Australia's shocking anti-immigration campaign draws brickbats from all over
The controversial poster has already been printed in 17 languages. It reads: "No way. You will not make Australia home." The poster is part of the Australian government's Operation Sovereign Borders program, said a Irish Central report.
It is quite ironic that a country, founded by Europeans, is shutting doors on foreigners.
And the image used in the poster is rather threatening - A tiny boat being tossed by a dangerous, harsh sea. No wonder, the critics have a new tongue-in-cheek name for the poster advertisement - Australia's anti-tourist campaign.
Refugee Action Coalition of Sydney, a nonprofit organisation, has strongly responded to the campaign. Almost all the deaths at sea have been caused by the appalling response of Australia's search and rescue services, who have been told to prioritize stopping boats, not saving lives, said the NGO, as reported by Irish Central.
Green immigration spokeswoman Senator Sarah Hanson-Young spoke to the media about the campaign. Young said, "This document is in incredibly poor taste. The fact that it came from the Australian government is a disappointing indictment on our once generous nation which helped to draft the Refugee Convention."
This campaign is quite a change from what Australia used to advertise in 20th century. The country, then, was projecting itself as extremely warm to immigrants from US and Europe. They even went to the extent of offering subsidized boat trip to British immigrants after the second world war.
Watch the campaign here:
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