Immigration
Kevin Rudd likes to trumpet his wish to end the blame game. But in reality he rips it up, particularly in health.
First he blames senior Australians for living longer and healthier lives, and uses the Intergenerational Report to belt up on them, labelling seniors a ‘burden’, a ‘problem’ needing a solution.
Second, he blames the Senate for not allowing him to break his promise not to reduce (or abolish for some) the Private Health Insurance Rebate. He even seems to blame his failed ETS ‘tax on everything’ on the Liberal Party, because we changed our leader to reflect the wishes of the Party and the electorate more generally.
Continue reading "We should have a debate on population and immigration" »
You learn a lot about people when the pressure is on.
Some interesting facts emerged recently about what really happened during those extraordinary four weeks last year when the Oceanic Viking abandoned our Patagonian tooth fish to become home to 78 Tamil asylum seekers.
During these events the debate raged about who knew what and when. Where would they go and on what terms? The answers to many of these questions came to light during recent questioning in Senate estimates.
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Marilyn Shepherd says:
Are you a totally brainless fuckwit? Afghans, Kurds, Iraqis, Iranians, they have to come the last leg by sea because if they asked us for a visa we would tell them to fuck off no matter how dangerous their own countries are. Now get a grip on reality. 99.999% of… Read more »
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Bluey says:
Gee, Dave. You mean Labor promised tax cuts and Labor delivered those cuts? Gee, mate guess what, you’re right, they did. Taxes? Mate, don’t talk to me about taxes. Ask Tony, mate. He’ll tell ya! Here ya go. Tony is Very Sorry! http://www.smh.com.au/national/abbott-sorry-for-goitalone-pledge-20100309-pur8.html Just this arvo, Herald. Wake up, mate. Read more »
It must be hard for a conservative politician to make a decision he or she knows will distress heartland followers. John Howard upset a certain hardcore group of loyalists – even within his own cabinet – by banning semi-automatic rifles after the Port Arthur massacre.
It is even harder when Labor politicians make decisions that might appear to lack compassion, because they are supposed to be the party that cares about social justice.
But there seems to be a greater willingness to find excuses for Labor politicians, as Melbourne barrister and civil libertarian, Robert Richter QC, demonstrated on Lateline Thursday night.
Continue reading "Heartlessness at the centre of an immigration scandal" »
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xen says:
@nic: Yes, I did read the article, but I was commenting on what annie said. @Mike: I think it depends which countries you immigrate to and where you come from. So, Mike, can you specify which of the 50 countries in Europe you are talking about? Immigration can only become… Read more »
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eye4aneye says:
Just as an aside this woman has several other children that are in Australia legitimatly - Why can’t one (or more) of them step up and care for her? Might be cynical of me but is it perhaps possible having this man care for his elderly mother was a ploy… Read more »
Who knew the lower north shore of Sydney was a hunting ground for anti-immigrationists. This flyer popped up in mail boxes last weekend in more than one apartment block, in more than one suburb. Unauthorised of course, and probably the work of a nutter.
But it’s an election year, and these things don’t tend to happen in a vacuum. During the next six months there’ll be a lot more of this rubbish peddled by those outside the political mainstream.
Scott Morrison has requested we be able to debate immigration without labeling people racist. That’s more than fair. But keeping the debate clean is a two way street.
Continue reading "Want to lose “racist” from the debate, lose the racism" »
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J Citizen says:
“Lose the racism”? The leaflet never had any, and you still call it racist anyway. You call it “rubbish/garbage” from a “nutter”. But let’s not have any name-calling, eh? Read more »
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Craig Hendry says:
It is always a concern when people (population) is viewed as a problem rather than a solution, and “policy” is formed from that type of perspective. Read more »
Last week I returned from a visit to Christmas Island to Parliament where the Labor Member MP, John Sullivan, from Longman in Brisbane, interjected during a speech and called me a racist.
At the time, I was speaking to an Appropriations Bill that was seeking additional funds to make up for shortfalls in this year’s budget. Included in these shortfalls was $132 million for off shore processing of asylum seekers. We were supporting the Bill.
