Why do citizens want to keep refugees out? Threats, fairness and hostile norms in the treatment of asylum seekers

A social identity framework was employed to understand why people support the exclusionary treatment of refugee claimants ('asylum seekers') in Australia. Over and above individual difference affects of social dominance orientation and individuals' instrumental threat perceptions, insecure intergroup relations between citizens and asylum seekers were proposed to motivate exclusionary attitudes and behaviour In addition, perceived procedural and distributive fairness were proposed to mediate the effects of social identity predictors on intergroup competitiveness, serving to legitimise citizens' exclusionary behaviours. Support for these propositions was obtained in a longitudinal study, of 'Australians' social attitudes and behaviour. Small and inconsistent individual-level effects were noted. In contrast, after controlling,for these variables, hostile Australian norms, perceived legitimacy of citizen status, and threatening socio-structural relations were strongly and consistently linked to intentions to support the harsh Treatment of asylum seekers, and exclusionary attitudes and action at Time 2. Moreover, perceived procedural and distributive justice significantly mediated these relationships. The roles of fairness and intergroup socio-structural perceptions in social attitudes and actions are discussed

Australian biometrics and global surveillance

Following the events of September 11, 2001, biometric technologies have been widely deployed and promoted as a means of providing identity authentication and verification. This article uses the example of Australia to examine how global trends in biometric surveillance are played out within the boundaries of one nation-state. The article first examines the deployment of biometric technologies at the Australian border. It is suggested that although Australia follows global trends, these deployments are imbued with specific meanings in the local context. The discussion then examines new biometric databases being developed to collect and store information within the boundaries of the Australian state. The article concludes by suggesting that although the Australian experience bears specific local inflections, it nevertheless parallels global surveillance trends in the intensification of searchable databases engaged in processes of inclusion and exclusion