By Avani Dias
Second and third-generation Australians say they are shocked to have been targeted by Federal Government Facebook advertisements encouraging them to tell their relatives not to come to Australia illegally.
“Obviously they’re targeting me for some particular reason even though I live in Australia, I’ve been born in Australia, I don’t know anyone who’s looking to arrive in Australia by boat,” said Johnny Lieu, whose parents migrated from Vietnam decades ago.
“So I’m not really sure what the point is of these advertisements except to make me feel uneasy.”
Mr Lieu said he was surprised when he saw the taxpayer-funded, Australian Border Force advertisement in Vietnamese which translates to ‘Never, no way — Australia will not loosen its tough border rules’.
He said he had listed Vietnamese as a language he speaks on Facebook.
“It was definitely a bit shocking and surprising to say the least, I guess I know who those advertisements are targeted to and to see them targeted at me, I was a little taken aback,” he said.
“I’m surprised that the Australian Government would see me in their sights.”
Ads appear in multiple languages
Aitak Salempour and her family arrived from Iran when she was one-year-old, and she is an Australian citizen.
She was targeted by the advertisements in Farsi.
“Maybe because I’ve put [on Facebook] my place of birth which is in Iran … I have no idea why they would have chosen me who is already an Australian citizen living here,” she said.
“I was confused and it was confronting, they’ve missed their target completely.
“I would not send that message on, I’m not the right kind of person.”
Facebook allows users to target advertisements based on a number of factors including interests, behaviours, connections, and languages.
The Government advertisements are a part of an Operation Sovereign Borders campaign that appears in a number of languages including Bengali, Burmese, Hindi, and Tamil.
“The campaign is targeted at source and transit countries for people smuggling activity, as well as diaspora communities in Australia,” an Immigration and Border Protection Department spokesman said.
The department said the ads were designed to ensure different ethnic communities were informed about Australia’s border protection policies which aim to stop illegal maritime arrivals, and to encourage them to share the information with people offshore.
“Evaluation research consistently shows that family and friends are the primary information source for people in Australia and overseas,”the spokesman said.
But Ms Salempour said she was the wrong audience.
“If my relatives were to come here they wouldn’t be applying as a refugee, they’d be applying as a skilled migrant or something,” Ms Salempour said.
The Federal Government is due to introduce legislation this week that bans refugeese and asylum seekers who have tried to reach Australia by boat from mid-July 2013 from ever coming here.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
© 2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Read the ABC Disclaimer here.
Top Comments
Yes, because apparently if you're not white you're trying to invade Australia. Jeez.
What exactly is the problem here? If you feel an advert is not right for you, Facebook offers you the opportunity to remove it.
The dog whistle here is that communicating border policies is wrong and, inevitably, that the border controls themselves are wrong. Sorry but most Australians disagree. Next!
No, the dog whistle is that no matter how long you or your family has lived here, even if you were born here, you will always be foreign with your foreign foreign-speaking ways, and your troublesome foreign family members.
There's is no possible reason why this particular government department would want to send such a message, and there is no possible advantage in them doing so, in order to achieve their objectives here.
So we're then left with the fact that your analysis serves only one purpose - to allow you to virtue signal about racism. Well sorry but this issue should not be reduced to servicing your own psychological needs.
I think Sheena may have been being sarcastic Liah.
I don't think there is anything wrong with having border controls, every country has them (except within EU). Every sovereign nation has the right to allow entry (or not) to an individual, and they have the right to know who you are, what crimes you have committed, what communicable diseases you may be carrying, and the purpose for which you want entry, as the government has a duty to protect the interests of their citizens. If you want residency or citizenship it's perfectly reasonable for the government to allow or deny on the basis of criteria such as education, skills, financial status or language proficiency. There are many Australian citizens who would agree with having border control - it's one reason as to how Liberal got into power the last two elections.