Australian asylum seeker video condemned

Transcript

Video footage of the Australian immigration minister telling asylum seekers they will never be welcome in Australia, is being condemned by human rights advocates.

The video of Scott Morrison has been shown to detainees on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

Christopher Gilbert begins this report with Mr Morrison telling asylum seekers that even if they have a valid claim to refugee status, they will not be welcome in Australia.

SCOTT MORRISON: You have been brought to this place here because you have sought to illegally enter Australia by boat. The new Australian government will not be putting up with those sorts of arrivals. If you have a valid claim you will not be resettled in Australia. You will never live in Australia.

In the video Mr Morrison threatens asylum seekers on Manus Island to return to where they come from or face a long spell in detention. He warns that if any family members are assisted to enter Australia by boat, they could face even worse consequences. A lawyer specialising in human rights, Julian Burnside, says Mr Morrison's open hostility is an attempt to intimidate detainees and make them lose hope.

JULIAN BURNSIDE: What Morrison is trying to do is make the idea of seeking asylum in Australia look less attractive than standing your ground and facing the Taliban. The bottom line is that he wants to make Australia look uglier or nastier than the Taliban, and that's something which I think is a disgrace.

Mr Burnside says the video is part of Scott Morrison's grotesque approach to human rights and refugees.

JULIAN BURNSIDE: His demeanor suggests that he really believes what he's doing and that makes it all the more frightening. There's a sort of madness about his presentation that makes me worry that he is actually sincere in it.

A refugee rights advocate at Australia's Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Pamela Curr, says the problem is that three source countries of asylum seekers - Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq, will not accept their involuntary return. She says this is why Scott Morrison is trying to create as harsh conditions as possible to make them return home themselves. Ms Curr says it's part of the Abbott Government's policy to cleanse Australia of all asylum seekers.

PAMELA CURR: We have become rich and powerful on the back of the migrants from many countries. Why are we destroying that strength and that cultural richness of the mixture of people here by these bigoted, racist policies?

She says the video could be a dog whistle attempt to win votes, but there are Australians who oppose the approach.

PAMELA CURR: There are Australians who are truly worried at the direction our country is taking. We are worried that the nation does not seem to flinch as harsher and harsher measures are being introduced to destroy people.

Pamela Curr says the policies are straining Australia's relationship with neighbours, such as Indonesia.