{"id":2890,"date":"2017-12-12T09:03:50","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T23:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/?p=2890"},"modified":"2018-01-15T13:05:04","modified_gmt":"2018-01-15T03:05:04","slug":"does-anzsoc-endorse-the-pacific-solution-by-accepting-sponsorship-from-www-border-gov-au","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/2017\/12\/12\/does-anzsoc-endorse-the-pacific-solution-by-accepting-sponsorship-from-www-border-gov-au\/","title":{"rendered":"Does #ANZSOC endorse the Pacific Solution by accepting Sponsorship from www.border.gov.au?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

President, Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology<\/p>\n

Dear Dr McGee<\/p>\n

We are aware that\u00a0ANZSOC has recently received social media criticism for accepting a ‘silver sponsorship’ from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP)\u00a0for the 2017 conference. We are writing to express\u00a0concern but also\u00a0seek clarification about the nature of this sponsorship.<\/p>\n

There is an emerging sentiment that this sponsorship was inappropriate for the\u00a0Society’s annual event. We recognise that\u00a0the DIBP has a wider ministerial function beyond border protection, however\u00a0\u00a0the remit between DIBP and Australian Borderforce (ABF) is inextricably interwoven. Given the national and international condemnation and controversies surrounding\u00a0DIBP’s\u00a0 actions and policies in recent times we are surprised that ANZSOC would take the arguably\u00a0injudicious decision to accept this department’s\u00a0sponsorship.<\/p>\n

While we acknowledge that DIPB , as mentioned, is responsible for customs and citizenship portfolios, much of its resources are devoted to border protection and the work of ABF. Indeed, the DIPB is\u00a0jointly headed by Secretary Pezzullo and ABF’s Commissioner Quaedvlieg.<\/p>\n

As you’ll be aware, the\u00a0ABF as an operational arm of the DIPB, has outsourced state functions to corporate entities. Such\u00a0privatisation of Australian border security, as part of the Pacific Solution, has been mired in allegations of scandal, torture, tax evasion, corruption and human rights abuses resulting in widespread public protest and condemnation. For ANZSOC to grant \u2018silver sponsorship\u2019 to a much maligned\u00a0state-corporate complex with its reportedly unjust, abusive and illegal response to vulnerable people seeking asylum, is an indictment on the Society and an insult to those members\u00a0who have committed their careers\u00a0 to\u00a0championing the plight of victims and to critiquing\u00a0state and corporate deviance.<\/p>\n

We note ANZSOC’s tweeted\u00a0response to the Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association’, notably that ‘Criminology has always involved debate re contentious issues. The conference is an important forum to bring different players together 2 have these challenges conversation’. We agree, however, it is one thing to provide a forum for robust debate and offer a platform for all parties to exchange dialogue, it is quite another issue to receive sponsorship from one side of the debate only.\u00a0Moreover, it is not clear how this year’s conference managed to successfully engage opposed voices in a\u00a0forum that debated the challenging issues you allude to.<\/p>\n

Without clarification of the sponsorship arrangements, and without ANZSOC attempting to disentangle the broader roles of DIPB from ABF, one is left with the impression that the conference was endorsing the Pacific Solution,\u00a0Manus Island policies\u00a0and the associated scandals mentioned above. Rightly or wrongly, this is the emerging picture, and the growing criticism on social media attests to that fact.<\/p>\n

Would you kindly clarify the nature of the sponsorship. Why did\u00a0ANZSOC choose to seek sponsorship from a Commonwealth department condemned by the international human rights community and\u00a0mired in allegations of torture and abuse? We suggest that it is imperative that you as President publicly clarify ANZSOC’s position,\u00a0and dispel the emerging suspicion that the Society, by virtue of accepting sponsorship, is supporting the punitive and widely-condemned\u00a0offshore detention policies of the Australian Government.<\/p>\n

Professors Reece Walters and John Scott
\nDirectors. Crime and Justice Research Centre
\nFaculty of Law
\nQueensland University of Technology
\n2 George Street, Brisbane
\nQueensland, 4001.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President, Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology Dear Dr McGee We are aware that\u00a0ANZSOC has recently received social media criticism for accepting a ‘silver sponsorship’ from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP)\u00a0for the 2017 conference. We are writing to express\u00a0concern but also\u00a0seek clarification about the nature of this sponsorship. There is an<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,9719,3],"tags":[11549,15260],"class_list":{"0":"post-2890","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"category-justice-policy-issues","8":"category-news","9":"tag-anzsoc","10":"tag-sponsorship"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2890"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2895,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2890\/revisions\/2895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/crime-and-justice-research-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}