Why Australia Faces Another Border Security Election

The fate of around 1,020 people living in refugee camps on remote South Pacific islands is set to add fuel to Australia’s already heated federal election campaign. No sooner had legislators passed a new law on Feb. 13 that gives doctors more say over when asylum seekers should be sent to Australia for medical treatment than Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that the country’s border security was at risk, and that a fresh wave of would-be refugees would head for Australian shores. The issue of migration has divided Australia and been used by parties on the left and right to drive support. A poll released Feb. 18 indicates Morrison’s stance may be winning back voters for him ahead of the election, which is expected in May.

Men, women and children who were intercepted at sea by Australian border-control authorities after paying people smugglers to ferry them to Australia, without visas and often in rickety, unseaworthy boats. The vast majority come from Iran, followed by Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Iraq; others are classified as “stateless.” Some have been detained for more than five years. The governments of Nauru and Papua New Guinea, which host the camps for Australia, say about 80 percent of the people they have processed are genuine refugees.