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Najeeba's story

Najeeba Wazefadost
“Leaving your country for good is one of the hardest decisions you can be forced to make.”
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Fact 1

Fact 1
It is not illegal to seek asylum in Australia, even if arriving by boat.

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Farida and Hussain's story

Hussain Dad
“My children are safe and we can finally sleep well for the whole night, without fear and bomb blasts.”
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fact 2

Fact 2
In Australia, there is 1.1 refugee for every 1,000 people.

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John's story

John Jegasothy
“I’m really concerned about the misconceptions about refugees coming to this country.”
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Fact 3

Fact 3
In 2010, 6,879 asylum seekers arrived in Australia. That’s only 6.8% of the seats in the MCG.
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Chaman's story

Chaman Shah Nasiri
“After I left, my father was tortured so badly he died in prison… The same would have happened to me.”
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Fact 4

Fact 4
Australian Centrelink benefits for an asylum seeker? $0.

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Ashane's story

Ashane
“We knew the boat would be very dangerous, but there was nothing else. Everything else was hopeless.”
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Fact 5

Fact 5
The number of refugees who have arrived by boat, and who have been terrorists? Zero.
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Dinh Tran’s story

Dinh Tran
“When we left, mum & dad had already accepted that we were all going to die. You risk everything on a boat.”
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Fact 6

Fact 6
In 2009, 8,427 sought asylum in Australia – compared to 45,197 in the United Kingdom.
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Australia's unhealthy fear of boat people

08/05/2012

Published by the Guardian

View the rest of the article

The story said

Scarcely a week goes by without asylum seekers hitting the headlines in Australia. If the articles aren’t about Australia’s borders being “inundated” by boats, then they are about the country being “overrun” by asylum seekers. The impact on the Australian psyche has been significant, with half of the public seeing the issue as more or equally important as issues of managing the economy, education and health services. It seems the line between asylum seekers, “boat people”, refugees and immigrants is a hazy one, not only with members of the public but also with politicians themselves who, wilfully or otherwise, are confusing who is who. Most migrants arrive in Australia through approved channels and of the 11,491 people seeking asylum in Australia in the period of 2010-11, 6,316 arrived by air. This means less than half arrived by boat. In fact, asylum seekers arriving by boat make up just 2.7% of the total migrant intake into Australia yet their perceived threat to the community is greatly exaggerated, with 72% of Australians concerned about asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat.

Did you know

Asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat do have high acceptance rates, but this is because nearly all of them are found by the Department of Immigration to be genuine refugees fleeing war and terror. People only risk their lives by getting on a boat when they really needed protection from an even more dangerous situation. And it is the danger they are escaping that makes people get on a boat, not a desire to take advantage of Australia.

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Join the conversation

Let's reject the myths and think again about asylum seekers and refugees. Join the conversation by adding #rethinkrefugees to your tweets or click on a link below to get involved in your local area.

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