Angus Houston
It is difficult to imagine that Opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison will surrender his high political profile and undoubted effectiveness by signing on to the 22 Houston panel recommendations released yesterday.
The asylum seeker debate has been good for Mr Morrison and the Opposition, ranking with carbon pricing as an issue that has consistently rattled the Government.
This has ensured he is a Question Time constant, one of a handful of Opposition front benchers who regularly gets the nod to take on his ministerial opponent.
Continue reading "Coalition unlikely to turn back with mileage to be made" »
The Houston report today gave Labor and the Liberals a joint starting point from which to roll the Greens, the only party totally opposed to off-shore processing of asylum seekers.
Voters want an end to the parliamentary trench warfare on asylum seeker management. They want something done about the increasing number of boat arrivals.
And today that possibility was presented in the 22 recommendations from the independent panel headed by former defence chief Angus Houston.
Continue reading "The Houston panel has rolled the Greens on boats" »
Latest 2 of 140 comments
View all comments-
PhilD says:
I agree on one thing Reuben - let’s change the national anthem back to God Save the Queen. That’ll stop the booats. Read more »
-
Robinoz says:
What an excellent coup by the Labor Government; set up a committee and that way the committee will be recommending adoption of part of the Liberal Party’s policy and not us doing a backflip. Not that I feel governments shouldn’t be allowed to change policy when they find out they’ve… Read more »
Stopping the boats sounds like a quick and easy solution to the problem of asylum seekers. If the boats don’t come, people won’t die at sea and the problem will pushed further away from Australia’s mind eye.
If only it were that easy. ‘Stopping the boats’ actually means helping to fix some of the most complicated and devastating situations that exist in the world today.
As long as Hazara in Afghanistan (or Rohingya in Burma, or Kurds in Iran, or Tamils in Sri Lanka) face persecution, violence and death, they will flee. And as long as they face abuse and destitution in places like Malaysia, they will flee. And some will flee to a place that offers them protection and dignity, like Australia.
Continue reading "What the expert panel should say about our asylum crisis" »
Latest 2 of 155 comments
View all comments-
year of the dragon says:
fml says:08:21am | 14/08/12 “Agree that we should use our navy to pick up asylum seekers from their rickety boats. If you care about their lives you will not care about the cost. You can’t have one with out the other, which is it?” I absolutely believe that whatever means… Read more »
-
fml says:
Yes, Agree that we should use our navy to pick up asylum seekers from their rickety boats. If you care about their lives you will not care about the cost. You can’t have one with out the other, which is it? Read more »
The biggest single boatload of asylum seekers since Labor came to power has intensified the pressure on Julia Gillard to fix the border protection mess heading into a crucial parliamentary fortnight.
The timing is excruciating for Labor MPs returning to the capital as Ms Gillard’s eminent person’s panel headed by Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, prepares to report on Monday.
Derided as problem out-sourcing, the former top soldier’s mission was always close to impossible: fixing what the Government and the parliament was incapable of fixing when it ended two days of acrimonious debate in a stalemate last June.
Continue reading "Labor all at sea on eve of asylum seeker report" »
Latest 2 of 83 comments
View all comments-
Blossom says:
With the largest Muslim Country per capita, being our close Neighbours, they would have their eye on us, am i being paranoid? Also they have no qualms about the Death Penalty, if some one is stupid enough to carry narcotics, into their Country. We can not rely on them for… Read more »
-
Hendo from WOZ says:
The mythical land of milk and honey doesn’t exist, it is funded by the taxpayer who is becoming ever more agitated at the cost. Why on earth are we paying the current Australian government representatives to outsource their main KPI, which is to govern our country? Additionally it appears that… Read more »
NOW there will be a new Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, who will have the rotten task of taking to the podium with Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston to announce that yet another Digger has been killed in action.
Senator John Faulkner did it too many times.
It was clear from watching Faulkner that he truly hated these death calls. He appeared to feel almost too deeply the burden of being the minister in the government which has ordered its troops to fight.
Continue reading "Grieving lost soldiers doesn’t equate to supporting the war" »
Latest 2 of 64 comments
View all comments-
thats war crimes u know says:
staying silent and not speaking out against illegal immoral invasions based on lies that result in the murder of hundreds of thousand of innocent men women and children equates to supporting the war. Read more »
-
Gregg says:
I think you split hairs Wayne with ” I have not stated we should support being in Afghanistan because we have troops there . What i said was that we should give our troops full moral and ethical backing for the job they are doing and also because what they… Read more »
Facebook Recommendations
Read all about it
Punch live
Up to the minute Twitter chatter
RT @CrawfordFund: @farrm51 u may like 2 help spread word of our #foodsecurity journo award http://t.co/FwbMWwJmLf
RT @adamroy37: Just received a phone call from a young girl apologizing for her actions. Lets support her please #racismitstopswithme#Indi…
RT @adamroy37: Just received a phone call from a young girl apologizing for her actions. Lets support her please #racismitstopswithme#Indi…
Australia. Where you die for your country and get a rest area named after you http://t.co/hO6LpfwDvI
Recent posts
The latest and greatest
The Punch is moving house
Good morning Punchers. After four years of excellent fun and great conversation, this is the final post…
Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?
I have had some close calls, one that involved what looked to me like an AK47 pointed my way, followed…
Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”
In a world in which there are still people who subscribe to the vile notion that certain victims of sexual…
Nosebleed Section
choice ringside rantings
From: Hasbro, go straight to gaol, do not pass go
Tim says:
They should update other things in the game too. Instead of a get out of jail free card, they should have a Dodgy Lawyer card that not only gets you out of jail straight away but also gives you a fat payout in compensation for daring to arrest you in the first place. Instead of getting a hotel when you… [read more]From: A guide to summer festivals especially if you wouldn’t go
Kel says:
If you want a festival for older people or for families alike, get amongst the respectable punters at Bluesfest. A truly amazing festival experience to be had of ALL AGES. And all the young "festivalgoers" usually write themselves off on the first night, only to never hear from them again the rest of… [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
Superman needs saving
Can somebody please save Superman? He seems to be going through a bit of a crisis. Eighteen months ago,… Read more
Latest 2 of 293 comments
View all commentsAdd your comment