Illusive Mind

Labour under Kevin Rudd has adopted ‘me-tooism’ almost as a philosophy of action. Rudd has decided he will decide the issues to wedge his opponents and the time and manner in which to do so. On every other issue simply echoing Howard seems to have the effect that appeals to conservative voters (and there must be a lot of them) whilst the lefties bite their tongues because they can ’sniff’ victory (unlike Kim Beazley’s brand of hopeless ‘me-tooism’.)

That being said tomorrow marks the six year anniversary of ‘The Tampa Affair’ when Howard appealed to the better demons of our nature and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Many Australians such as myself continue to feel shame, embarrassment and outrage out this government’s conduct and its shirking of our international responsibilities and lack of human decency.

We get the sense that Rudd would lead a more compassionate Australia and appeal to true Christian values of social justice not exclusion and divisiveness. However, his me-tooism leaves us worried that this Howard-lite might not have the ‘right stuff’.

A report by Oxfam Australia and A Just Australia reveals the economic cost of the ‘pacific solution’ and the blatant waste of money for what amounts to a symbolic measure. We won’t let asylum seeker’s set foot on our soil to send a message to people smugglers. This policy has the moral equivalence of beating a prison inmate within an inch of his life to “send a message” to a third party.

I agree with George Monbiot when he dismisses economic arguments about approaches to the climate change crisis. It’s not that they are inaccurate but they deal with the wrong question. The effects of climate change make it a moral question not a financial one. You don’t decide to prevent a massive loss of human life because it makes financial sense, you do it because it’s the moral thing to do.

Similarly you treat refugees with respect and basic human dignity not because it’s cheaper than building a gulag archipelago and not even because we are signatories to the UN convention of refugees, but because it’s the right thing to do. That being said it’s time for Rudd to ‘out-Howard’ Howard on refugees. He is spending billions of taxpayers dollars on a symbolic gesture which could be spent on defense. The policy has crippled the morale of our navy and is diverting resources from defense. Hit him where he lives, the economy and national security.

Tomorrow would be an auspicious day to do it and would send a ray of hope to decent Australia even if it means appealing to our wallets rather than the better angels of our nature. But when was the last time politics was about that?

From The Age

‘Solution’ branded a costly flop

EVERY asylum seeker processed in offshore centres such as Nauru under the Federal Government’s controversial Pacific Solution has cost taxpayers more than half a million dollars, a report says.

The report, by aid organisation Oxfam Australia and refugee advocacy group A Just Australia, says the “flawed system” fuelled mental illness in refugees, failed to uphold Australia’s commitment under international law and squandered taxpayers’ money.

It says that since the Pacific Solution was introduced six years ago, the Government has spent $1 billion — more than $500,000 a person — to process fewer than 1700 asylum seekers on Nauru, Christmas Island and Manus Island.

“By comparison, the latest estimates from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship suggest that to process 1700 asylum seekers for 90 days each at the Villawood detention centre in Sydney would have cost around $35 million — around 3.5 per cent of the cost of processing them offshore,” it says.

Manus Island in Papua New Guinea had been empty since 2004, but was maintained at an annual cost of $2 million in readiness for new asylum seekers.

Under the Pacific Solution — introduced following the Tampa crisis in the lead-up to the 2001 federal election — asylum seekers intercepted before they reach the Australian mainland are processed offshore.

The report says the policy creates a two-tiered processing system, one for people within Australia and one for people offshore — which opens the way for discrimination and breaches of the international Refugee Convention.

Australia has said it is not obligated to accept asylum seekers processed offshore even if they are found to be genuine refugees.

“The Pacific Solution is neither value for money nor humane,” Oxfam Australia executive director Andrew Hewett said.

The report, A Price Too High, says medical studies, Immigration Department figures and testimony from staff and former asylum seekers on Nauru painted a shocking picture of psychological damage for detainees.

Cases included 45 people engaged in a serious hunger strike and incidents of self-harm and attempted suicide as a result of prolonged isolation in offshore detention centres, where access to mental health services were limited or non-existent.

The report documents long delays in resettling people found to be refugees, compounding post-traumatic stress disorder for asylum seekers.

The report says the Pacific Solution failed to uphold Australia’s commitment under international law, which forbids sending a refugee back to a place where they might face persecution. It recommends that the Pacific Solution be abolished and all asylum seekers processed on the mainland.

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Jon Stewart of The Daily Show aptly reveals the utter absurdity of the United States’ foreign policy approach to the Middle East:

 http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=91998

The U.S. will sell $20 billion in weapons the Saudis. Boom! Balance of power restored.

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