Journoz: Updates for Australian Journalists

Moral panics about immigration

After Four Corners' Woomera report this week, many people must be wondering exactly why refugees, immigration and asylum seekers have become such incendiary issues. In a paper, Challenges to Sovereignty : Migration laws for the 21st century, presented at the 13th Commonwealth Law Conference in Melbourne, Catherine Dauvergne looks at the causes of the ‘moral panic’ around these issues. She states: "I begin this story by explaining the relationship between national sovereignty and migration laws over their reasonably brief history. I then talk about three intersecting phenomena which are emblematic of the relationship between migration law and sovereignty at this point in time: refugee law, illegal migration, and the pursuit of the best and the brightest. Finally, I finish by speculating about how the challenges to sovereignty presented by these phenomena lead to particular types of migration law responses." The introductory section is at http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/items/00302.shtml, with a link to the full paper (in Word format) at http://www.sisr.net/apo/Challengesfinal.doc. Posted by belinda at May 22, 2003 03:08 PM

Email this entry to:


Your email address:


Message (optional):