Andrew Hewett, Executive Director of Oxfam Community Aid Abroad

"...I think the tea leaves are shifting a little as people meet them and find they're not the demons that they thought...", observed National Party MP John Forrest, quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald in early January.

He’s talking about asylum seekers, holders of Temporary Protection Visas, who are living in his Mallee electorate in rural north-western Victoria. Over the past few years there’s been a concerted campaign by Mr Forrest’s own government and sections of the media to dehumanise asylum seekers. In the extreme this included ensuring that the faces of those seeking asylum were blanked out. Asylum seekers were detained in highly inaccessible places. And, of course, vile and untruthful allegations were made about the behaviour of those fleeing some of the most repressive regimes on the earth.

But as Mr Forrest’s comments suggest, personal contact can dramatically change people’s perceptions. The direct contact made between thousands of Australians and detainees appears to have transformed the lives of both those behind the razor wire and those outside.

It’s to be regretted when national security concerns inhibit contact across borders and cultures. And when governments and powerful media forces create division rather than understanding through distortion and misrepresentation our whole society loses.

Andrew Hewett