Only those we send back will spread the message: don’t come to Australia!

With Australia’s truth in advertising regulations, these ads wouldn’t be allowed here. — Tim Blair

Send boat people back to say it in person

Andrew Bolt

Why not simply send real Afghan boat people home to deliver the message in person?

Actors are being used in emotive TV ads warning Afghans they will be sent to Nauru or Manus Island if they attempt to travel to Australia by boat.

The Australian-funded campaign, the first by any foreign government in Afghanistan, uses teary characters to explain how they have no guarantees of being granted asylum.

They don’t? In fact:

Nearly 1500 asylum seekers from Afghanistan have arrived in Australia so far this year – the second highest of any nationality. Only one has been returned home by the government.

What are the people back home going to believe? The facts or this ad?

And why use actors when there are so many real Afghan boat people around to send the message?

But I guess the relatives are hearing from them already. From 2011:

IMMIGRATION detainees and asylum seekers are spending more than $5 million a year on government-issued telephone cards to call relatives overseas and to talk to their lawyers.

With more boats than ever coming over, I suspect the testimony of real boat people doesn’t match what’s said by the actors.

One thought on “Only those we send back will spread the message: don’t come to Australia!”

  1. What ethnic group are the target audience? What dialect are the actors speaking? Is it the appropriate dialect for the target audience? Who vetted the ads? Who made them? (I once witnessed a similar broadcast in a different Muslim country where the wrong dialect was used and the target audience were laughing at the stupidity of the whole effort. The message was lost in the laughter and the banter arising from it.) I wonder.

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