Seeking safety, finding fear: Corpus-assisted discourse analysis of electoral immigration detention discourse in three countries

Together, with the rise in populist politics and growing polarisation, immigration detention is a salient topic mobilised during elections to generate political support and votes in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), Australia and the United Kingdom (UK). The language used about immigration detention, refugees and asylum seekers has impacts on policy and on lives, including exclusion, criminalisation, detainment, detention and expulsion. Existing scholarship lacks research on the role election periods play in facilitating the transfer of immigration detention discourses and policy across the case countries. We ask: is there evidence that immigration detention discourses transferred between NZ, Australia and the UK during recent elections (2013–2024)? And if so, in what possible ways are these discourses reflected in subsequent policy decision-making? With focus on the examples of ‘stop the boats’ and ‘mass arrivals’ discourses, we argue there is evidence that Australia’s immigration detention rhetoric has developed roots in NZ and UK discourses and policy, echoing similar narratives of deservingness and legality, security and humanitarianism.