Go Back To Where You Came From Persuasive Speech

Martin Buber once said, “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller in unaware”. After viewing the SBS television documentary, Go Back to Where You Came From, I have developed a strong compassion to the refugees coming to Australia, and who are under threat of persecution. In the article from your previous issue, titled Seeking Safety, or Reckless Refuge, you had highlighted this documentary regarding refugees and asylum seekers, and stated that people should not be coming illegally to Australia. Though the argument was compelling, I don’t fully agree with the ideals and ethics within the statement, but I still have a strong desire to help those who are coming to our country legally, and under threat of persecution.
While
some asylum seekers jump from country to country due to an unstable economic climate, others, who may be facing war and threat to their lives, wait years for their visas and passports to be validated. There is complaint about the refugees and asylum seekers coming to Australia, many wanting the nuisance to be sent back to their original country, like sweeping dust under a mat. I do believe that returning people to their native land will help Australia, but I also think that we should invest time and money to help with the situation in their country of origin, so they don’t feel the need to flee their homeland.

The television documentary series Go Back to Where You Came From throws the view of a stereotypical ‘Aussie’ in the viewers’ faces.
I feel that the television show opened the eyes of our country, showing us that the social attitude towards other races we are perceived to have does not reflect positively on our country. Most of the participants started their journey with strong, negative perspectives on the topic of refugees in Australia, but as the show continued to air, it was evidently clear that the views of the partakers were changing. The program also allowed for the public to view refugees and asylum seekers from a different light, and I commend the producers for being able to do
this.

I know that those who have seen the documentary will show more compassion to those who seek refuge here in Australia, coming from war-torn countries. Although the television show has opened the eyes of many around Australia, those who didn’t see the show, are still as ignorant as they were before. The people who have only heard stories about the show, learning of the participants of the series and how their views are now changed, only see them as humans convinced of ploys the media made up. That is extremely hypocritical, as people who dislike refugees prove that our society is a brand of social militant justice, and is made up of people with a hateful, angry heart seeking acceptable and easy targets, then proceeding to poison the ideals of the people who want to change the world to a better place, ultimately mangling a good cause beyond recognition. The people who turn insightful and beneficial arguments for refugees into something fraudulent, claiming the original stories delusive, have also been ‘brain washed’ by the opposite of the argument in the media, leaning towards the more negative side of stance.

There are people in the world who want someone to take a stand for refugees and asylum seekers, like how Martin Luther King Jr.
and Rosa Parks took a stand for dark skinned people in America who were victims to racial abuse. But these people want someone who has been the situations on a first-hand experience, not just some typical Australian who wasn’t running for their lives, trying to survive on treacherous oceanic journeys to a safer place. And the participants of the Go Back to Where You Came From series and other white and inalienable advocates for refugees do not fit the description they were looking for. Yes these people are privileged individuals who have no need to run from immediate threat or prosecution, but they acknowledge their privileges and strive to use them to do legitimate good, which is everything these people claim they want, but as soon as they start, they tell them to stop speaking. Because their need to hate and wallow in wilful ignorance is more important to them than seeing actual change take place anywhere in the
world.

Some people believe that asylum seekers are a nuisance, using our government’s money, and should go back to where they came from (Keller, n.d.). I agree to this to some level, that yes they should go back to their own country, but only if it is safe enough for them. These people have risked their lives to come to Australia, so if they are willing to do that, then the situation in their home country must be extremely horrendous. If that is the case, it would benefit both parties if we invest time and money into helping the situation in the asylum seekers and refugee’s original dwelling (Burnside, 2014). This would mean that the people of these sorts of countries wouldn’t have any reason to risk their lives on a perilous journey to Australia. I don’t think Australians should be complaining about our asylum seeker ‘problem’ considering our country is only ranked number thirteen in the world for western countries who received asylum seekers in 2011, and there was a 9% decrease from the year before (Go Back to Where You Came From Fact Sheet, 2011).

Although it is never illegal to seek asylum, even if the person doing so enters a country without a visa, I still think that those people who are leaving their countries should consider the others who wait for their country leave rights to be validated before fleeing. Though, to stop this issue from occurring, I think that our government should spend more effort and resources to help the problem back in the refugee’s original country, so the persecuted can go back, and will not have an excuse to come here. I compliment the creators of the television documentary series Go Back to Where You Came From as I believe it has opened the eyes of many Australians, and help to change their views for the better.