Monday, July 26, 2010

Citizens assemble, Julia is confused

So, a year long chat about climate change? I am sorry Julia - WTF??? I thought Tony was the sceptic. 

What exactly are you hoping the citizens can tell you? The experts have given you the facts, the people of Australia have told you they want action, the global community kinda sorta tried to tell the world, Scandavia and parts of Europe have been creating positive change for years now, your old boss told you this was 'the greatest moral challenge of our times'. But you reckon door knocking from Broome to Ballina to Bendigo will sort things out?! I'm sorry, won't that add a few more planes, hire cars, phone calls to the tally... and that'll be another year, plus the nine months or so give birth to another long report of in-action. All that when you said through your sparkly eyes last night that 'you believed in climate change'...??

Not that I buy the idea at all. But just incase others do, let's reflect on the last year long consultation your Government embarked on. ummm.... that's right, you asked Australians to comment on how they felt about human rights protection - Australia asked for a Human Rights Act -  your Govt said nope sorry, but thanks for that nice little idea. 

let's tell Julia how it's going to be.
Greens in the Senate and she'll have no choice!


Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Seeking a policy, somewhere, anywhere


I have been too angry, shocked, frustrated, sad and a million other things to have written a blog about the latest announcements on how Australia's leaders intend to address the human rights issue of seeking asylum.

And in my delay - Julia has been doing a nice job of self-destructing on this issue. Her plans for East Timor seem to be without foundation, Tony's alternate plans for the Defence Force to play decision maker on which boats stay and which boats go also seems to without foundation. Key point for both politicians (in case they were looking here for advice) -  If you are making an announcement that involves 2 parties, get the ok from the other group before you make that announcement!!

So... the facts:
  • Australia receives less than 1% of the world's refugees
  • In total we are talking about around 3,000 people in one year at most by boat
  • of those who arrive by boat, in recent years -  more than 90% were found to be genuine refugees
  • There is no queue to jump and there are usually no papers to be thrown over board. Many people in the world never receive a birth certificate, and you try going to a Government office  asking staff there for a passport because you'd like to leave the country - the office is run by the people who killed your mother, or that office is a 200km walk from your home over a hill, past the football field, past a few hundred landmines and through a few groups of rebel fighters keen top recruit you. 
The Government is trying to convince us that a processing centre (I'll call it a detention centre) in East Timor will stop the potentially fatal boat trips that people are making. Ummm.... a bit of geography here, East Timor is an island!! To get there you need a boat, asylum seekers don't pass by the coast of East Timor, decide not to stop and then head on to Australia -  check out a map. They leave Indonesia and head down the Indian Ocean towards Australia's West Coast - not for fun, because that is a navigational route.  

I am all for a regional processing centre -  one where people are detained for the shortest possible time, where they can live in the community, work and have their health and education needs met whilst awaiting assessment. But is a developing nation such as East Timor the best place for this?? Or is it one that needs the money and one where Australia has some influence? The asylum seekers would either continue down the Indian Ocean, be picked up and transferred back across the top of Australia and through the Timor Sea. OR -  they would be taken straight from hiding in Indonesian ports to East Timor.  Indonesia and East Timor are not exactly best friends, I can't see how this plan actually work. This doesn't seem like complex political or logistical information to me, why has our adept, intelligent PM not thought about it or even chatted it through with oh, i don't know, East Timor's PM for one?? No, not Jose, he's the Pres and that's great, but you gotta talk to the PM too Goolia!

Julia says she didn't want a race to the bottom. She says that the debate should be honest and calm. ok... go for it. 

I have just noticed that in my first par of this blog I called these politicians 'leaders'. They are not, they are following an ill-informed, racist and therefore fearful public. Leadership would be to take a stand, announce the facts and state that Australia will uphold its international obligations and be a humane country. That'd get my vote. 

Just for fun, check out this clip, it has no point but i love it.

Monday, July 5, 2010

I can stand it, and more


Koolism's new track 'Can't Stand It' has it right on so many levels. I know it was a long time coming to get to this release, but man... the timing looked scripted. It dropped when A.Johns was all over the news for being a racist idiot. Poignant pen work Hau.
Check out the track



And... still is was Tahu who took a stand not the NRL taking a stand to get rid of Johns...??? why is it so often the case in situations of social injustice that the victim is removed and the perpetrator stays?