I noted that the 100 per cent plus blow out in costs demonstrated the Government had failed to appreciate the impact of their policy changes on the detention population on Christmas Island, that is now at unsustainable levels.
Continue reading "You can’t debate immigration without being called a racist" »
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Seano says:
“Anyone with a pair of eyes in their head can see many of our ’ new Australians’ have no intention of ever integrating & want to bring their tribal mentality here” Of course same thing was said about the Greeks and Italians when they came and that turned out to… Read more »
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Mick says:
A charity case I meant sarcastically, in the sense that those who do not want such high levels of immigration are often called racist, and therefore it comes off like bringing in these relatively high numbers of people is some sort of undebatable cause we need to get behind or… Read more »
A new front in the immigration debate opened up in the last week as the media grabbed hold of proposed changes to migration law to deliver a sensationalist warning of alleged “loop-holes” that will supposedly lead to an influx of chronically ill foreign workers.
The alarmist reporting on efforts to engage the community in tackling the complex issue of migration policy for people with disability is disappointing on several levels - particularly as there were serious factual errors underpinning the arguments.
Suggestions that the Government had widened a “loop-hole” and “loosened” its grip on migration policy for migrants with HIV and cancer not only played to political fear-mongering that Australia has lost control of its migration policy, it also negatively stereotyped people with disability as non-taxpayers who constitute a drain on society and the economy.
Continue reading "Why can’t Australia accept migrants with HIV?" »
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Geoff says:
The HIV ban was put in place in the 1980s when nobody knew much about HIV. The USA has now lifted its similar ban because they recognise that it has nothing to do with medicine. HIV is not a communicable disease in the sense of transmission through normal social interaction. … Read more »
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Bec says:
What is these people are let in, they have HIV or AIDS and rape someone but “its ok because thats what I did in my country” That I am afraid, is EVERYONES business to know…... Read more »
As our annual obsession with national identity reaches its peak, after weeks of debate into the meaning of red meat, high carb beverages and the quaint French phrase ‘oi, oi, oi’, here is one more idea to think about.
On Australia Day 1999 the Coalition Government introduced the reaffirmation ceremony to mark 50 years of Australian Citizenship. It’s a pretty simple idea where natural born Australians join with those who are taking up citizenship for the first time to recite the pledge together:
“As an Australian citizen, I affirm my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I uphold and obey.”
Continue reading "It’s time we took our own pledge of allegiance" »
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Loskey says:
I think someone has a real chip on his shoulder, Everyone is a racist no matter what race you stem from. But it is far easier to call a white man a racist, Why?, because of a bad history of being racists. Just remember, ones opinion is usually a reflection… Read more »
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Dan says:
Joe, you really are a disgusting racist. The fact that the reason you don’t idolise the Nazies because they lost, not because they were racist genocidal murderers, says it all. You are an anti-semitic, Islamophobic, racist, white supremecist. I’m Jewish. I bet you wish that my entire family was wiped… Read more »
Australia is recognized internationally as a stable and prosperous country offering refuge to those in need or new opportunities for migrants.
Over fifty boats carrying around fourteen hundred refugees have arrived in Australian waters in 2009. Another one hundred thousand other refugees and migrants have arrived by more conventional means.
The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) has long identified family reunion as one of the top priorities for refugees and other migrants once they have been settled in Australia. Facilitating family reunion has been shown to have an impact on settlement through improvements in economic participation as well as the psychosocial well-being of refugees and migrants themselves.
Continue reading "Immigration could resurrect Grandma’s place in society" »
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Dan says:
annie forrest, plenty of religious men don’t like to touch women other than their wife. There’s nothing wrong with it. Ian morton, give me a break. Firstly, that’s a nonsencical generisation, and secondly, do you have any idea how much racism there is in Europe? You would fit right in. Read more »
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Lisa says:
Don’t worry Eric, I love gradpas, and I’m hoping my own husband will be one, one day. I have to say though, it’s unfair (and a parental cop-out) to expect Grandma and Grandpa to look after the kids fulltime! Childcaring, particularly for mutliple children, can be an incredibly restricting and… Read more »
In one of the stranger afternoon Christmas announcements by the Government (see above) late yesterday the office of Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor announced that cruise ships would now be able to visit Christmas Island.
