Saturday, August 03, 2013
Asylum seekers and the Australian response
The year is 2013. Asylum seekers continue to come to Australia by ramshackle boats, mostly from Indonsesia. This has been happening for more than a decade. The flow has been variable but is a much greater volume now than hitherto. And in all this time, Australian Governments formed variously by the members of two clubs, the Liberal / National Party Coalition and the Australian Labor Party have been unable to do other than play to the ugly and ignorant xenophobe in our midst.
Bereft of any morality in this matter, for more than a decade, our political elite, by definition the members of the Australian Parliament governing in turn, have led us into a most dreadful place. Each and every Australian has been and is disgraced by the Governments led by Howard, Rudd and Gillard since 1966. Many of us thought we had emerged from that darkness long ago.
Well, Howard, Rudd andGillard and their ministers may lead their teams and the members of their clubs but I don't follow them; they are not my leaders. In this matter, I oppose their decisions, I oppose their ethics, I oppose their moralities. I oppose their false arguments. I abhor their demonising of my fellow humans. I abhor their denial, to the most vulnerable people, of the most fundamental human rights. I abhor their imprisonment without trial of people who are not charged with any crime. On this issue I regard their Governments with contempt.
The difference between the Morrison-Abbot-Bishop triumvirate's treatment of our refugees and Hitler's -and other governments in times past - treatment of the Jewish peoples is just a matter of degree. What is the distinction? That we are not so brutal, do not kill, do not torture? Not so brutal? Do not torture? Really? Consider the latter again and tell me that indefinite detention - that is, the denial of a future, and the denial of human rights in the most isolate parts of the world - is not a torture. And answer this: would you find it acceptable that your family, your grandmother, mother, father, wife, sister child should be so treated if they they presented to say, North Korea? And how many of our imprisoned refugees have to suicide before the Gaoler-Government can be called to account? You may consider this a bit extremene, but I see it as a matter of degree only; the outcome is the same, the only difference lies only in the numbers and that they died by their own hand.
I call upon the present and future Australian Governments to cease and desist; to adopt a policy of doing no more harm; to accept refugees into our midst and afford them the same rights as other members of the Australian community; to work with Indonesia and other source countries to find other ways of stopping human trafficing; to apply the highest principles and ethics of our society to the policy and processes of managing this matter. If the Government could do that that, Australia would be a better place; indeed, to all those who worry about the effects which the above would have on the "economic bottom" line, the trusth is well known, asylum seekers contribute to our economy as effectively or better than rest of us - google the issue, read the analyses of the Australian Department of Immigration and others; not only would our economy be bigger, we would regain our self respect and who knows, Members of Pariliament may again be worthy of their honorific.
Post script: we worry about what will replace the 'mining investment boom' here is the answer: immigration; consider the work which flows from housing a productive population influx.
Bereft of any morality in this matter, for more than a decade, our political elite, by definition the members of the Australian Parliament governing in turn, have led us into a most dreadful place. Each and every Australian has been and is disgraced by the Governments led by Howard, Rudd and Gillard since 1966. Many of us thought we had emerged from that darkness long ago.
Well, Howard, Rudd andGillard and their ministers may lead their teams and the members of their clubs but I don't follow them; they are not my leaders. In this matter, I oppose their decisions, I oppose their ethics, I oppose their moralities. I oppose their false arguments. I abhor their demonising of my fellow humans. I abhor their denial, to the most vulnerable people, of the most fundamental human rights. I abhor their imprisonment without trial of people who are not charged with any crime. On this issue I regard their Governments with contempt.
The difference between the Morrison-Abbot-Bishop triumvirate's treatment of our refugees and Hitler's -and other governments in times past - treatment of the Jewish peoples is just a matter of degree. What is the distinction? That we are not so brutal, do not kill, do not torture? Not so brutal? Do not torture? Really? Consider the latter again and tell me that indefinite detention - that is, the denial of a future, and the denial of human rights in the most isolate parts of the world - is not a torture. And answer this: would you find it acceptable that your family, your grandmother, mother, father, wife, sister child should be so treated if they they presented to say, North Korea? And how many of our imprisoned refugees have to suicide before the Gaoler-Government can be called to account? You may consider this a bit extremene, but I see it as a matter of degree only; the outcome is the same, the only difference lies only in the numbers and that they died by their own hand.
I call upon the present and future Australian Governments to cease and desist; to adopt a policy of doing no more harm; to accept refugees into our midst and afford them the same rights as other members of the Australian community; to work with Indonesia and other source countries to find other ways of stopping human trafficing; to apply the highest principles and ethics of our society to the policy and processes of managing this matter. If the Government could do that that, Australia would be a better place; indeed, to all those who worry about the effects which the above would have on the "economic bottom" line, the trusth is well known, asylum seekers contribute to our economy as effectively or better than rest of us - google the issue, read the analyses of the Australian Department of Immigration and others; not only would our economy be bigger, we would regain our self respect and who knows, Members of Pariliament may again be worthy of their honorific.
Post script: we worry about what will replace the 'mining investment boom' here is the answer: immigration; consider the work which flows from housing a productive population influx.
Labels: Abbott, asylum seekers, boat people, Gillard, Howard, immigration, migrants, refugees, Rudd
