fortnight ago. First published in Overland Issue 228 16 May 202323 May 2023 · Politics The gender pay gap’s grim legacy: homelessness among older women in Australia Samantha Trayhurn My mum took her first job in 1980, when she was fourteen. In my childhood, she worked as a medical receptionist. For every hour she worked, she was almost certainly paid less than a man in a job of ‘comparable value’. For every curtailed pay check, there was a lower superannuation benefit, a lower amount left for savings at the end of each week and, inevitably, a lower amount to put towards a house deposit.