That’s right, the destination for hundreds of asylum seekers can now be accessed in luxury aboard the Pacific Sun Cruise Ship.
Upon receiving this yesterday The Punch had to make sure that it wasn’t a joke. Check out some of these lines in the release:
Continue reading "Visit Christmas Island this Christmas says P&O" »
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Formersnag says:
The blind lead the blind & the sheeple blog on. Next election try putting the greens last, labour second last, the liberal/ national candidate third last, every true minor party &/or independent candidate ahead of them, then the conservatives, will eventually, get your preference vote, but without, getting the idea… Read more »
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Dan says:
Eric, refugees make effort to come to Australia and to escape persecution. But, yes, you’re absolutely right, they came because Christmas Island offers such a good quality of life. Read more »
Everyone has the human right to freedom of religion and belief. But often religion and belief can be used as grounds for discrimination and as weapons of division and hate. As a nation, we need to make sure that this does not happen.
Over the next three weeks there are two very different religious conferences being held in Australia. One is the Parliament of the World’s Religions conference in Melbourne, with the theme, ‘Making a world of difference: Hearing each other, Healing the Earth’. The other, this weekend, is the National Conference for all Concerned Christians in Sydney, themed ‘Australia’s Future and Global Jihad’.
Australia is a nation of many religions and beliefs. Some people say we are a Christian nation. More often than not, we are described as a secular nation. But which is true? And why, if at all, does it matter?
Continue reading "Are we really the secular nation we think we are" »
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Sam says:
@Dan, Islam opposes self-examination. It says “if the Quran says it, then that’s what the prophet meant, and if it doesn’t say it then it’s not part of Islam”. Nowhere does Islam encourage interpritation in the context of the day. However, with regards to Judaism, interpritation and contextual understanding is… Read more »
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Adam says:
Amber, as an atheist and a secuarlist I completely agree with you that Islam is not a religion like Christianity, Hinduism etc. Islam and its followers are the biggest threat to our secularism in the long-term, not Christianity. I think honest and rational opposition to Islam is something that the… Read more »
One of my all time favourite arguments against allowing asylum seekers into this country is ‘this is a Christian nation.’ To which I say, What Would Jesus Do my Christian friend?
As the full scope of Australia’s fear and loathing is on display after Indonesian authorities opened fire on a boat full of Afghan asylum seekers and Courier Mail readers responded with applause, I think it’s time we reflect on what was done to asylum seekers in our name in the years between 2000 and 2008.
I doubt this will have any effect whatsoever on those who cheer the shooting of Afghans who have fled the tyranny in their homelands, but that’s because there are two types of people in this world - those on the side of human rights and those who would pick up a gun against their fellow humans and carry out acts of cruelty.
Continue reading "Fear and loathing in the Land Down Under" »
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Lisa says:
This fear of asylum seeker is a perfect example of Australia’s racism. there is one world. There is one human race, the boundaries between countries are man-made and mean nothing. Anyone should be allowed to go anywhere they want on the earth. We all live here, and if someone needs… Read more »
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Sam says:
Rebecca, thanks for an excellent post! I totally agree. Read more »
Here are the eight inconvenient truths in the ongoing conversation on boat people over the last weeks and months in The Punch.
The first inconvenient truth relates to the claim that Australia can’t handle an influx of refugees, and we shouldn’t be forced to because we already take so many. In the face of the kind of suffering, and the numbers involved, in refugee camps around the world, and given the extent of our wealth, Australians could take many more – thousands more – refugees than we do. We would need far better integration programs, but we have the wealth that should allow us to provide these too. We could also afford a far more generous, even if better targeted, refugee aid program, especially with our South East Asian neighbours.
The defence of popular opposition to greater refugee intake in this regard is the morally unsustainable defence of a privileged country that refuses to take its own values, and what are arguably its international moral obligations, seriously.
