At What Cost: The human, economic and strategic cost of Australia’s asylum seeker policies and the alternatives

This report explores the human, economic and strategic cost of Australia’s current policies which seek to deter asylum seekers from migrating to Australia by sea. It examines the impact of these policies in a domestic, regional and global setting, taking into account the unprecedented scale of global forced migration at present and the limited range of options currently available to those in the region with protection needs. It provides a set of alternatives which would bring an end to the harm that is being done and ensure the protection of a much greater number of refugees in the region.