Does Philip Ruddock really have any human rights cred?

Australia’s oldest MP and father of the house, Philip Ruddock, has this week announced his retirement from federal politics, taking the opportunity to also announce his new job: Australia’s Special Envoy for Human Rights. On its surface this new title is wholly appropriate for a politician who has chaired parliamentary committees on human rights and championed an abolition to the death penalty around the world. But the appointment has raised a lot of eyebrows for a lot of really strong reasons.

As the minister for immigration in the Howard government, Philip Ruddock was a key architect of the Pacific Solution. The Pacific Solution is in actual fact a euphemism for taking asylum seekers and putting them on tiny islands that have been described as “hell on Earth” by those who’ve survived its oppressive heat and squalid conditions. It was a policy that had been developed in response to the Tampa affair, in which a freight carrier that had rescued 438 asylum seekers was refused entry into Australian ports by the Howard government (and the now Special Envoy Philip Ruddock) – a violation of Australia’s obligations under international law of the sea.

Ruddock’s tenure as immigration minister marked a downward spiral in Australia’s treatment of refugees. In 2001, when Ruddock addressed a press conference with allegations that asylum seekers had threatened to throw their children overboard unless they were granted asylum, he fundamentally changed the way the Australian public viewed those people seeking asylum by boat. They were no longer human beings desperate for better lives, but ‘monsters’ willing to drown their own children to live off our welfare and healthcare systems. Despite learning that his claims were false, Ruddock (and the rest of the Howard government) failed to correct the record for four weeks. They waited until they had won an election and secured the government for four more years. But the damage had been done.

[quote]Isn’t it more than a little bit concerning that the man who will represent Australia on matters of Human Rights before the UN is the architect of a refugee policy that’s been criticised by both Iran and North Korea?[/quote]

People are still being sent to offshore processing centres under Ruddock’s Pacific Solution. The policy was briefly dismantled by Kevin Rudd, but pieced back together by the Gillard government desperately seeking to appear tough on border protection. Not much needs to be said about the treatment of refugees under the watch of Tony Abbott, and even the supposedly progressive Malcolm Turnbull is allowing 37 babies to be returned to detention centres on Manus Island.

Though the UN has been scathing of Australia’s refugee policies, Philip Ruddock remains confident that our borders need “integrity”. In an interview this week, Ruddock claimed that he had “no regrets” over his stance on immigration.

It’s difficult to reconcile this unabashed praise of his own policies with a UN Committee Against Torture report calling on the Australian government to abandon its refugee policies and to ensure that those refugees who’ve been resettled are treated more humanely. Conditions on Manus Island and Nauru are said to be creating “serious physical and mental pain and suffering” among residents, and there have been well-documented allegations of sexual abuse, violence and drug dependence.

Finally, as Australia’s Special Envoy for Human Rights, Ruddock will be responsible for campaigning for a seat on the UN’s Human Rights council. This is the same council that last year put forward 300 recommendations by 110 countries regarding Australia’s treatment of human rights. Even Iran and North Korea had something to say about our country’s handling of refugees. Of central concern among the 300 recommendations was the policy of mandatory detention for asylum seekers and the treatment of children in offshore processing centres.

Isn’t it more than a little bit concerning that the man who will represent Australia on matters of Human Rights before the UN is the architect of a refugee policy that’s been criticised by both Iran and North Korea?

You don’t get nothin’ for free in politics though, and the Liberals need to get fresh blood into the party in safe seats like Ruddock’s Berowra. If the PM was serious about standing down the second longest serving MP in Australia’s history, then a tasty carrot like Special Envoy might have been just the ticket. 

Ben Rice

Ben Rice is a law student who writes a lot of stuff that people don’t read at bennywrites.com. Or, you can find him on Twitter @benny_writes.

Image: Philip Ruddock official Twitter page