Continue reading "The eight inconvenient truths on boat people" »
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Richard Ure says:
And better still not to reward politicians with high office for beating up a fear of people who arrive by boat rather than those who arrive with an entrance fee to a shonky school. Read more »
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bowie (Margareet Chaldecott) says:
One problem is placement - governments seem to think no one should live beyond the 2 or 3 large cities, and they make life difficult for people who would prefer to live ‘outside’ - train is removed, industries closed down, hospitals lack staff, schools don’t function - but these people… Read more »
The biggest problem for the AFL in getting a successful presence in Western Sydney won’t be the choice of Kevin Sheedy as coach, it won’t be the home ground or sponsorship and isn’t even the popularity of rugby league as such.
No, the largest hurdle for the AFL in setting up shop in Western Sydney is this: Australian Football is still predominantly a white Anglo/Celtic sport with a culture that doesn’t look anything like Western Sydney.
Right now the AFL doesn’t even reflect the ethnic make-up of its own Melbourne heartland, so how does it expect to sell itself to kids and their parents in the most ethnically diverse part of Australia?
Continue reading "A game white people like: the AFL’s West Sydney problem" »
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Steve of Sydney AFL/NRL fan says:
This is quite possibly the worst article ive ever read to compare majak daw (a sudanese refugee) to someone like george gregan (half australian who immigrated here when he was 1) is ridiculous i love league and aussie rules and theres room for both in west sydney. And to say… Read more »
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A Kiwi AFL fan says:
Regarding Pacific Islanders and the AFL, it’s worth noting that the national sport of Nauru is in fact Aussie Rules football. Another one of Shanahan’s arguments takes a tumble ... Read more »
The Sydney broadcaster, Alan Jones, interviewed me recently on his morning radio program. During a conversation about my contention that we should have a national discussion about our future population, Jones asked me about Muslim immigration to Australia. Let me quote from the transcript:
Jones: ….you’re saying that any migration program should be in the national interest. You further say that, basically, in all of these issues we should be taking the public with us. Right, should we therefore be worried about the growth of the Muslim population just as people are concerned in Europe, you’re not allowed to talk about this?
Andrews: Well firstly I think you should be able to talk about it Alan. It is ridiculous if you can’t talk about any subject and in fact what happens when a subject becomes politically incorrect to talk about, then it ends up with a backlash. I think part of the Hanson movement, back in the early 1990s, was because some subjects were simply said to be off the table, they couldn’t be discussed and a lot of Australians wanted to discuss them.
Continue reading "This isn’t racism, it’s called democracy" »
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Mitch says:
More bigoted nonsense from a man who is building up quite a resume of bigoted nonsense. Read more »
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Tom says:
What a fascinating debate! We certainly brought some white Australia policy supporters out of the woodwork Whilst I hate to agree with Kevin Andrews, he is right that we need to have a conversation about this, and other issues (if we don’t then we get One Nation all over again)… Read more »
We have had the ‘Pacific Solution’, the Christmas Island solution, and now the Indonesian solution - it’s time for an Australian solution to the problem of asylum seekers making the desperate and dangerous voyage to seek the protection of our country.
Reasonable people would agree that - those who cynically exploit desperate asylum seekers for profits should be stopped; it is appalling to see women and children making dangerous voyages and putting their lives at risk; people fleeing persecution will give everything they have to get their families to safety; there should be an orderly and fair refugee assessment system and Australia must honour its international obligations.
The core problem is that those who embark on boats are desperate. Between 85 per cent and 98 per cent of people arriving by boat are ultimately accepted by Immigration to have legitimate refugee claims. That is, they have fled from serious harm in their home countries for reasons covered by the Refugee Convention.
Continue reading "Asylum seekers: time for the Australian Solution" »
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Voxpop says:
Julie Coker-Godson - go back to the MSM pages where your hateful diatribe fits in best (the Top Gun comment gives you away ). Or better yet grow a brain - it’s incredible how truly ignorant people can be. I’d be embarassed to write comments that are factually wrong and… Read more »
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Julie Coker-Godson says:
The refugees do not own the Oceanic Viking, the Australian Taxpayers do: the refugees are writing cheques their bodies cannot cash! (with credits/apologies to Top Gun producers). Get these people off our vessel!! To our cringeworthy government I would say, stop weasling and just get on with it! Read more »
Immigration has held a special place in the fears of many Australians but the figures tell a different story to that told by Liberal MP Kevin Andrews in his recent post on The Punch.
