Over the coming election season, we can expect a number of visits from politicians to Darwin, and a number of political events. If you have an opportunity to ask a question of a politician (particularly publically), the below are some suggestions.
Can you describe the queue that you say people are jumping?
Can you explain how it is illegal to seek asylum? Name the legislation please?
1.2 billion dollars per year is being spent on offshore processing on Nauru and Manus, which are well documented to be causing serious harm to the people placed there. Why not close the camps and provide that money to the UNHCR to manage resettlement from South East Asia, removing the incentive for people to get on boats in the first place?
Why doesn’t Australia process anyone for resettlement from the countries boats depart from?
How do you plan to remove the incentives for people to choose a boat over living in limbo in transit countries where they do not have legal status, such as Indonesia and Malaysia?
Australia doesn’t resettle refugees who are living in Indonesia. Doesn’t this mean more people are driven to get on boats as they have no other options?
Australia has wasted tens of millions of dollars and lowered our standard of human rights on the basis of “not one person drowning”; yet thousands will die fleeing the Syrian conflict. Despite promising to resettle an additional 10,000 Syrians, very few have actually arrived. You’ve also reduced foreign aid. Does your party really care about people in need?
How many people have died so far in Australia’s offshore processing centres?
What is the rate of diagnosed mental illness for asylum seeker and refugee children on Nauru currently?
Can you tell me the difference between an asylum seeker and a refugee?
How many people arrive each year by plane and claim asylum? How does this compare to the number who arrive by boat?
What is the highest number of people who have arrived by boat seeking asylum in the past ten years? And how does that compare to Australia’s yearly general migration intake?