It's the Aussie way

A boat... about 45 adults and 15 children on board. They're Australian they are sailing around the world (not after a world record so any distance above the equator will do) and their next stop is Faro, Portugal. 

Portugese Customs received a distress call from the boat 10 days ago. One of the trip organisers got things a bit wrong, the boat is nearly out of food, water and fuel. Hungry teenagers, unwell uncles, it's not going so well !! A U.S ship passes by the Aussies -  reports that all is ok, the Portugese still know where the boat is and that it's on it's way to their shores. No further checks are carried out, they'll arrive in about a week. 

They don't arrive.

Things on board are bad, the young children really need food, the boat will drift off course without fuel, they've been at sea for weeks -  people are feeling weak, tired, sick. Some people on board have had bad experiences in the past this boat trip is bringing back all sorts of horrendous nightmares. Some of the men can't take it anymore, on board are their children, wives, sisters, uncles, friends -  they construct a raft of sorts and head off on the expanse of blue, grey choppy water to find help. What else could they do. Is it a choice -  you are the strongest on board, you have to try and help the others, don't you? Besides, the captain made that distress call over a week ago, the Portugese will be on their way to check on the boat... won't they. 

The 5 men don't make it back to the boat, no other vessel picks them up -  the remainder of the Aussies don't make it to shore. The Portugese officials eventually go to boat's aid and take the passengers to a remote island that is not Portugese territory and then locks them up in detention. 

Furious at Portugal? Think they should have done more? Do you feel for those 5 brave men, do you worry about the other passengers who are now detained with no idea when they will get off the remote island or where they will be sent -  they have just lost 5 of their fellow travellers, they are tired and scared. 

I can't even begin to imagine the emotion, fear, physical sickness that these people would have been feeling. Compound that with the fact that they are not Australian -  they are Sri Lankan, they are fleeing war, their homes have been destroyed, family members killed, it is not safe to send their children to school in the town they grew up in -  this boat trip was a chance at a safe, new beginning. 

Just imagine for a moment if this story was actually about 60 Aussies sailing around Europe. Six Aussie families who'd saved for the trip, Michelle's 50th, Sam's 21st, it would reunite all the Thompson kids who have been living all around the world, Faro was to to be the last port, from there people were going to fly off to other destinations or home - they were due to land on Tom and Sarah's third wedding anniversary -  Tom was one of the five men... 

We won't hear the personal stories from the real life version, we won't see the colour photographs from the couple's wedding, the interviews with the 9 year olds who are worried about their classmate who was on board, the neighbour who remembers the good deeds of those on board. These Sri Lankan asylum seekers will remain labeled as the latest "illegal boat arrival" -  the boat gets named by Australia "SIEV #whatever" (suspected illegal entry vessel). 

It is not illegal to seek asylum, it is illegal for Australia to deny these people the right to have their story heard (we are not processing claims from Sri Lankans at the moment!). And surely it is against the law of the sea to leave a boat like this unchecked. 

A policy where inhumane treatment is the benchmark will only lead to more deaths. A population who cannot see asylum seekers as individual humans will continue to let Governments do this. 

If you think I made it up -  read this

(apologies to Portugal, no reason for picking you in this scenario!!)

Image by Katyousha from a Dec, 2005 refugee action. Published in UTS mag. 

It's your income, just don't choose how it goes out

Today I came across a campaign to ensure that Aboriginal people remained in control of their own income. A campaign that pointed out it was unjust for someone to have to ask for permission to spend their own money because they were indigenous. I was shocked to discover that the campaign ran in Australia in 1961.

Reg Jonhston of Broad Arrow, W.A  wrote a letter to the Council for Aborignal Rights stating that his mother was able to manage her own pension and asking why she needed to go and see a 'warrantee' who held her money and tell him what she wished to spend her money on. Shirley Andrews talks of Aboriginal girl she knew at the time:

I was very affronted to hear the story about this lass. She was a teenager, she had gone and asked the policeman to buy, she wanted to buy another petticoat, and he said she had one; that was enough. And you know, I was really shocked at that and it was her own money, and what did he think she was going to do when it was in the wash?

Shirley may not have used human rights terminology, she didn't talk about the teenager's dignity or her right to privacy. But Shirley knew it was wrong. And today in Australia our Government calls it 'income management'. Aren't we meant to learn from history, not let it repeat and all that??? Tell that to the Aboriginal person who in 2010 has a BasicsCard that they did not request, who lives 280km from the office that tells them how much money they have and who can "choose" from 2 local stores that accept the BasicsCard.  

There's a daily spending limit of $800, but you think about it - 

How often do you want to make the 280km bus ride (where the driver has to check you don't have alcohol on board), there's 3 of the kids' birthdays coming up, it's time for a big grocery shop, there are a few things you need from the pharmacy - looks like you're going to exceed the limit, but it's "your choice". 

I hope that we can start to become as outraged as Shirley was. I hope that we stop making the same mistakes. hope...

Its a floodgate... of votes

So, we voted Howard out. The Herd warned we could be wearing rose coloured glasses -  it seems the tint has worn off and someone has handed out those aeroplane eye masks that don't quite fit and have a slightly odd smell.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans has announced that Sri Lanka and Afghanistan are safe countries to live and that Australia will no longer be processing asylum seekers from these countries. Umm... is that the same Afghanistan where  DFAT says don't go  and where Australian troops are presently 'keeping the peace'? And is that the same Sri Lanka where DFAT says to reconsider travel due to political tension?

And what the hell happened to assessing asylum seekers as individuals? That is Australian law, that is international law? Have all the Government's legal advisers taken leave at once or has this Government re-employed Howard's team.

Almost 100% of recent asylum seekers to Australia from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka have been found by our already rigorous system to be genuine refugees -  but to Evans this does not matter.

What benefit is there is grouping asylum seekers together in regional bundles. Just ask talk-back radio and tabloid press: fear. It's "them", "they" are illegal. Call them all one big unlawful group and you remove the mother, the teenager, the father trying to protect his family in the only way left  - it's simple, remove the human and its much easier to have inhumane policy.

I am appalled to be living in a country that has reverted to racism, that lacks compassion, that has complete disregard for international law and where the Government can get away with using people's trauma and despair to gain votes from a public who don't bother to think about the reality.
Getting on a boat and trying to seek aslyum in a country so foreign to your own is not a choice -  its a matter of survival.

2nd Nov 09 - the Viking doesn't sail

Today 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers are stranded / imprisoned / given no choice -  on board an Australian Customs ship at an Indonesian port. Australia doesn't want to 'deal with' these people, little matter they are scared, desperate and being in Indonesia could mean years in squalor with no certainty of where they would end up. 

Today the PM's $100 000 literary award was presented to Nam Le. His story - 'The Boat' - his journey to Australia fleeing the shores of his native Vietnam.. by what means of transport? 

The PM's non-fiction award today went to an historical book comparing White Australia Policy to present day attitudes and policies towards those arriving by boat. 

A handshake from Arts Minister (longer title not listed here) Garrett, large cheques, photo opportunities. So, those who takes journeys out of desperation, those in search of hope create art that the PM's office sees worthy of prizes. Why do these human actions not result in the creation of policy we could stand and call 'humane'?