The data on asylum seekers and refugees in particular provides some much needed perspective on the current national debate.
When Mr Andrews informed Punch readers of the latest migration figures of 173,290 permanent migrants, he neglected to mention that in the last year of the Howard Government the number of permanent migrants to Australia reached 184,438.
Continue reading "Counterpunch: the figures on refugees tell the story" »
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Andrew Smith says:
Population figures are artifically high, and based on recent arrivals who may have applied for permanent, or temporary residency up to three years ago…..during boom times. Credible population projection for 2050 is 28 million from the Population Reference Group basedon ABS data. Raw population data includes long term WHV tourists… Read more »
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Craig says:
For those who advocate open borders. When do you say enough? - factoring in cultural impact upon host society (the Australia that exists now would be radically changed and along with that, institutions which keep our nation stable, our (your) way of life.), infrastructure, environment (water anyone? - carbon emissions?… Read more »
Why is the Rudd government hell-bent on bringing more and more people to Australia?
In 2007-08, 173,290 people permanently migrated to Australia. In addition, there were another 544,000 temporary migrants to the country, excluding the five million visitors. That’s close to three-quarters of a million extra people residing here in a year.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Net Overseas Migration contributed 60.6 per cent of Australia’s population growth in 2008, compared to 39.4 per cent contributed by natural increase.
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Peter says:
It won’t hurt to bring in plenty more refugees because they’re in pretty bad situations. As long as we only take enough in so we’ll have the ideal population. Read more »
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Don Clark says:
Mr Andrews has misrepresented the state of migration to Australia and conveniently forgets to mention by how much net migration was allowed to continue increasing over the term of the former conservative Government of which he was a member. Sadly for him the facts are part of the national store… Read more »
If Malcolm Turnbull doesn’t sit Wilson Tuckey down on his comments about terrorists aboard asylum seeker boats he’s effectively endorsing the increasingly maverick MP’s comments.
In a door stop just now the Opposition Leader opted out of criticisng the Member for O’Connor’s assertion this morning that people coming here on boats could actually be terrorists.
``If you wanted to get into Australia and you have bad intentions, what do you do?’’ Mr Tuckey asked reporters in Canberra. “You insert yourself in a crowd of 100 for which there is great sympathy for the other 99. You go on a system where nobody brings their papers, you have no identity, you have no address.’‘
Mr Turnbull’s response: “Well he’s not the Prime Minister of Australia.”
Continue reading "Is Tuckey just Turnbull’s dog whistle on boat people?" »
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Paul Prentice says:
By pass that disgusting ideology “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS” and Wilson Tuckey is right in what he says, its easy to see what politicians are working for Australia’s interests now, and see who is licking the backside of that communist regime the United Nations Read more »
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Mike J says:
Tory, you look a lot older than twelve. Put the lid back on what can of worms? Precious Rudd-lovers like you try to distort everything in Rudd’s favour. How does pointing out there could be 1 terrorist among 100 illegals mean they could (or are) ALL be terrorists? You’ll be… Read more »
It is with some alarm that I have seen the national political debate turn towards border protection in recent days. Like the debates that have preceded this one – myth appears to transcend the deep human dimension that is missed in the daily headlines.
There is no doubt that the current policies may need to be reviewed but this does not abdicate our responsibility as a state and nation to look after those who have come from circumstances that we cannot begin to comprehend.
In my community I spent a bit of time getting to know an “asylum seeker” who left Sierra Leone in the hope that he could make a better life for his family.
Continue reading "This inhumane response belittles us as a nation" »
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Peter of Adelaide says:
I have read most of the posts here and some have made good points, and some have mad bad points. We turn away people because they are an unknown, all could be seeking asylum for whatever reason, or as Wilson Tucky inferred there *might* be a terrorist among them, we… Read more »
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paulh says:
these asylum seekers,tear up their paperwork and illegaly pay to come here by boat.We already allow in more people than most through the correct channels,this bunch should go through the correct channels.A migrant from the uk has to prove he can financially support himself and his family,these ilegal immigrants get… Read more »
What would you do if you had fled halfway across the world to save your life, and ended up in a hot, urine-smelling demountable prison building, surrounded by security guards?
