Vladimir (Didi), Estragon (Gogo)

Brooks Atkinson's opening remark in his 1956 New York Times review of Samuel Beckett's 2 act tragicomedy Waiting for Godot. ... It is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Expect to be witness to the strange power this drama has to convey the impression of some melancholy truths about the hopeless destiny of the human race.

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Estragon: You look lost in thought, Didi, what's on your mind?

Vladimir: Just finished going though a so-called "Background Note" issued by the Parliamentary Library's Social Services Section.

E: Not the usual sort of fare for you, what's up?

V: Here, look at the title -- Boat arrivals in Australia since 1976.

E: What boats, or which boats to be pedantic about it?

V: Come on, Gogo, don't play the fool; the first sentence of the note reads: "The term ‘boat people’ entered the Australian vernacular in the 1970s with the arrival of the first wave of boats carrying people seeking asylum from the aftermath of the Vietnam War."

E: Oh, you mean IMAs as in Irregular Maritime Arrivals., Yes, I see what you mean - wonderful isn't it the speak arounds the government and public servants conjure up. For some reason I thought they were seekers of asylum.

V: No, no, Gogo, they are illegal boat people who are invading our sovereign nation and we must do all in our power to dissuade them from venturing onto a dangerous ocean using the last of their resources to gain passage on less than seaworthy boats. It is our humanitarian duty to do all in our power to save them from drowning in the briny deep.

E: Thank you, dear boy, for explaining - and I, in my ignorance, had thought they were being used as political pawns in an attempt by our political masters to woo the nation's block of xenophobic voters who were still ruing  the day the White-Australia Policy was renounced. -- So tell me, Didi, just who and how many are we discussing?

V: I'm glad you asked; I have here a couple of documents issued 1) by the Parliament of Australia's Parliamentary Library, Background Note: Boat arrivals in Australia since 1976  and 2) by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), Immigation update 2010-11.

E: And these documents are available to our parliamentarians in and out of government?

V: To anyone who is the proud possessor of a desktop, laptop or tablet. However, you can lead a horse to water and all that...

E: Very good, so tell me just what have you gleaned from your studies.

V: Again, I'm so glad you asked, Gogo. The DIAC's update lists 212,409 "permanent additions" occurred during the 2010-11 financial year, and "This comprised 127,458 settler arrivals plus 85,451 onshore grants".

E: I take it these were not Irregular Maritime Arrivals.

V: Ah, Gogo, you are indeed a perceptive individual, "boat people" which the background note defines as: A term used in the media and elsewhere to describe asylum seekers who arrive by boat or attempt to arrive by boat without authority to enter Australia. DIAC uses the term ‘unauthorised boat arrivals’ or ‘unlawful boat arrivals’...

E: All right, DiDi, don't keep me in suspense how many "boat people", "unauthorised/unlawful boat arrivals" or "irregular maritime arrivals" during 2010-11 were there?

V: 4940, but note, the "Arrivals from the boat tragedy on 15 December 2010 where a boat sank on approach to Christmas Island include the 42 people saved and the 30 bodies recovered, but do not include the unknown number of those who drowned, estimated at 18".

E: I see, so we are being attacked by an invading hoard of asylum seeking men, women and children comparable to ~2.33% of the individuals categorised as "permanent additions" by DIAC.

V: Now be fair, one of the principal reasons that Ms Gillard and Mr Bowen espouse their approach is to deter irregular maritime arrivals in order to prevent their being killed in their attempts to reach Australian shores. In December 2010 about 48 people died while in 2009 it's estimated that 22 died.

E: That's certainly regrettable and if you sum the 2009-11 figures it comes to 0.66% or there's about 1 chance in 150 on average that you'd die in attempting to be an irregular maritime arrival. If you're a desperate asylum seeker, would those odds deter you from risking an attempt to get to Christmas Island?

V: Apparently our political masters don't think so, ergo the attempted Malaysian solution. And sad to say prolonged incarceration within the boundaries of Australia under less than salubrious conditions isn't considered sufficient either. 

E: Well, Didi, it seems to me that the reasoning behind that so called solution is blatantly irrational unless of course both the major political parties are using these seekers of asylum as political pawns in an attempt to woo the nation's block of xenophobic voters, in which case it's a gross and irresponsible disservice to Australia being encased in a lather of hyperbolic spin.

V: How so?

E: How about this for starters:

• There would be quite sufficient individuals who were either desperate enough to chance Malaysia or ignorant of the deal to have filled up 800 slots.

• Once that's done we're back to square one.

• And furthermore, what would make 4,000 refugees sprung from Malaysian detention better bets than the IMAs who have had the resourcefulness and/or courage to engineer a sea voyage to Oz?

V: I see -- and have you a parting thought?

E: Drew Westen, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Emory University in referring to the two major US political parties suggests they "could both use some time on the couch". I think the same might be said for Australia's cohort.

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Notes: Data from 2001–02 onwards includes arrivals at both excised and non-excised places. *Includes the 5 people killed following an explosion on board a boat on 16 April 2009, but does not include the 2 men found drifting in an ‘esky’ in the Torres Strait on 17 January 2009, or the 4 people found on Deliverance Island with no sign of a boat on 29 April 2009. 2009–10 figures include the 12 people who died when a boat sank on 1 November 2009, but do not include the 78 asylum seekers on board the Oceanic Viking intercepted in Indonesian waters in October 2009 or the 5 who reportedly drowned before a boat was rescued and towed to Cocos Islands in May 2010. **Arrivals from the boat tragedy on 15 December 2010 where a boat sank on approach to Christmas Island include the 42 people saved and the 30 bodies recovered, but do not include the unknown number of those who drowned, estimated at 18.

Notes: In the financial year of 2010-11 the number of permanent additions was 213,409 : This comprised 127,458 settler arrivals plus 85,451 onshore grants... Australia’s net permanent addition was 124,948, an increase of 1.9% over the previous year.

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Note added November 2, 2011: Between 1788 and 1850 the English sent over 162,000 convicts to Australia in 806 ships. The first eleven of these ships are today known as the First Fleet and contained the convicts and marines that are now acknowledged as the Founders of Australia. This is their story.

Before 1788, Australia was populated by about 300,000 aborigines. These nomadic people had inhabited the world's oldest continent for more than 10,000 years. They had seen very few Europeans...

From: IFHAA Shipping Pages, THE FOUNDERS OF A NATION, AUSTRALIA'S FIRST FLEET - 1788. by Cathy Dunn and Marion McCreadie

Alex Reisner

The Funneled Web