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Article: AUSTRALIA: ASYLUM SEEKERS AT CENTRE OF POLITICAL SQUABBLE
- Article from:
- Inter Press Service English News Wire
- Article date:
- May 1, 2009
- Author:
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Stephen de Tarczynski
Inter Press Service English News Wire
05-01-2009
MELBOURNE, May 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Australia's opposition and
governing parties have been admonished for attempting to make
'political capital' out of the recent spike in asylum seekers
trying to reach the nation's shores by boat.
"The opposition is trying to make political mileage [out of the
increase in boat arrivals] and it's not just now, they've been
saying the same thing for months," says Professor Linda Briskman,
an expert in asylum seekers and immigrant detention at Curtin
University of Technology.
Since July last year, around 500 people have made the perilous
journey by sea in an attempt to seek asylum in Australia ...