Arja Keski-Nummi interviewed: Abbot plan to stop boats ‘won’t work’…
Arja is a CPD fellow and former First Assistant Secretary of the Refugee, Humanitarian and International Division of the Dept of Immigration and Citizenship. She worked with John Menadue and Kate Gauthier to produce A New Approach in 2011 and more recently to release the Refugee Facts online media resource, aiming to counter the misinformation which has been rife in the media on this subject.
Arja Keski-Nummi, a fellow at the Centre for Policy Development and former head of the refugee division in the Immigration Department, said only enhanced regional co-operation would reduce the numbers of asylum seekers trying to reach Australia by boat.
”The most important thing is to try and assist people so they don’t have to get on to boats,” she said.
Ms Keski-Nummi said that despite the Coalition’s promise that it would ”stop the boats” if elected, its plans to turn boats around, reintroduce TPVs and maintain offshore processing would not work.
”If they’re in government, they’re going to own the issue and they’ve made a lot of promises, that I frankly can’t see that they can fulfil. And the main one is stopping the boats,” she said.
Read the full article on SMH.com.au
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