Betts & Higgins address the “Migration Policy” pursued by Australia in the context of the refugee problems arising in the context of Sri Lanka’s “Civil War.” [i.e. what most refer to as the “Eelam Wars.”]. The full title is noted below and their “Abstract” is presented.
The infamous Alex Kuhendarajah on the Sumatran(?) coast witha boatlad of Tamil refugees …. and other pictorial illustrations of refugees and their boats 
For the benefit of those not familiar with the scenario, the refugees were mostly SL Tamils, but there was a ‘supply chain’ of agents and smuggler boats from Sri Lanka, India and the Indonesian islands that also catered to Sinhala and Muslim personnel seeking “eldorado” in the West via Australia. See some bibliographical items listed at the end which will lead one to even more literature…. Michael Roberts with thanks to Johnny De Silva in Melbourne for converting the file containing the Betts & Higgins article.
Judith Betts & Claire Higgins: “The Sri Lankan Civil War and Australia’s Migration Policy Response: A Historical Case Study with Contemporary Implications”
ABSTRACT: Sri Lanka’s civil war lasted almost 26 years and cost tens of thousands of lives. Since the end of the war in 2009, several thousand asylum seekers from Sri Lanka have sought protection in Australia, but both Labor and Liberal/National Coalition governments have taken a restrictive approach to their arrival and have expressed support for the Sri Lankan government. This article explores Australia’s response to the protection needs of Sri Lankans during an earlier era, at the outbreak of the war in 1983, when a Labor government processed Tamils ‘in-country’ under Australia’s Special Humanitarian Program.
Australian police search asylum-seeking refugees
…. and the fishing trawler “Deutschbank” sails into gerladton harbour after evading the Australian coast surveillance
SOME BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ITEMS
The most comprehensive one by 2012 = THAT presented in Thuppahi viz: “A Floursishing Bibliographical Tree …,” 30 July 2012, ………..http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/a-flourishing-bibliographical-tree-tamil-migration-asylum-seekers-and-australia/ …………… containing maybe 90 or so entries
SOME EXAMPLES
Bolt, Andrew 2009 “How the Greens deceive on boat people,” 2 November 2009,http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/hew_the_greens_deceive_on_boat_people
Wickremasekara, Damith & Aanya Wipulasena 2012 “Risking blue waters for greener pastures,” Sunday Times, 22 July 2012, http://www.sundaytimes.lk/120722/news/risking-blue-waters-for-greener-pastures-6714.html
