Comment on 'The Human Tide', 60 Minutes: 25 October 2009

I am writing to comment on the 60 Minutes segment, "The Human Tide", aired on 25 October 2009. The plight of 10.5 million refugees and 26 million internally displaced persons worldwide is a notoriously complex and challenging problem.1 While the Australian government has a right to maintain sovereignty of its borders, as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, it also has a duty to humanely process the claims of those seeking our protection. The issue of refugees has already bitterly divided Australia during the Howard years and brought international condemnation for abuses of human rights. I argue that 60 Minutes presented a polemic view. Within its broader focus on people smuggling, it used language which once again incites a climate of irrational hostility towards asylum seekers and perpetuates an ignorance of the plight of extremely vulnerable human beings.
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