Lateline gives us another classic – the Tony Abbott interview, in which the mad Monk suggests that the problem with the Indonesian solution is that it is less humane than the Pacific solution.
Wow.
So now, the refugee debate has switched to how humane the various responses are?
I don’t think so-
The vast majority of Australians don’t actively care what happens to refugees – on the other hand they don’t want them brutalised on their watch and at their hand.
The Liberal Party, having spent years brutalising them, has now cottoned on to the fact that people don’t like that, and made it a campaigning point.
But it’s like Martians trying to work out how the humans think. The Liberals can’t get the hang of the distinctions. So they overemphasise some things, while underemphasising others
Abbott tries to approximate concern – and in doing so reveals his alien, lizard-like nature. If anyone who was actually a Liberal saw the Abbott interview tonite they’d run a mile.
6 Comments
It didnt take long for Rudd to sink into the cesspool that Howard and Ruddock swam in quite happily.
This is what happens when you try to spin your way out of a serious problem. Unloading our problems onto Indonesia and in essence bribing them to make asylum seekers go away is not the answer. We need to bring these people on shore to Australia and house them humanely while we process their claims and ensure they can find new lives our be sent back to their country’s of origin.
At the moment we have a despicable situation where Rudd is quite hypocritically and happily adopting the out of sight out of mind approach. The Indos have woken up to the fact that they are becoming a dumping ground and that once ashore they are responsible and they cop all the bad press while Rudd and his Labor mates big note themselves in Australia about how tough they are.
Talk about no moral compass. This country is big enough and rich enough ti cope with 20,000 -50,000 Asylum seekers. It is hardly a blip on the rad Contrast that with poor communities in Indonesia where they are being asked to look after peopel and bribed with lots of Australian dollars. Not surprisngly a lot of that money will go into Indonesian pockets. And ask yourself how you would feel if you saw new arrivals being put in better accommodation than you had and being given better food and medical facilities. Bring them all to Australia now and stop this horrible farce. Get on the phone to the Sri Lankan Government and put real pressure on them to stop the Tamil genocide And someone ask the “terrorism expert” Guraratna whether the Haig piece in crikey a few days ago is true.
Dear all apologies for semi literate post Thought my Telstra connection was down (as it so often is) It surprised me by being up. Didn’t know the post comment key was loaded
I think the most telling part of the interview was when Abbott could not or would not answer the question about what the Liberals would do or what they suggest the government should do. Given all his talk about how much more humane the pacific solution was than the Indonesian solution, I can only assume they would revive the pacific solution. Tony Jones didn’t ask this, but the irony of Indonesia arguing about whether to take the asylum seekers picked up in Indonesia’s serach and rescue zone of international waters compared with the Tampa incident is priceless. I don’t remember the earlier news item about a refugee advocate suggesting that the safest and most humane solution was to have effective processing in Indonesia to reduce or remove the incentive to get on the boats being raised either.
Abbott was very two-faced, but his actual comment was even more specious. He said that Howard was ‘less inhumane’ than Rudd.
What level of ‘inhumane’ do we find acceptable?
I agree, Australia could afford to take these people in. In South Africa about 250 000 illegal aliens from all over Africa but mostly Zimababwe, lately, stream over the border. This year South Africans snapped and attacked the immigrants, but the point is that 250 000 is a real problem for a problem that does not have the resources to accommodate and provide jobs for all those extra people. 1000 or even 5000 boat people is not a problem.
Abbott is very creepy. Rudd repealed terrible laws which was the right thing to do. Now he needs to stand by his principles. Not doing to well at that thus far.
I tell ya, Abbott is floundering. He won’t make it to the next Liberal government.