Missing the Boat: Australia and Asylum Seeker Deterrence Messaging
| Author | Linda Briskman,Andrew Dodd,Caroline Fleay,Larry Schwartz,John Cokley |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12241 |
| Date | 01 August 2016 |
| Published date | 01 August 2016 |
Missing the Boat: Australia and Asylum
Seeker Deterrence Messaging
Caroline Fleay*, John Cokley**, Andrew Dodd***, Linda Briskman*** and
Larry Schwartz***
ABSTRACT
Many of Australia’s border protection policies have focused on attempts to deter the arrival of
asylum seekers by boat. These include government ‘messaging’in the hope this will influence
the decision-making of would-be boat arrivals. This article outlines the findings of an explora-
tory study on the sources of information accessed by asylum seekers, prior to and during their
boat journeys to Australia, about their destination country. The findings suggest that govern-
ment media and Internet strategies focused on deterring asylum seekers are adopted without
full regard to how information is sourced before and during these boat journeys.
INTRODUCTION: STOPPING THE BOATS
Asylum seeker boats have ceased arriving on Australian shores, fulfilling the aspirations of succes-
sive Australian governments to prevent the arrival of what Weber and Pickering (2011) term “ille-
galized travellers”. In attempts to meet this goal, over the past two decades Australian governments
have introduced three intertwined strategies: harsh policies that effectively punish asylum seekers
who arrive in Australia by boat, turning back boats at sea, and adopting ‘messaging’in the hope
that this will influence the decision-making of would-be boat arrivals.
Since the federal election in September 2013, the policies of a conservative Coalition Govern-
ment have been particularly harsh. The Coalition’s pre-election slogan of ‘stop the boats’high-
lighted that this would be one of its main areas of focus in government and it accordingly
introduced such measures (Coalition, 2013a; 2013b). Nonetheless, these policies built on those of
the previous Labor Government (2007-2013), which reacted strongly to the increasing number of
boat arrivals during its terms in office.
This article provides a brief overview of the asylum seeker policy regime. It then explores the
concept of deterrence messaging as well as research on the decision making of asylum seekers in
relation to destination countries, including the minimally researched area of the impact of ‘messag-
ing’on asylum seeker decision-making. In order to update previous research from the perspectives
of asylum seekers, the article then reports on a small-scale exploratory study in Australia and
Indonesia that was undertaken by an interdisciplinary team
1
in 2013 when the Labor Government
was incrementally introducing harsh policies. The study suggests that government media and Inter-
net strategies focused on deterring asylum seekers are adopted without full regard to how informa-
tion is sourced before and during these boat journeys.
* CurtinUniversity
** Griffith University
*** Swinburne UniversityofTechnology
doi: 10.1111/imig.12241
©2016 The Authors
International Migration ©2016 IOM
International Migration Vol. 54 (4) 2016
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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