Bad News for Iranian Immigrants to Australia

I was listening to the radio today when I heard that the Australian government has announced new rules for Iranians who illegally come to Australia on boat.

The new rules say that Iranians' asylum requests will not be considered as urgent and that they will be sent to Papua New Guinea for processing.

 Photo from Wikipedia

The idea is very simple. They believe majority of Iranians who come to australia, which is almost a third of all immigrants who come by boat from Indonesia, belong to the middle class and are not in a hardship situation as of some one from war torn or famine-struck countries. They are simply after a better lifestyle.

The interesting part was that they even broadcasted the same news in Persian (Farsi) to make sure those who do not know English undertand the gist of the matter.

The anchor was implying Iranians who have relatives who are thinking of coming to Australia by boat should encourage them not to because these Iranians will not receive Australian citizenship.

However, this does not mean that those who are in ethnic groups in Iran and are actually under the pressure from the government will not be welcomed but it implies that they have to go through a much longer process to enter Australia.

 Photo is courtesy of smh

So if you are planninng to come to Australia by boat or know somebody who has planned to do so, you'd better reconsidered your plan or somehow transfered the message accross.

I hope we Iranians don't have to leave our country ever because our land is beautiful and we desrve a much better life in Iran.