Australia resettles around 14,000 refugees each year under its humanitarian visa program (Department of Social Services, 2017).
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) study report released by the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health in September 2017 found refugees entering Australia are under-immunised. The study that was conducted using a highly developed policy framework comprising eight important policy determinants found inconsistent immunisaiton policies for refugees between jurisdictions are causing gaps leading to pockets of under-immunised population in Australia.
To ensure consistency across the states and territories and to lift the immunisation coverage across resettled refugees in Australia, the study highlights
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This is the first study to evaluate and analyse the refugee-centric immunisation policies in Australia.
The UNSW study (2017) conducted the review of all publicly available government refugee-specific policy and strategy documents across all jurisdictions in Australia and found:
• A refugee-specific immunisaiton policy document was available only for NSW, NT and Western Australia.
• ACT and Victoria included refugee as ‘at-risk group’ in its immunization strategy documents.
• Refugee-specific immunisation was not indicated in Queensland Immunisaiton strategy.
• Refugee specific imumunisaiton policy wasn’t found for Tasmania. Undertaking a framework comprising eight important policy determinants, the UNSW study (2017) conducted content analysis of seven major government policy-documents available across all jurisdictions in Australia. The study highlights both strengths and weaknesses of the policies. Key strengths
This registration keeps and archives details among vaccinations given to any child in this age group living in Australia. They also have many other programs set up like the National Immunization Program Schedule for children who are older and attending school which are on a routine basis. Australia’s health service uses schools to vaccinate masses and control diseases. Through these school-based programs like ACIR and the NIP, they can offer nationally recommended and Government funded vaccines to specific grades and ages. Although these vaccines are readily provided and inexpensive participation is
Vaccines are administered to prevent the contraction of detrimental epidemic diseases, the scientific evidence that proves the effectivity of vaccination is abundant, and so why is there an adverse opposition to inoculations? Australia currently has no laws mandating the compulsory vaccination of children, despite the Federal Government’s decision to implement a mandatory registration of child vaccination records: enabling financial rebates. Inoculations provide immunity to a plethora of diseases, subsequently eradicating the disease whilst ultimately saving children’s lives. Comparatively, vaccines
As mentioned previously, understanding the available services and health care structure within Australia can be difficult for a refugee. Davidson, N., et al. (2004) discussed the difficulties refugees face finding a regular health care provider due to the structure of visa category entitlements provided by the government. This is also compounded by a fundamental distrust of government services within some refugee cultures. Furthermore Correa-Velez, I., et. al (2005) provides more information regarding refugee health policies and access depending on whether they are in an onshore or
The resettlement of refugees in Australia is a controversial topic; many people believe that they come here to commit crime, change our culture and steal our jobs. ‘The Happiest Refugee’ has enhanced my belief that refugees should be allowed to live in Australia. I believe that refugees are here to escape war and persecution; they are not criminals, nor do they want to change our culture or steal our jobs. Refugees are generally grateful for their new lives in Australia and they embrace our culture. ‘The Happiest Refugee’ is a source of evidence that supports this.
Vaccination programs in Australia aim to increase national immunisation rates to protect children against highly contagious illnesses such as whooping cough, rubella, chicken pox and measles. (Australian Government Department of Health, 2015) Infants younger than 5 years of age receive vaccines under the National Immunisation Schedule, whilst high-school students across the state are also currently required to obtain vaccinations in years 8 and 10 to create improve health outcomes. (The Sunday Mail, 2008) From a biological point of view, it is scientifically proven that failure to implement this policy will result in future consequences to the health of community members.
Racism – Asylum Seekers One of the largest issues in Australia’s political history is the arrival and treatment of asylum seekers. MP Crosio in 2001 stated that the denial of racism and frequent exclusion and demonization of minorities is a significant feature of contemporary responses to other groups including the asylum seekers. It is clear that racism is present in Australian asylum policies, although the mandatory detention and isolation of asylum seekers in hostile centres was not considered to be racist or discriminatory when discussed by parliament (Augoustinos & Every 2007). It is very obvious that Australia is dealing with a racism issue as there is the use of categorical generalizations in talk about asylum seekers, unequal treatment as well as cultural difference talk (Augoustinos & Every 2007). One of the examples of racism in parliament was when Previous Prime Minister John Howard stated ‘I don’t want people like that here’ (Saxton 2003).
