Media Discourses on Asylum-Seeker Policy During the Rudd Era

This article charts the evolution of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s (2007–2010) asylum-seeker policies alongside contemporaneous media narratives from two major Australian newspapers, the Age and the Australian. While initially successful, Rudd eventually abandoned his progressive approach to asylum, due in part to mounting pressure precipitated by a sharp increase in the number of irregular maritime arrivals occurring under his watch. While this phenomenon was broadly interpreted at the time through the prism of border security, this article explores the role that the news media played in framing the issue as one of policy failure. In particular, it argues that the media amplified a narrative of crisis that contributed significantly to the breakdown of the policy as public opinion shifted against Rudd. Under increasing pressure, driven to a large extent by the news media, Rudd abandoned his humane approach in favour of a politically expedient securitised response, reminiscent of his predecessor’s

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• The representation of sub-Saharan African migrants in the Tunisian written media

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