When it comes to asylum seekers, the Australian political machine has prided itself on using cruelty and a purposely obtuse understanding of international law.  Bolted sovereignty has been elevated over rights and humanitarianism, while political interests have abominated the dark, hungering hordes heading to the island continent on unseaworthy boats.  From the early 1990s, the UN Refugee Convention became increasingly clipped, its applicability scorned in domestic politics.  By the time the conservative government of John Howard assumed power in 1996, turning Australia into a vast village of suspicious citizens suffering from arrested development, the asylum seeker became electoral bait, hooked on fishing lines to lure in voters worried their comfortable lives would somehow be ruffled by the dark, brooding arrivals fleeing war-torn areas and predatory regimes. 

From then on, a public relations machine was developed to dissuade and horrify those willing to make the journey to the fatal shore.  Money was sunk into advertisements distributed through the Middle East warning those wishing to make their way across the seas.  In February 2014, for instance, Australian authorities promoted a campaign with the slogan: “No way.  They will not make Australia home”.  Starring in this squalid effort was a graphic novel depicting asylum seekers in a detention centre suffering from enervating distress.  Reality television shows mocking the unsuspecting foreigner at customs such as Border Security also became celluloid staples.  

In March, the public exploitation of the asylum seeker suddenly switched.  The Iranian Women’s Football team, participating in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup on Australian soil, had presented a magnificent opportunity to show that an Australian government might appreciate the asylum claims of those fleeing a Middle East regime.  Prior to their match against South Korea, they had failed to sing the national anthem, prompting savage criticism by commentators back........

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