Treating People as a Security Threat: Australia's Response to the Issue of Asylum Seekers

Abstract

Uncontrollable movement of people across international borders is one of most pressing contemporary challenge encountered by nation-states. Their response to this challenge is often rooted on a reconceptualisation of (in)security from a state-centric to a non-state-centric one. This has been the case with Australia where insecurity from asylum seekers, or what is referred to as the ‘boat people’, dominating the country's discourse on protecting its borders. Such conceptions are rooted on historical anxieties from ‘foreigners’, resulting in exclusionary policies of ‘White Australia’ to recent assertions of exclusive sovereignty over the refugee intake. In this context, while reviewing government documents, reports and other secondary sources, the chapter examines Australia's policy towards asylum seekers domestically as well as at the regional level, while placing them within the broader debate between deterrence and human rights. The chapter is significant as it provides an important case study of the inherent contradictions that come into light in a nation-state's response towards refugees on the one hand and undocumented arrivals, in this case, the ‘boat people’ on the other. This chapter provides analytical support to the primary assertion that while Australia has been an active international player regarding refugee issues, there is bipartisan exclusivity and hard-handedness towards asylum seekers.

Citation

Debnath, B. (2023), "Treating People as a Security Threat: Australia's Response to the Issue of Asylum Seekers", Arrocha, W. and Xeni, E. (Ed.) Migrations and Diasporas (Emerald Interdisciplinary Connexions), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 77-91. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83797-146-620231006