Symposium on public attitudes to refugees - Session 1: What do we know‪?‬ UNSW Kaldor Centre

24 July 2015 - This symposium brought together academics, legal centres and social justice organisations to review existing literature on public attitudes to refugees. Participants discussed research on public opinion, discourse and framing in relation to both refugee issues and other contentious policy areas, to generate comparative insights.

Organised by the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law in conjunction with the Migration Law Program (ANU) and the Centre for Refugee Research (UNSW).

Session 1: What do we know about international, national and regional attitudes to refugees and asylum seekers?

Chair: Harriet McHugh-Dillon, author of the 2015 Foundation House review ‘If they are genuine refugees, why? Public attitudes to unauthorised arrivals in Australia’

Attitudes towards asylum seekers and refugees: Some international reflections
Dr Lisa Hartley, Lecturer, Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University

International media representation of Australia’s refugee and asylum policy
Hannah Laney and Anthony Kellett, Bachelor of Social Research and Policy students, UNSW

Exploring Australian attitudes to refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants
Professor Andrew Markus, Pratt Foundation Research Professor of Jewish Civilisation, Monash University

Representations of asylum seekers in the regional Australian press
Sam Cooper, Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Social Science student, UNSW
Erin Olejniczak, Bachelor of Social Research and Policy student, UNSW