The securitization of the “boat people” in Australia: The case of Tampa

Abstract: The thesis will examine how the Australian government through its Prime Minister JohnHoward presented the asylum seekers on “MV Tampa” ship as a threat jeopardizing Australian security. Using the theory of securitization as a methodological framework and Critical Discourse Analysis as utilized by Fairclough’s Three-dimensional Framework transcripts of interviews by John Howard will be analyzed in order to expose the securitization process that framed the asylum seekers as an existential threat that needed extraordinary measures.