Podcast recording of the event: 

La Trobe University - Ideas & Society Program

Australia and the refugees who come by boat

Convened by La Trobe University’s Emeritus Professor Robert Manne

Two of Australia’s most respected social justice fighters, Julian Burnside AO QC and Father Frank Brennan SJ AO have been following Australia’s asylum seeker policy for decades. On many questions connected to asylum seekers who come by boat their viewpoints differ. They speak to the following questions: What should Australia’s asylum seeker/refugee policy be? What ought to be done to help those refugees living in Australia on temporary protection visas? How can the lives of those still on Nauru and Manus Island be saved? And most deeply, how can the cruelty of Australia’s asylum seeker policy be explained?

Kurdish writer Behrouz Boochani, author of No Friend But the Mountains, addresses the six year ordeal faced by those still marooned on Nauru or Manus Island. Behrouz believes very strongly that the voice of the refugees has not been heard in this debate. He participates in the discussion of the policy options and the moral imperatives in Australia’s discussions of refugee policy in general and in particular on the fate of those who have been detained on Manus Island and Nauru over the past six years.

DISCLAIMER: The content of this podcast are presented for archival and informational purposes. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of 3CR, Refugee Radio or its presenters.