More than 130 academics from universities across the globe – including major universities in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, the United States and Hong Kong – have added their names to the growing list of eminent people condemning the Australian government’s treatment of asylum seekers.
The joint statement, issued earlier this evening to New Matilda and co-signed by 137 scholars working in the field of humanities and social sciences, delivers a scathing rebuke to Prime Minister Tony Abbott over his treatment of asylum seekers, his use of crude slogans such as ‘stop the boats’ and his exploitation of xenophobia for political gain.
It follows a joint statement earlier this week by 53 legal scholars, who described the return of 41 Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka as illegal.
This is the first joint petition to attract international condemnation.
In particular, the scholars were scathing of the Prime Minister’s comments around the acts of self-harm earlier this week of almost a dozen asylum seeker women on Christmas Island.
The academics call on the Abbott Government to “affirm a vision of the nation that is committed to non-negotiable ethical principles that override the mere fulfillment of election slogans such as ‘stop the boats.’”
Abbott late yesterday attacked the women – mothers who were protesting over the conditions in which their children are being forced to live – telling media that "no Australian government should be subjected to the spectacle" of people threatening self-harm.
"If true, it is a harrowing tale," the ABC reported Abbott as saying. "[But] this is not going to be a government which has our policy driven by people who are attempting to hold us over a moral barrel. We won't be driven by that.”
"I don't believe any Australian would want us to capitulate to moral blackmail."
The scholars, led by Professor Suvendrini Perera from Curtin University in Western Australia and Professor Joseph Pugliese from Macquarie University in Sydney, describe the Prime Minister’s comments as “a betrayal of the responsibility for ethical leadership”.
“As academics working in the Humanities and Social Sciences, we are dismayed to hear our Prime Minister deny the ethical responsibility of this nation to adhere to the tenets and conventions on asylum seekers that are founded on moral bases, and which we as a nation have signed,” they write.
“The government’s mandate to ‘stop the boats’, if it is such, does not exempt the nation from its moral obligations.
“We find the political show of contempt for the moral profoundly disturbing in the context of increasing self-harm by refugees, including children, in Australia’s detention centres, attempts at suicide by refugee mothers in despair at the plight of their children and other traumatic incidents.
“In these crisis situations, in which lives are stake, the moral is not something that is expendable.”
The scholars point to the United Nation’s 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, of which Australia is a signatory, which they describe as an effort to “stop the subjection of refugees to political opportunism and xenophobia”.
“These historical lessons must not be forgotten. Rather, they should impel us to adhere to [the]very principles and ethics on which the convention was based.
“As Humanities and Social Sciences scholars who teach and research practices of ethics, values and justice as constitutive of a civic and just society, we have to question a leadership whose vision for the nation is not founded on a moral base.
“We call on the polity to affirm a vision of the nation that is committed to non- negotiable ethical principles that override the mere fulfillment of election slogans such as ‘stop the boats’.
“Such political sloganeering amounts to nothing more than a betrayal of the responsibility for ethical leadership.”
The list of scholars who have attached their names to the document are:
1. Professor Suvendrini Perera, Curtin University 2. Professor Joseph Pugliese, Macquarie University 3. Dr Keyvan Allahyari, University of Melbourne 4. Dr Andrew Alter, Macquarie University 5. Dr Avard, University of Adelaide 6. Dr Jeannine Baker, Macquarie University 7. Associate Professor Barbara Baird, Flinders University 8. Dr Iqbal Barkat, Macquarie University 9. Ms Valentina Bau. Macquarie University 10. Dr Nicholas Birns, New School, New York City, USA 11. Dr Helen Bones, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand 12. Ms Emily Booker, Macquarie University 13. Professor Linda Briskman, Swinburne University 14. Dr Brooks, Australian Catholic University 15. Dr Caragh Brosnan, University of Newcastle 16. Dr Rachel Buchanan, University of Newcastle 17. Ms Rosalie Bunn, University of Newcastle 18. Dr Burns, New School, New York City, USA 19. Associate Professor Nina Burridge, University of Technology, Sydney 20. Dr Jon Burtt, Macquarie University 21. Dr Castagna, University of New South Wales 22. Dr Amy Chapman, Australian Catholic University 23. Dr Donna Coates, University of Calgary, Canada 24. Dr Sharon Cooper, University of Newcastle 25. Mr James Cox, Macquarie University 26. Professor Leigh Dale, Wollongong University 