Game of Thrones, Down Under: Australian Politics and the Refugee Crisis

By: Jack Coaty

October 2, 2015

Upon my arrival to Australia, I saw three memorable signs in between landing at the airport and arriving to my apartment. The first was a billboard for Tim Tams, Australia's sugary indulgence of choice. The next was a sign that encouraged you and your "mates" to get "brekky" at "Maccas" (McDonald's). I thought it couldn't get any more Australian. But the last sign I remember was a massive black billboard over Central Rail Station that just said "Stop Abbott, Not the Boats." Abbott! He's the prime minister! I remember thinking, cherishing having known this tidbit about Australian politics, wholly unaware that it would be totally incorrect in two months. This simple sign was more inherently Australian, more ingrained in the culture than any Australian snack or lingo.

As the Western world is gripped by a massive refugee crisis, a lesser but equally important refugee crisis has taken a backseat on the global scale. Civil unrest, war, and persecution have driven citizens of Indonesia, Syria, Iraq, Myanmar, and other countries to pile onto unsafe boats and head for Australian shores. While it is a UN signatory of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, Australia detains asylum seekers without visas and is the only country in the world to do so. This practice is the pinnacle point of contention in Australian politics, with supporters of stopping the boats claiming that Australian citizenship should mean something and accepting all refugees is unrealistic, while the opposition is hurling accusations of racism and a lack of empathy. This carried on for years until Prime Minister Tony Abbott's policy of sequestering refugees made him so unpopular that eventually...

"What?" asked my friend Gaurav as he turned on the television on September 15th. “PRIME MINISTER ABBOTT OUSTED; TURNBULL USURPS POWER,” read the headline on Seven News. "Is this a coup? An impeachment?" "I guess not," I said, frantically googling Australian Parliament policy. "If a member of the party in charge challenges for the PM seat and wins, it's all theirs. He waited until the end of the day, challenged for the seat, and their party chose Turnbull when given the opportunity."

"Betrayal! It's like Game of Thrones," said Gaurav. And it was. Malcolm Turnbull is the fourth prime minister in the last five years, and only once was the Australian electorate involved. Those at the top pounce when public sentiment is low. The backstabbing whipped Australia into a frenzy, with my Uni friends tweeting with elation that the tyrant Abbott had been felled.

The great irony is that Abbott was skewered for his policies on immigration, making him an infamous figure in international politics who lacked support at home. Yes, he was replaced, but he was replaced in the only way he could be at the time—by somebody else from the Liberal party. What Australia has now with Turnbull is a prime minister with roughly the same policies as Abbott. The detainment of refugees in camps is unlikely to stop, though the boats keep coming, albeit at a slower pace since Abbott's ruthless policies.

As I walked to class the next Monday, I noticed the familiar "Stop Abbott, Not The Boats" sign outside Fisher Library at the University of Sydney. It had a white bumper sticker plastered across its front:

"Turnbull, you're next."

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