Howard defence chief slams asylum policy

The government's border protection
policy is a "mess that reflect badly on all of us" says the man
responsible for border protection under the Howard government.
The defence force chief responsible for border protection
under the Howard government has slammed the Abbott government's asylum
seeker policy.



Admiral Chris Barrie described detention centres as "jails"
and said the policies enacted by Immigration Minister Scott Morrison are
a "mess that reflect badly on all of us".




The comments came at a book launch in Sydney on Thursday. 





Admiral Chris Barrie in 2002, handing command of the Australian Defence Force to General Peter Cosgrove.
Admiral Chris Barrie in 2002, handing command of the Australian Defence Force to General Peter Cosgrove. Photo: Andrew Taylor


Admiral Barrie said: "Australians are doing their utmost to extinguish hope, the most powerful of human emotions".




The Admiral was chief of the Australian Defence Force between
1998 and 2002 and in command of Operation RELEX which dealt with
several thousand asylum seekers during those years.  



The demonising of asylum seekers in Australia's detention centre facilities was a central concern for Admiral Barrie. 




Two asylum seekers, one with an eye injury, leave Manus Island airport following the detention centre violence in which Reza Barati was killed earlier this year.
Two asylum seekers, one with an eye injury, leave
Manus Island airport following the detention centre violence in which
Reza Barati was killed earlier this year. Photo: Nick Moir


"I'm not sure we should continue to use the term 'mandatory detention' when we actually mean jail," he said.



"At least in Australian jails the incarcerated have rights of
access to legal support and representation. In these jails no such
rights exist."



He also accused the department of "double handling" by sending asylum seekers back to Iraq and Syria.



He said the Immigration Minister had acknowledged the
humanitarian crisis in those countries by setting aside 4400
resettlement places from the war-torn region.



The Department of Immigration has not responded to a request for comment. 



Criticism of the Abbott government's asylum seeker approach comes amid claims
that an asylum seeker who contracted severe septicaemia and is now
"brain dead" was subject to delays in his initial treatment. 



The former Admiral has dealt with his share of immigration
controversy - he was chief of the defence force during the children
overboard affair in 2001.



At the time he publicly defended former prime minister John
Howard's comments that asylum seekers had deliberately thrown their
children overboard. 



Admiral Barrie has been a vocal critic of the tow back
policy, saying it had put naval personnel at risk. Last December he said
if the Coalition's tow back policy was implemented, boats would be burned and sunk and people would be put in the water.



Admiral Barrie was launching a book by international law academics Jane McAdam and Fiona Chong, Why Seeking Asylum is Legal and Australia's Policies are Not. 



The book asserts that Australia's policies towards asylum seekers are illegal under international law.  



It details the "international dismay and bewilderment at
Australia's treatment of asylum seekers," said author Professor McAdam. 



"This is doing a lot of damage to Australia's reputation as a good international citizen."



She criticised the Abbott government for having double standards when it came to international law. 



"The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, said 'Australia cannot
have an island mentality,' in relation to international trade and
investment. This is a sentiment that should be applied to a refugee
context as well." 



Admiral Barrie was also scathing of the Department of Immigrations secrecy surrounding border operations. 



"Running this in secret does not stack up. We stopped the boats in 2001 without the need for any of it," he said. 



He also criticised the cost of Operation Sovereign Borders.



"The current mechanisms for managing asylum seekers does seem
to me to be outrageously expensive for a country that was built on
immigration." 



In August Fairfax Media reported that the Abbott government's failed attempt to return 157 asylum seekers to India cost taxpayers more than $12 million alone.



The Immigration Minister has defended the government's asylum
seeker policy, saying that it is necessary to prevent deaths at sea, of
which there have been more than 1500. 



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