Due to unlawful arrival of boats, the federal government of Australia attempts to find a solution for controlling the border because of its responsibilities toward asylum seekers. The three most important Australia’s obligations to asylum seekers are as follows: Firstly, Australia is a signatory to UN Refugee Convention (The UN Refugee Agency 2014) Secondly, Australia has the obligation to protect the human rights of asylum seekers. (Asylum seekers and immigration detention 2013)
Currently in Australia, vaccinations are not compulsory. Fortunately, with the Australian government’s new incentive scheme ‘No Jab No Pay’ that came into force on the 1st of January 2016, the Australian government are now able to withhold Child Care Benefits. The intent of the legislation is that parents who do not follow the Australian Childhood Immunisation Schedule at the appropriate times, will be unable to claim any child-care rebates. The governments reasoning for introducing the legislation is because they believe the vaccination rate of young children, is not high enough and assume that the reason some parents are not vaccinating their children are because they are ignorant or have a lack of access to vaccination facilities. The claims suggest that this legislation will raise Australian vaccination rates to make sure parents do not miss out on their child care benefits and subsidies. The child care benefits could mean a lot to some parents and give their families extra financial security. Vaccinations are much less expensive than the long term payments that could possibly come with treatments of vaccine preventable diseases. Some vaccine-preventable diseases can result in long term effects and take a financial toll on families because of lost time at work caring for ill family members as well as countless medical bills to treat the
Asylum seekers are usually forced to flee their homeland due to poverty, war, terrorism and general inequality where they live and it should be in the interest of everyone to better their lives instead of mainly focusing on the criminalisation of people smugglers and asylum seekers alike. Policies and detention centres are created to increase border protection methods and decrease the illegal arrival of refugees into Australia, with little to no consideration for the refugees themselves or where they’re coming from. Instead of focusing time, energy and money into jailing people smugglers and detaining people from Australia, politicians and everyone alike should focus time into equalising all of the people of the world. If Australia and other countries focused more time on the legal migration of refugees then there would be less people smuggling occurring and legitimate methods could be used to transport people away from terrorism, war and inequality. The detainment of refugees has proven to also be surrounded by much inequality. Australia’s solution to the ‘problem’ of asylum seekers has been to send them offshore, keeping them detained in a facility until better solutions can be devised. Previous Commission reports have noted the prison-like nature of refugee facilities developed by the Australian government in particular, the Christmas Island IDC and have proposed concern, stating that it should not even be used for accommodating asylum seekers. The Commission has reported “particular concerns about some security measures, including high wire fences, walkways enclosed in cage-like structures, CCTV surveillance, metal reinforced officer booths with Perspex security screens, and metal grills on bedroom windows” (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2012). Even Australia’s solution to the problem is surrounded by
The asylum seeker “debate” is a contentious topic in Australian media. According to The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is considered an inherent right for every individual worldwide, “to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution” (United Nations, 2014). Article 14 is listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is accepted by many nations as the international standard of basic human rights and liberties. This report will assess the extent of Australia’s violation of these international standards, and consider their national approach to the treatment of refugees and individuals seeking asylum. It will provide evidence to expose the inconsistencies in Australia’s human rights commitments under international
Australia has traditionally been recognised as a country which is celebrated for its generous humanitarian program; however, recent global events have seen dramatic changes to its approach. The 1990’s saw radical changes to migration policies in response to the large number of boat arrivals of Middle Eastern asylum seekers fleeing from a range of conflicts. In fact, in the two-year period between 1999 and 2001 approximately 12, 000 asylum seekers arrived on Australia’s shores (Parliament of Australia, 2016). In order to address this influx, the Howard government implemented a range of strategies to strengthen the integrity of its borders and eradicate the people smuggling trade across Asia (Parliament of Australia, 2016). Whilst
Vaccination is widely considered one of the greatest medical achievements of modern civilization (Harvard Law School, 2007). Childhood deaths from infectious diseases were commonplace less than a generation ago; however they’re now increasingly rare due to vaccines. In order to be effective at eliminating communicable diseases, vaccines must be administrated to a sufficient level of people in the community. However, there has been plenty of controversy over the morality, ethics, effectiveness and safety of immunization. It has been argued in the past whether laws should be introduced that render some vaccines obligatory for all children (Singer, 2009). These objections may lead to an unacceptably high number of exemptions, which can compromise vaccination programs and leave the population susceptible to outbreaks. Parents argue that it is they who should have the ultimate decision-making right on whether or not to vaccinate their children. Whereas nurses and health care officials oppose that view on the grounds that by making vaccination rates in children incomplete, we expose all children to contracting the vaccine-preventable diseases. The most recent Australian Childhood Immunization Register coverage report illustrates that 92.1% of children aged 12 to 15 months have been fully immunized in Australia (ACIR, 2014). A survey was conducted for the Mansfield community to analyze and identify the factors which prevents them from vaccinating their children.The
In Australia today, many believe that the population is quite open to other races and ethnicities coming into the country for refuge, however, “60% of those surveyed think the Australian government should increase the severity of the treatment of asylum seekers” ( http://theconversation.com, 2014). It is clear that there are signs of prejudice and discrimination towards these asylum seekers even though, in most cases, these asylum seekers have done nothing to initiate the discrimination or prejudice thoughts. With Australia resettling “13,750 refugees a year” ( http://www.abc.net.au, 2016) many conclude that these resettled refugees are taking jobs, which in retrospect is somewhat true and creates a competition for getting jobs and keeping jobs in Australia.
Asylum seekers have long been the victims of war, poverty, famine and natural disasters. The term ‘asylum seeker’ refers to human beings seeking refuge from hardship or persecution. However, this issue has been playing a significant part in Australia and is continually increasing every year. Throughout the time this issue has arose many government officials proceeded in complicating matter worse by desperately attempting to remove the asylum seekers that are wanting to seek asylum into our country via boat. Recently with this years election Malcom Turnball tells Australia that we are the second most generous participant when it comes to the United Nations resettlement landscape of accepting asylum seekers. In addition the community has been in an uproar over letting them stay in our
The issue of Asylum seekers has been considered as one of the controversial issues in Australia due to the implementation of the Federal governments’ harsh and stringent policy against boat refugees, who flee from their countries because of violence or persecution. It is stated that this hard line approach aims to curb the influx of illegal immigrants thereby making Australian Immigration System credible and strong (Anderson & Iggulden 2016). According to Refugee Convention 1954, Australia, a signatory under United Nation(UN) Refugee Agency, is regarded as one of the generous country in dealing with the protection and rights of refugees and has created a meritorious history of accepting asylum seekers from all over the world (Refugee