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August 25th, 2013 
A PROMINENT human rights lawyer has compared the major political parties to the Taliban as he endorsed the re-election of Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young as an alternative voice on refugees.
Speaking to reporters alongside Senator Hanson-Young in Adelaide on Sunday, Julian Burnside QC said it was the first time in his life he had publicly supported a political party.
“I’m doing it because this is the first time in Australia’s history that we’ve seen both major parties promising to outdo each other in cruelty to one group of human beings,” he said.
His comments came as Senator Hanson-Young launched the Greens’ refugee policy.
She said analysis from the parliamentary budget office showed taxpayers could save $3.2 billion if all offshore detentions centres were shut down, as well as some onshore centres.
The money could instead be used to give asylum seekers work rights so they could contribute to the economy and the community, she said.
“Many Australians want a new way, a more human way, and what we’ve shown today is that (this) is cost-effective as well as being the right thing to do.”
Mr Burnside said Australia’s asylum seeker policy had hurt the country in the eyes of civilised nations and it was now regarded as selfish and cruel overseas.
More than half the boat refugees who had arrived in the last 15 years were ethnic Hazara fleeing the Taliban, he said.
“We make ourselves look even nastier than the Taliban so that people won’t try to come here,” he said.
“Is that the Australia you want to live in?”
The Greens would also put a 30-day limit on the length of time asylum seekers could be kept in detention for health and security checks before being released into the community on bridging visas.
They would also increase Australia’s humanitarian intake from 20,000 a year to 30,000.
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