What if you didn’t speak the language and your jailers couldn’t be bothered organising an interpreter, leaving you effectively mute?For a Somalian woman at Christmas Island, this isn’t a hypothetical. This is real life.
On my recent trip to the island I met this woman, wandering around the Construction Camp – where women and families are housed - in a daze, clearly distressed, with no way of talking to authorities and no way of understanding what was happening to her.
Continue reading "Mr Rudd, asylum seekers are real people" »
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Barbara Johnstone says:
On of the comments here is why not stay in one of the countries that they passed through to get here. Also, my children (15&18;) say to me that they are worried that there are too many refugees here and what is going to happen to them in the years… Read more »
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Danny says:
Dan, it’s the carrying capacity of the _planet_ that matters for humans as a species. And accepting refugees doesn’t change the population of the planet. Read more »
Amnesty International flatly rejects the assertion that recent changes to Government policy have led to an increase in the number of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat.
Despite much sensationalist reporting on the issue of boat arrivals, the fact remains that only a tiny percentage of the millions of people seeking asylum choose to seek that protection on Australia’s shores.
Statistics published in June by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the international body responsible for addressing refugee issues worldwide, show that at the end of 2008 there were 827,323 pending asylum seeker cases worldwide. Australia was handling 2159 of these – which is substantially less than one per cent.
Continue reading "All sides of politics ignore facts of asylum arrivals" »
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Colin says:
Can’t believe the comments on here! I feel like in a time warp back in the days of Good Ol’ White Australia. Please read the article you are commenting on at least.This is embarassing. Read more »
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Paul says:
Enough of left wing policies, and there loonacy ,the fact they need to get to Australia these illegal immigrants so badly after they are all in a safe Muslim country like Indonesia ,is proof enough that Australia is there desired destination because they get a free ride and a how… Read more »
The Pacific Solution has been replaced by the Indian Ocean non-solution.
In the ABC documentary The Howard Years those responsible for the Pacific Solution said that the mandatory detention camps they inherited from Labor were almost bursting, due to the influx of boats.
We face the same situation with the Christmas Island Detention Centre rapidly filling up as the boats keep coming.
Continue reading "Increase in asylum seekers is a problem of Rudd’s making" »
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Jason says:
Amazing - nobody is saying we shouldn’t take genuine refugees. Just don’t accept queue jumpers. If Australia collapsed into a civil war (or say, the greens got into power), it’s the “fat cats” who would be the boat people choosing their destination and leaving the poor “working class” back in… Read more »
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Kelley says:
It was interesting to see Evans last night on tele squirming and dithering, and then Lateline with Tanner and Pyne. Pyne made mince meat of Tanner. Well done Pyne about time. About time this Government had scrutiny. Read more »
Sitting on our Immigration Minister’s desk is an application for ministerial intervention; an application that if not approved will send two young Kenyan women back to their homeland and into the hands of a barbaric fate.
What awaits Grace, 22, and Teresia, 21, is genital mutilation. While outlawed around the world, it still exists in their homeland – an act involving a knife, 10 men holding them to the ground and another 30 looking on. So horrific, that death is not unusual (and for those who do survive female genital mutilation, it does irreparable harm).
If they refuse mutilation, they will be murdered.
Continue reading "On the brink of condemning two women to mutilation" »
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Bee says:
Mike_The_Fisherman - you have completley misconstrued the topic and managed to branch off into unsophisticated dribble - We are all people??? - yes you are right - but are we all HUMAN??? Humanity is the key topic under discussion - This debate has little to do with world inequality on… Read more »
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Mike_The_Fisherman says:
Sure the practice is archaic, and in most cases unwanted. I say in most cases because there are some of these people that willingly go through with this mutilation to maintain family honour. It still doesn’t excuse it. I think we need to forget that this is happening to women.… Read more »
It’s not a new adage that it takes a community to raise a child, but sometimes the simple assumptions we take for granted need to be brought back into the spotlight to reinforce their relevance.
