Charity begins at home': Public perceptions of the homestay initiative for asylum seekers in Australia (original) (raw)

2016

Abstract

This study analysed public perceptions surrounding the announcement of the pioneering 2012 Community Placement Network initiative by the former Australian Labor Government, through which an asylum seeker could spend six weeks with an Australian family while their bridging visa application was being processed. Using a Leximancer-supported content analysis of 455 comments from six online Australian news sources, we found that 1) comments did not discuss the article content but discussed other issues related to asylum seekers; 2) in most cases, negative comments outnumbered positive comments; 3) two of six article headlines inaccurately referred to the asylum seekers as refugees; and 4) most comments were negative towards the then Labor Government, Labor politicians and improper expenditure of tax dollars. We conclude that the space available for comments was used as a vehicle to voice dissent towards the then government, its leaders and immigration policy instead of a space to engage ...

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