Open AccessPublic health metaphors in Australian policy on asylum seekers
Author(s) -
Koutroulis Glenda
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 1326-0200
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-6405.2009.00337.x
Subject(s) - refugee , metaphor , politics , compassion , asylum seeker , rhetoric , scholarship , political science , public health , public relations , immigration , criminology , sociology , sanctions , public opinion , law , medicine , nursing , philosophy , linguistics
Objective: To analyse the way in which a public health metaphor has been incorporated into Australian political practice to justify the exclusion or mistreatment of unwelcome non‐citizens, giving particular attention to recent asylum seekers.Approach: Starting with a personal experience of working in an immigration detention centre and then drawing on media reports and published scholarship, I critique political rhetoric and policy on asylum seekers, arguing that the significance of a public health metaphor lies in its effectiveness in persuading the public that refugees and asylum seekers are a moral contaminant that threatens the nation and has to be contained.Conclusion: Acceptance of the metaphor sanctions humanly degrading inferences, policies and actions. Public health professionals therefore have a responsibility to challenge the political use of public health and associated metaphors.Implications: Substituting the existing metaphor for one that is more morally acceptable could help to redefine refugees and asylum seekers more positively and promote compassion in political leaders and the community.