The Duke of Conceptual Architecture

Visitors to Australia are often seen as just that, temporary guests. Mind you, they have to obey the laws of the country if they want to stay. We were endlessly reminded of this by the former Liberal government. What no-one seems to mention is that they are also granted the same rights. Indian students in Australia, of late, have not ignored these rights and are unafraid of exercising them.

Not long ago, Indian students were seen to be the specific target of what appeared to be racially motivated violence. They took to the streets in protest and made demands of the Australian government. Much like a formally recognised citizen would. But, having been the victims of violence, they garnered much sympathy since the basis of their claims didn’t really disturb the comfortable vision of them as temporary guests.

It will be interesting, however, to see what responses are to their latest claims. The government recently changed skilled visa rules and now many Indian students who were expecting permanent residency at the end of their studies are likely to miss out because the skills they have learned no longer qualify them for a visa. Bob ‘I’m not racist, but…’ Birrell has recently conducted a study showing that qualifications are not the goal for these students, but permanent visas. Therefore, these rule changes are likely to cause embitterment. You don’t say, Bob! Frankly, who needs a fucking academic study to tell us that? Thankfully, the ABC reporter who interviewed Birrell, also interviewed the spokesperson for the Indian Students of Australia association who, as Birrell predicted, expressed grave concerns over the rules changes, citing possible legal action if students who came here under the premise of being given permanent residency are denied it. The spokesperson did not rule out more protest action either.

Before I get to my point, I just want to draw your attention to the fact that what Birrell has done and called ‘research’, ABC C’AFF reporter Samantha Donovan has replicated in what was probably a 1 and half minute story for AM and in about 800 words (including quotes). Bob Birrell, you are a poor excuse for a social researcher.

Anyway, the point I want to make is that it will be interesting to see if the premise for the publicly expressed discontentment of the Indian students will be met with as much sympathy as when they were victims of violence. Especially considering that it concerns changing their status from temporary guest to permanent resident. We’ll see how far we have come from the dark days of the former Liberal government.

In the meantime, I think it’s great to see ‘temporary guests’ making full use of the democratic and legal rights available to them. Temporary guest, in fact, is not the most accurate way to describe visitors to Australia – one should also remember that, no matter what their circumstances or motivation for coming here and no matter what the length of stay, visitors are also members of our political community.