Good on you Lev for taking a stand.<br><br>It&#39;s good to see some progress in parts of the media on getting more information to the public. Go Back To Where You Came From, and the ABC documentary on the Tampa affair that aired recently were both great at getting to the heart of what is a confronting and complex issue for the whole world.<br>
<br><i>The most interesting analysis that I have heard of why the leadership of the<br>
Labor Party supports off-shore processing of applications for refugee status<br>
was given by a commentator who summarized the situation as follows. According<br>
to ALP polling, a certain proportion (10%)? of voters are overtly xenophobic.<br>
A much larger proportion has xenophobic tendencies that can be exploited by<br>
the Coalision - these include people who voted for the ALP in the last<br>
election but who could switch their votes partly or entirely in response to<br>
this issue.  Then there is another small proportion (10%?) who favour more<br>
humane treatment of refugees - but these people tend consistently to vote for<br>
the Greens, so they aren&#39;t strategically relevant to the Labor Party&#39;s<br>
electoral prospects.<br>
</i><br>They&#39;re being led by the polling instead of taking a moral stance. But, I guess the MPs are the ones who have to get reelected... hey will decide on their policies on that basis. I do wonder if Labor should be trying to lead public opinion on issues instead of trying to follow it.<br>