You can listen to this episode on Archive.org here or download it on MediaFire here (31MB).
We start off the episode by analysing the latest changes to asylum seeker policy by the Australian government, as well as their new ad ‘Australia By Boat – No Advantage’ and the report from their “expert” panel. We also discuss how a picture can tell a thousand words about asylum seekers and The Conversation’s report from their expert panel on asylum seekers and their alternative recommendations. We bust myths about those coming by boat being queue jumpers, illegal immigrants, and Australia supposedly taking a large amount of asylum seekers. We also discuss why people get on boats and the good and the bad from the SBS show ‘Go Back to Where You Came From’. Finally, we discuss the good news for Australian journalist Austin Mackell and introduce the new segment ‘What You HAVEN’T Learnt from the Media This Week’. We also encourage people to listen to our interview about animal rights on Team Earthling and the package put together by Karun Cowper from Occupy Perth and Perth Indymedia, which brings you voices from the Refugee Rights Action Network’s convergence to Northam Detention Centre for asylum seekers.
Recommended Reading:
GetUp! Fact Sheet on Australia and Asylum Seekers
Clips:
Australian Government ‘Australia By Boat – No Advantage’, Ghostbusters ‘Theme – Instrumental’, Austin Powers, Lagwagon from the album ‘Live in a Dive’, Billy Bragg ‘Never Buy the Sun’, Anti-Flag ‘Underground Network’, Hilltop Hoods ‘Speaking in Tongues’.
progressivepodcastaustralia 
Hey there guys! Good work on the episode. I would say that a better fact sheet than GetUp’s one is the one put out by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre which can be found here: http://www.asrc.org.au/media/documents/myths-facts-solutions-info.pdf
Interesting song by the Hilltop Hoods, it reminds me of ten years ago now when The Herd put out their song 77% in the wake of the Tampa affair (77% of Australians supported the government’s actions with the Tampa, according to polling). It’s just sad that it seemed like we had beat back the ignorance and were on the way to getting changes but it’s all regressed back to this line of thinking of ten years ago. Anyway, the clip for the song is here: http://youtu.be/pQnGqdFO9EY
Thanks Nathan!
Looks like a really useful fact sheet, will share on our FB & Twitter for those wanting a more detailed explanation of these isues than GetUp’s one.
Hadn’t heard that song by The Herd but really like the clip and the song – maybe we’ll play that on the show some time. Shame that the debate and policies seem to have regressed back to the time of Tampa – a lot of important work to be done by refugee rights activists in Australia!
Cheers,
Nick
[…] refugees, mainly drawing on Amnesty International’s Activist Resources. We encourage people to bust myths on refugees and get the facts out to people who need to know them, as well as promoting Amnesty’s pro-asylum […]