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REDFLAG.ORG.AU PUBLICATION OF SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE 14 JUNE 2021 | REDFLAG

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more difficult for them to gain protection. When
the Liberals were elected, the situation worsened
under Operation Sovereign Borders, boats being
intercepted at sea and asylum seekers handed
over to the authorities from which they had fled
in the first place.
“Sri Lanka’s new prime minister, Ranil Wick-
remesinghe, claims the Australian government’s
silence on alleged human rights abuses was
the price it paid to secure co-operation from the
former Rajapaksa government on stopping asy-
lum-seeker boats”, the Australian’s south-east Asia
correspondent Amanda Hodge noted in 2015.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott as much
as confirmed this in Quadrant online the follow-
ing year. “I’m sure that the Sri Lankan president
was pleased that Australia didn’t join the human
rights lobby against the tough but probably un-
avoidable actions taken to end one of the world’s
most vicious civil wars”, he wrote. “Certainly, both
countries became even stronger partners in the
Abbott government’s most urgent initial task: to
end the people-smuggling trade.”
More than 90 percent of Sri Lankan Tamils
taking their case to the Immigration Assessment
Authority had their application for asylum reject-
ed in recent years, due in part to the unreliable
DFAT country reports. The Australian govern-
ment is particularly reluctant to recognise the
legitimate claims of persecution because it would
be caught in a potentially embarrassing contra-
diction: providing both safe haven to Tamils and
aid to their oppressors.
The human rights situation is deteriorating
further under the Rajapaksa brothers, President
ister Karen Andrews on the morning of 10 June. Gotabaya and Prime Minister Mahinda, who
The obvious answer is that Australian govern- were responsible for the mass slaughter of
ments for years have used refugees as a domestic Tamils in 2009 and the internment camps that
political football, and the current administration followed. The Australian government knows this,
is reluctant to stop now, even with a family that yet continues to provide support, most recently
has won a measure of support from some conser- surveillance drones.
vative politicians and commentators. The Liberals will not easily give up their
No doubt that’s true. But it’s also the case that determination to deport Priya, Nades, Kopika,
asylum claim decisions are influenced by the Aus- Tharunicaa and thousands of others to a country
Acknowledgement tralian government’s partnership with Sri Lanka, in which they face national oppression, violence
through which it provides diplomatic backing and and discrimination. For those thousands of
Red Flag is produced on material support to the country’s security ser- Tamils living in Australia and clinging to hope,
the land of the Wurundjeri vices, from which so many have fled. In fact, the we need more people to send the government its
people of the Kulin relationship was consummated on a quid pro quo: own obstinate message: NO WAY. No way should
Nation. We acknowledge in return for Sri Lanka stopping asylum seekers these deportation proceedings continue. No way
the Elders, families from leaving the island, and for taking back those should these people continue to be denied their
and forebears – the returned, Australia has defended the country right to protection. And no way can we continue to
traditional owners and against charges of war crimes. tolerate the normalisation of policies that German
custodians. Their land
was stolen, never ceded. More than 4,000 Tamils came here by boat neo-Nazis seek to emulate.
between 2009 and 2013. In response to their
It always was and always pleas for sanctuary, the Labor government in Ben Hillier is a member of the Tamil Refugee
will be Aboriginal land. 2012 introduced “enhanced screening” to make it Council and an editor of Red Flag.