2017 Interaction (Oral):
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What assessment task are we working towards?You will participate in a role-play where you adopt the point of view of a designated “real life” panellist on a mock ABC Q&A style show. You will research and present this stakeholder’s perspective on the asylum seeker debate.
Afterwards you will record a brief personal standpoint justified by evidence and having evaluated the variety of perspectives represented by each student’s “character”. |
(1) Segue from Folio Task 1
In 2014 Australia signed an agreement with Cambodia that asylum seekers on Nauru who are found to be refugees may be settled in Cambodia rather than Australia. In this unit we will learn the context for this agreement.
You can read detailed analysis of the Cambodia agreement by Madeline Gleeson from the Andrew and Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at the University of New South Wales (updated 5 April 2016) here:
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(2) Terminology
You will need to become familiar with the (often politically-charged) vocabulary associated with this issue.
During our warm ups you will become familiar with these four key terms as defined on the Racism. No Way. website:
When you write your script for your Q&A appearance, you should give careful consideration to the type of language your "persona" would use. Careless use of relevant terminology indicates a lack of knowledge and understanding about the issue. |
(3) Narrowing our focus but being aware of the bigger picture
There are currently more displaced people in the world than after World War II.
However, for the purposes of this assignment, we are directing our attention to people attempting to claim asylum in Australia (i.e. seeking "onshore protection"). Even more than that, we are narrowing our focus to people who attempt to come to Australia via boat without a valid visa. Still, it is important to at least acknowledge the broader context of our inquiry question. |
(4) A brief refresher of post-1945 migration to Australia from Year 10 History
The current international legal framework for refugees and asylum seekers - the 1951 Refugee Convention - is 66 years old and was established after World War II when there were millions of displaced people who needed to be resettled. There was also a desire to avoid repeating the disastrous consequences of denying asylum to Jewish people prior to WWII, as typified by the story of the SS St Louis.
There was a major wave of immigration to Australia from Europe after WWII, during what is known as the "Populate or Perish" era. Most people came by boat but had already been already declared refugees prior to departing or were migrants. The next big wave of immigrants to arrive by sea came in the 1970s after the Vietnam War. |
We will watch Episode 3 of Immigration Nation (2011) from the 35 minute mark to see the relevance of this to our inquiry question.
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(5) "Current" policies
The best way to overcome this uncertainty is to cite your sources, especially the date you access websites and double check with Ms Grant if you are looking at up to date and trustworthy sources. You will be provided with 1-2 links to reliable sources to get you started with your assignment.
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One of the factors that makes Society and Culture such a great subject is that we are studying relevant current issues. However, the downside is that the ground is constantly shifting! Much could change on a day to day basis and most likely will change again before the end of the year when the SACE Board moderates our work.
It can also be confusing to distinguish between the Government and Opposition's perspectives because (as at the start of our unit) offshore detention has bipartisan support (or in other words, it is the policy both the Labor and Liberal parties). This textbook summarises some of the more recent policy developments up to 2014:
As a class we will analyse recent campaigns by Australian Border Force and its immediate predecessors:
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(6) Why is it controversial?
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This satirical video gives an insight into why we are studying this issue under the topic group "Social Ethics".
The issue also makes international headlines. We will undertake an activity based on this 2014 BBC article to identify the main factors that provoke controversy: |
(7) Asylum seekers' perspectives
It is difficult to find resources that give the perspective of an asylum seeker who is planning to depart for Australia or who is living/has lived in offshore detention. Why do you think this might be so?
Before delving into your own social inquiry, we will watch Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (2014) and have a class discussion about the questions in this study guide:
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