Illegal immigration proves tough topic for youth

By AMY BIRCHALL
MOST young Canberrans are poorly informed about illegal immigration and asylum seekers, according to the results of a NowUC poll.
The informal poll asked one hundred people aged between 15 and 25 years what percentage of immigrants to Australia arrive illegally by boat.
Thirty percent of respondents thought that illegal boat people accounted for half of all immigrants to Australia. Only 16 percent of respondents answered correctly – the real figure is less than five percent.
Director of Immigration and Multicultural Studies at the Australian National University, Dr James Jupp, says that the results are unsurprising.
“Nobody has any idea how many immigrants come to Australia,” he said. “Although the media has access to that information in government reports, the actual figures are rarely reported.”
He said that the poll results reflect how “boat people have become a big issue” in Australia, even though they account for a fraction of total immigrants to Australia.
Calls for stricter border security as well as negative media coverage of illegal boat arrivals fed Australia’s deep-seated fear of foreign invasion.
“Australia’s fear of immigrants, particularly illegal ones, dates back one hundred years, when there were billions of people in Asia compared with the tiny population of Australia,” he said.
“The notion was – and still is – that if we relax, they’ll all come over here. It’s an enormous fear”.
He said that cultural misunderstandings, particularly since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, had compounded that fear.
“In recent years there has been a great increase in Muslims arriving in Australia from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. It makes people more afraid because, number one, they’re Asian, and number two, they’re Muslims”, he said.
Some respondents to the poll, including university student Brittany Thomas, said that media coverage of illegal boat arrivals made the figures seem higher.
“Politicians exaggerate the figures, or at least exaggerate what the figures mean,” he said. “From the way the media talks about boat people on TV, you’d think that they were about to overrun the country.
“I only ever hear people talking about how we should be sending the boats back. It doesn’t seem like anybody’s paying attention to other illegal immigrants that arrive by plane or just overstay their visas”, she said.
Equal numbers of people arrive in Australia illegally by plane and by boat, according to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Illegal plane arrivals generally receive less media and political attention than illegal boat arrivals.
Dr Jupp says that this is because “people have the idea that we have more control over migrants” though strict airport security.
“You’re not allowed to fly without a passport and a visa, so people are less frightened of [people arriving illegally by plane]” he said. “Boats don’t go through those same checking processes.”
He said the poll results showed that respondents were likely confusing the phrase “illegal immigrant” with “asylum seeker”.
He said that the terms are often used interchangeably in the media, which is misleading and confusing.
“Respectable public figures have been mistakenly calling asylum seekers ‘illegal immigrants’,” he said. “Asylum seekers are entitled to seek asylum here in Australia, which isn’t illegal… People are unaware of the difference.”
Illegal immigrants are people who arrive in a country without meeting legal requirements, such as a valid visa. An asylum seeker is anyone seeking international protection but whose refugee status has not yet been determined.
Most people who arrive in Australia by boat are asylum seekers, but Australia receives comparatively fewer asylum seekers compared with the rest of the world.
“The majority of asylum seekers flee to neighbouring countries. Australia actually gets comparatively few,” Dr Jupp said.
In 2009 and 2010, Australia accepted more than 168,000 immigrants. Only 5000 of these arrived illegally by boat.