27. Dr Kirsten Damb, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 28. Professor Margaret Davies, Flinders University 29. Ms Victoria Dawson, Macquarie University 30. Dr De Krester, University of Sydney 31. Dr Marie Delofski, Macquarie University 32. Dr Clemence Due, University of Adelaide 33. Mr Nicholas Dynon, Macquarie University 34. Associate Professor Mark Evans, Macquarie University 35. Ms Sandy Evans, OAM, Macquarie University 36. Dr Falconer, University of Technology, Sydney 37. Associate Professor Joseph Fernandez, Curtin University 38. Professor Carole Ferrier, University of Queensland 39. Dr Lucy Fisk, University of Technology 40. Mr David-Jack Fletcher, Macquarie University 41. Dr Daniella J Forster, University of Newcastle 42. Dr Genoni, Curtin University 43. Dr Maria Giannacopoulos, Flinders University 44. Dr Liz Giuffre, Macquarie University 45. Ms Shruti Ghosh, Macquarie University 46. Dr Gonsalves, University of New South Wales 47. Dr Kristina Gottschall, Charles Sturt University 48. Mr Pat Grant, Macquarie University 49. Dr Griffith, University of Wollongong 50. Dr Kalvero Gulson, University of New South Wales 51. Professor Bridget Griffin-Foley, Macquarie University 52. Professor Sneja Gunew, University of British Columbia, Canada 53. Dr Lisa Hartley, Curtin University 54. Ms Tereza Hendlova, Macquarie University 55. Dr Annie Herro, University of Sydney 56. Ms Catharine Hoad, Macquarie University 57. Dr Hoang, University of Adelaide 58. Dr Hospodar, University of Sydney 59. Dr Deborah Hunn, Curtin University 60. Dr Maria Elena Indelicato, University of Sydney 61. Dr Michael Jackline, University of Wollongong 62. Professor Bruce Johnson, Macquarie University 63. Dr Kate Johnstone, Deakin University 64. Dr Claire Jones, University of Western Australia 65. Mr Brent Keogh, Macquarie University 66. Dr Catherine Kevin, Flinders University 67. Dr Susie Khamis, Macquarie University 68. Dr Sabine Krajewski, Macquarie University 69. Ms Jillian Kramer, Macquarie University 70. Dr Thor Kerr, Curtin University 71. Dr Martin Lear, University of Geneva, Switzerland 72. Dr Tony Lewis, Macquarie University 73. Associate Professor Anthony Langlois, Flinders University 74. Professor Bronwyn Levy, University of Queensland 75. Ms Natalie Lewandowski, Macquarie University 76. Dr Julie-Anne Long, Macquarie University 77. Professor Catharine Lumby, Macquarie University 78. Ms Siobhan Lyons, Macquarie University 79. Dr Willa McDonald, Macquarie University 80. Associate Professor Elizabeth McMahon, University of New South Wales 81. Dr Therese Macdermott, Macquarie University 82. Dr Virginia Madsen, Macquarie University 83. Ms Kate Maguire-Rosier, Macquarie University 84. Professor Nick Mansfield, Macquarie University 85. Dr Paul Marks, Flinders University 86. Dr Karen Maras, University of New South Wales 87. Dr Nicole Matthews, Macquarie University 88. Dr Wade Marynowsky, Macquarie University 89. Dr Bonita Mason, Curtin University 90. Professor Martin Mills, University of Queensland 91. Dr Helen Merrick, Curtin University 92. Dr Marilyn Metta, Curtin University 93. Professor Kathryn Millard, Macquarie University 94. Dr Nicole Mockler, University of Newcastle 95. Ms Tanya Muscat, Macquarie University 96. Dr Tom Murray, Macquarie University 97. Dr Bhuva Narayan, University of Technology, Sydney 98. Dr Catherine Noshe, Monash University 99. Associate Professor Brigitta Olubas, University of New South Wales 100. Mr Fereydoun Pelarke, Macquarie University 101. Dr Kristen Phillips, Curtin University 102. Dr Fiona Polach, Memorial University, Canada 103. Dr Shaun Rawolle, Deakin University 104. Dr Jayne Regan, Australian National University 105. Dr Adrian Renzo, Macquarie University 106. Dr Rachel Roberston, Curtin University 107. Dr Kate Rossmanith, Macquarie University 108. Dr Brigid Rooney, University of Sydney 109. Dr Rowe, University of Adelaide 110. Dr Phyllis Sakinofsky, Macquarie University 111. Associate Professor Sue Saltmarsh, Australian Catholic University 112. Dr David Saltmarsh, Macquarie University 113. Dr Larissa Sandy, Flinders University 114. Dr John Scannell, Macquarie University 115. Professor Nan Seuffert, University of Wollongong 116. Professor Paul Sharrad, University of Wollongong 117. Dr Jane Simon, Macquarie University 118. Dr Timothy Steains, University of Sydney 119. Dr Anna Szorenyi, University of Adelaide 120. Dr Katarina Tuinamuana, Australian Catholic University 121. Dr Jane Singleton, University of Sydney 122. Dr Erica Southgate, University of Newcastle 123. Dr Liza-Mare Syron, Macquarie University 124. Dr Elaine Tay, Curtin University 125. Dr Thompson, La Trobe University 126. Ms Sharon Tofler, University of Sydney 127. Dr Lorraine Towers, University of Sydney 128. Dr Ly Tran, Deakin University 129. Dr Antonio Traverso, Curtin University 130. Dr Von Rijswijk, University of Technology, Sydney 131. Associate Professor Joan Wardrope, Curtin University 132. Dr R Scott Webster, Deakin University 133. Dr Tania Webster, Monash University 134. Dr David Whish-Wilson, Curtin University 135. Dr Jessica White, Independent Scholar 136. Dr Deborah Zion, Monash University 137. Dr Jan Zwar, Macquarie University