Asylum policy was stated to be a major issue in the election, but this did not divert debate from the usual question of the economy, education, health and welfare. The Liberal Coalition repeated the slogan 'send back the boats', as they had done in 2010. Labor came up with a new policy, which was to send all unvisaed arrivals to Papua New Guinea and Nauru, with a probation on them 'never' being allowed to settle in Australia. In the event of a Liberal victor this presented the incoming government with a ready-made punitive strike against the asylum trade. The issue did not seem to make any difference to the level of support for the ALP. The election was fought on the basis that Labor faced a threat in its safest seats in the western suburbs of Sydney. At this stage this is hard to believe but certainly directed attention away from the marginal, which are usually targeted. Both parties made a greater effort to cultivate the ethnic communities by nominating candidates of appropriate origins and attending relevant community activities. The Greens were the only party with an asylum policy directly based on the UN Convention but this did not seem to make much difference to their eventual support. As before no specifically 'ethnic' or 'racist' parties had any influence.

Dr James Jupp AM, FASSA is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute.  He was born in England and educated at the London School of Economics. He came to Australia is 1956 and has taught Political Science at the universities of Melbourne, York (UK), Waterloo (Canada) and Canberra. Dr Jupp has been active in  multicultural and ethnic studies since his Arrivals and Departures was published in 1966. He is the editor of The Australian People (1988 and 1991) and the Encyclopedia of Religion in Australia (2009). His latest publication Multiculturalism and Integration, was published by the ANU ePress in 2011. He was made a member of the Order of Australia for services to ethnic studies and Australian history in 2004.