On Mon, 26 Sep 2011, Mike Mitchell <m.mitch@exemail.com.au> wrote:
Remember the "babies overboard" lies by John Howard? Hardly a "liberal" approach to immigration.
Wasn't that a hell of a screw up! If you ever get a chance read something on the topic written by the head of the navy at the time. I
Not a screw-up, just a politician lying.
Well we can start by treating people humanely while determining if they are refugees. Make the "innocent until proven guilty" principle apply.
I would have thought they could still be treated humanely and processed overseas. Then those that meet the requirements could be found suitable places elsewhere to act as a deterrent. With all due respect to Malaysia I don't agree with the Gillard solution.
The problem is that the only reason for processing them overseas is to permit treating them worse than could be done in Australia. The Malaysian government deserves no respect for anything related to human rights.
Also, refuge is a privilege not a right. We need to think in terms of ourselves seeking refuge outside Australia to understand that.
There are lots of international agreements about humane treatment of people which give them rights that have been violated by the Australian government.
I can only point to my reply to Tim: "It will appear far more clear when you look, as I mentioned, at it from the other way around. Imagine it was you looking for refuge overseas. Perhaps after the Bob Brown strategy for dealing with "an economic depression and enemy bombers are attacking". There is no guarantee you will be accepted by any other nation in your time of refuge just a vague hope."
Sure there are other countries acting in an inhumane manner, that is no excuse for Australia to do the same.
for a reasonable stay. Then what do we do with Australians who can't live that well? Perhaps we could move them in too and kids on Austudy and,, well who knows what other problems it will create but the answer needs to be holistic including Austudy et al. Maybe when I retire the government can send me to an old folks home in Nauru and let those claiming refuge live in retirement villages here.
There are problems with inequality in Australia and many Australian citizens are not being treated well. That is a problem that needs to be fixed not an excuse for treating immigrants badly.
de Klerk didn't have a referendum before starting the process that led to voting rights for Black people in South Africa. I don't think that anyone
I think he had a mandate from most of the South African people but don't know enough about ZA politics to comment much.
His election as VP after Black South Africans were allowed to vote indicates that the majority of the ZA population were happy with what he did. But that doesn't mean he had an electoral mandate.
Having a representative Democracy and allowing politicians some freedom to vote with their conscience after elected has real benefits.
As a rule I would agree. I think most have values similar to the rest of us. With the exception of Julia's knowledge of economics. Which is surpassed by the average Second Form Economics student.
If politicians were to act on the basis of any sane economical analysis we would have a lot of renewable energy already and no uranium mines. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/