Australia has a long history of welcoming individuals and groups seeking asylum, as well as unfortunately a long history of removing those perceived to be different. (McKay, Thomas & Blood 2011). Although the White Australia Policy was abandoned decades ago, it continues to live on with strong resonance on the conservative right of politics ( Westoby & Ingamells, 2010 ). Community fear about the Australian border appears to be easily triggered, prompting the use of the term “paranoid nationalism” to describe the intense refugee policy of the Howard years linked to discrimination and mistreatment of asylum seekers that survives today ( Westoby & Ingamells, 2010 ). This document will use the term asylum seeker to identify those who have arrived on Australian shores seeking refuge without a valid visa. In this article I aim to consider the history of how asylum seekers have been constructed as “the other” and to examine the role of public discourse and political, legal and media responses, such as the implementation of detention centres, in create and strengthen the system positioning asylum seekers as different and not belonging. It will therefore be argued that, although we have come a long way in relation to the Howard Government's treatment of asylum seekers, we are still not far enough. Two key areas, namely the use of “othering” and the implementation of detention centres, need to be addressed if we are to take seriously our responsibility for providing refuge to asylum seekers. Historical context There have been three main waves of asylum seekers in Australia's history with the first wave being motivated by the Indochina crisis and the second comprising asylum seekers mainly from southern China and Cambodia (McK...... half of paper ...... W. (2011), 'Any one of those boats could be a terrorist for all we know!' Media representations and public perceptions of 'boat people' arrivals in Australia', Journalism, vol 12 , No. 5, pp. 607-626.Phillips, J. (2011), "Asylum seekers and refugees: what are the facts?", Briefing Note, Parliamentary Library, Canberra.Pickering, S. (2001), "Common Sense and original deviance: journalistic discourses and asylum seekers in Australia", Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 169-186.UNHCR (2010), “Asylum levels and trends in industrialized countries 2009: Statistical overview of asylum applications lodged in Europe and some non-European countries”, Geneva, UNHCR. Westoby, P., & Ingamells, A. (2010), 'A critically informed perspective of working with resettlement refugee groups in Australia', British Journal of Social Work, vol. 40, no. 6, pages. 1759-1776.