If we’re to expect to be able to raise well-adjusted children who each have a sense of security and belonging, we need to be progressive in our definition of community – including in our consideration of where our individual responsibility to community starts and ends.
While Australia provides a safe-haven for many thousands of refugees seeking asylum every year, their relief can be short-lived if they fail to adjust to a life so completely different to any they have ever known.
Continue reading "Lost in translation: helping refugees find a voice" »
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stephen says:
This is a big country, and let them come. And when they do, house them inland. (Our ancestors, stuck to the coast, wanted to re-create the coloures of the old country, e.g. blue and green.) But our future belongs inland ; we are a desert people, and maybe our new… Read more »
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Mr Subramanian says:
I listened with sadness when the Opposition blamed the increase in illegal immigration on the relaxation on laws under Kevin Rudd - because it is quite possibly true, and nonetheless something I welcomed, if that is one of the costs of becoming a more open and welcoming country to such… Read more »
We already have two classes of citizens in our country - those with shared loyalties having dual citizenships and those with only loyalty to Australia.
Only the latter can be elected to the Australian Parliament.
This shared loyalty concept raises interesting questions when someone commits a heinous crime or crimes in Australia.
Continue reading "On dual citizens, ETS hot air and the magic of the web" »
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missingaustraliainamerica says:
I’ve always been under the impression that modern Australia was a nation made up of Indigenous inhabitants and migrants. There isn’t really a clear-cut mould of what it is to be an “Australian”. What makes Australia such a fantastic country is the influence of hundreds of cultures, and our multiculturalism… Read more »
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Razor says:
Australia should not allow multiple citizenship. Either you are an Australian or you aren’t. Read more »
For a nation whose history is not exactly littered with foreign invasions, illegal immigration and refugee crises, Australia has a strange fascination with border security.
John Howard discovered the political mileage in appearing to be tough on border protection with his “we’ll decide who comes here” speech of 2001.
Kevin Rudd knows he can’t stray too far from Howard’s approach to retain the affection of middle Australia and has even sticky-taped the words Border Protection on to the end of the Australian Customs Service as if to prove his dedication to the cause.
Continue reading "Postcard from London: Poms see Aussies in dim new light" »
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Once again, Australia’s focus has been on the so-called threat of boat people heading our way. Do we defend our borders? Are we soft on people smugglers? Is our way of life under threat?
It is a debate that has raged on and off for more than 30 years, since the first boats appeared off Australia’s northern coastline in the wake of the Vietnam War. There were many Australians who did not want to welcome those for whom we had sacrificed so many young Australians.
Good enough to defend, but not good enough to welcome. It was a time when a young man named Hieu Van Le set out on a perilous journey in search of freedom and opportunity.
Continue reading "The human story behind asylum-seeker hysteria" »
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Mark says:
Do you guys only post comments that are politically correct? I repeat;- The days of the open door policy is over. The boats must be turned back.My and every other tax payers money is being wasted .Howard’s Foreign policy techniques were correct and appropriate for 21st Australia.He is a true… Read more »
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franklin says:
The most desperate and vunerable of the worlds refugees are single women and children living in squalid refugee camps in Africa and Asia. They live in abject poverty and are forced to deal with hostile locals, an almost total lack of economic opportunities, frequent gender based violence, high rates of… Read more »
A serious, if unintended problem has emerged from the last changes the Parliament made to the Family Law Act.
The changes were designed to improve shared parenting, but the safety of the child was meant to take precedence.
However it seems the courts are interpreting the changed law to mean that the right of the non-custodial parent to know the child or children is of greater consideration than the safety of the child.
Continue reading "Move quickly to fix the problems with child custody" »
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Jay says:
If you think a “tough on border protection” stance is going to stop an influx of Tamil refugees after the Sri Lankan government’s final military push then you’ve really got some serious thinking to do. I seriously doubt that refugees decide where they are heading to when they flee whatever… Read more »
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Pete says:
I didn’t vote for him, but the best thing Howard did was to reform these arrangements. The current backlash from feminists is not about what’s best for the child, it’s a man-hating campaign that seeks to paint women as victims and man as abusers - never mind the rights of… Read more »
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