Refugees In Australia Essay

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Migration Debate
An asylum seeker is a person who has fled from his or her own country due to fear of persecution and has applied for (legal and physical) protection in another country but has not yet had their claim for protection assessed. A person remains an asylum seeker until their protection ‘status’ has been determined. The definition of a refugee is someone who quickly leaves their home or country, because of some sort of harm or disaster. An example of a refugee is a person who seeks safety from religious persecution by going to a new country. The first arrival of boats came in the 1970’s, these people were seeking asylum after the Vietnam War. Most of the population left the country and fled to other Asian countries some seeked refugee in Australia. From 1976 to 1981 2059 boat arrivals were recorded, the arrival of asylum seekers in 1989 heralded the second wave of refugees. Over the next 9 years boats arrived mostly from Cambodia, Vietnam and Southern China. Towards the late 1990’s a third wave asylum seekers, mainly from the Middle East.
In 1976 The first immigration detention centre was established in Villawood, 10 years later refugee week was first celebrated marking Australia’s new found acceptance to these refugees. …show more content…

The legislation, which had bipartisan support, disallowed judicial review but limited detention to 273 days. Two years later the 273 day limit was removed and detention was not limited. Temporary Protection Visas were introduced for refugees who arrived without authorisation. TPVs allowed their holders to stay in Australia for three years, after this time they would need to reapply for refugee status. TPV holders could not sponsor family members for resettlement in Australia, were not allowed to return to Australia if they travelled overseas and had limited access to settlement

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