Enforcing commonwealth control : explaining Australia's response to unauthorised maritime arrivals, 2008-2013

Abstract

This thesis consists in an idiographic theory-guided case study which analyses Australia’s responses to the unauthorised maritime arrival of asylum seekers from the beginning of the Rudd government in 2007 until the first few months of the Abbott government in late 2013. I rely on a theoretical approach informed by David Welch’s prospect theory-based theory of foreign policy change, Kathryn Cronin’s culture of control theory and Christina Boswell’s migration narratives of steering theory. By analysing Question Time interactions and other speeches in Parliament as well as press conferences and media interviews, I find that a culture of control caused every government to adopt restrictive measures. The Labor Party’s decision to restore the restrictive policies it had dismantled can be explained by its leaders’ shifting perceptions on the nature of the problem, the way in which it may be addressed and the expected outcome of existing policies.