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The Forum > Article Comments > Humanity overboard > Comments

Humanity overboard : Comments

By Jeremy Lawrence, published 13/7/2012

As a nation, most of us arrived by boat, many as refugees, and we should have compassion for those today who find themselves similarly placed.

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A fine essay. Possibly the best ever posted on this forum.
Congruent with what Jeremy wrote I recommend two references:
The new book by Keith Lowe titled The Savage Continent, and The European Atrocity at
http://chronicle.com/article/The-European-Atrocity-You/132123
Posted by Daffy Duck, Friday, 13 July 2012 10:30:07 AM
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Although Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence's comments are all very nice, much of it entirely misses the point of much of the recent immigration debate.

It is not a matter of accepting or not accepting refugees. Australia has an historically high immigration quota of about 180,000 a year, last time I looked, of which 13,000 or so are supposed to be refugees as Rabbi Lawrence would define the term. If one of these refugees arrives illegially in a boat and is accepted, then that is one less that can be accepted from the many often far more deserving applicants in refugee camps.

If the boats are discouraged altogether we still get exactly the same number of refrugees but we get to choose the more deserving cases, and no-one dies making the trip. That is the basic conundrum facing planners now. If they don't discourage the boats then people, organised by smugglers, get into anything that floats and try to cross a major body of water.

In other words, people like Rabbi Lawrence and those who launch high court challenges to government policy are encouraging foolhardy behaviour without adding a soul to the refugee count. If they want to make a difference they should ask for an increase in the refugee quota, and insist on offshore processing.
Posted by Curmudgeon, Friday, 13 July 2012 11:52:02 AM
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Well said Curmudgeon.

Of course we should have full control over our borders.

It is just simply completely wrong to continue to encourage / facilitate / offer strong pull factors without strong deterrence measures to onshore asylum seeking.

We CAN have a significant refugee program, both in terms of the number of people that come to this country and in the aid directed at supporting them staying at home. And we can do this at a fraction of the cost that is now being spent on onshore asylum seeking. And… we can do it without the social and political tension that onshore asylum seeking is causing.

It is crystal clear – we should be moving decisively to shut down onshore asylum seeking forthwith.
Posted by Ludwig, Friday, 13 July 2012 12:25:21 PM
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Basically I agree with Curmudgeon. I have 8 convict forebears, plus others who came to Australia by paying a legal fare. My husband came to Australia from Germany in 1950 under a bond that required him to work two years for an employer. I have a Chinese daughter-in-law. When becoming Australian they were all seeking a better life.

It is not a matter of not accepting refugees. Australia has an historically high immigration quota of which 13,000 or so are supposed to be refugees. If one of these refugees arrives in a boat and is accepted, then they have jumped the queue.

Despite the fact that so many Australians have forebears with criminal convictions we are one of the most law abiding nations in the world. We believe in giving people a fair go. So, the genuine refugees who have applied to come to Australia should be accepted ahead of any 'boat people'.
Posted by Country girl, Friday, 13 July 2012 1:04:56 PM
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Rabbi, your article was touching. The refugees fleeing to Australia need your sympathy and help.

Then, in the Middle East, there are a whole people, ones called Palestinians, who are under brutal occupation thanks to the Jewish Israelis and have been since 1947.

They need your help too! Desperately.

Do you have room in your heart for them?
Posted by David G, Friday, 13 July 2012 1:35:22 PM
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Sorry, but I don't find that little memoir on page one either plausible or relevant, it's a cute story but it's full of holes or perhaps has grown somewhat in the telling and hardly enhances the sentimental, nay mushy prose on the succeeding page.
Blackshirts operated in Italy, not Germany, a boatload of "Nazis" being shipped to Canada is improbable since Nazis were not allowed to join the Wehrmacht, I'm sure the Rabbi means prisoners of war but since his relative would certainly have been in the "Class C" category of internee even that explanation is a bit thin. As far as I know Australia did not welcome Jewish refugees after the war, their supporters had to fight tooth and nail to have them allowed in and Jewish charities did all the heavy lifting in re-settling them. Refugees and transportees have never been welcomed here by ordinary folk, any glossing over that fact would be a misrepresentation of history, the only question would be whether it's a regrettable national trait, most would honestly say it's not.
There is no analogy in this tale with today's issues , the guilt tripping over WW2 doesn't work anymore, our grandparents found out what was going on in Poland at the same time as everyone else, when the Soviets threw open the gates of Auschwitz on January 27 1945.
Posted by Jay Of Melbourne, Friday, 13 July 2012 3:03:26 PM
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First we have to stop all the lies.

Those who are forced to leave and seek asylum are not putting themelves in the hands of evil criminal gangs they are paying for transport to get to safety.
Posted by Marilyn Shepherd, Friday, 13 July 2012 3:29:53 PM
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Thanks Jay.
But no errors or embellishments.

The SS (formed around 1925) wore black shirts (pre war) and were known by many by that appelation. To distinguish them from the brown shirts.

My gandfather was shipped to Canada as an enemy alien. He was interned with Anton Diffring. About 7000 internees were shipped to Canada. Many Jews were interned with Germans who were supportive of the Nazi regime. The Arandora Star was torpedoed in July 1940. The Dunera made it to Australia. It had Italian & German POWs, Nazi sympathisers and about 2000 anti-Nazis - many of them Jews - and some of them survivors of the Arandora Star.
Posted by Rabsi, Friday, 13 July 2012 4:14:46 PM
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Rabsi, thanks for replying to my comment.
I stand corrected on the historical points relating to Jewish DP's , but are my other comments accurate in your opinion? I can only go by what I read and it seems that from the time of the anti transportation movements of the 19th century to the present day there has been little support for this type of migration among settlers or natives.
Assimilating German Jews into a predominantly European society is also a far cry from assimilating Africans or Afghans, did the postwar migration of Jews lead to the formation of Jewish street gangs, did Jews commit pack rapes on White Australian women?
Were there punchups and stabbings between rival factions at the synagogues , such as the violence between Sikhs witnessed here and in Canada?
This also begs the question why are we still not admitting or sponsoring the poor and underprivileged of Europe in preference to third worlders?
It seems that a middle class journalist or doctor from Khartoum or Tehran is given preference over an urchin from Dublin or a single mum from Glasgow, we know Europeans can assimilate easily, we know non Europeans can't or don't want to, so why should we be bothered taking the hard road?
See if you took stock of the Jewish immigrant contribution to Australian life over the last 40 years you'd come out with a table weighted heavily on the "plus" side, what could you say has been the contribution of Vietnamese or Lebanese refugees and migrants over that same era?

.
Posted by Jay Of Melbourne, Friday, 13 July 2012 5:04:19 PM
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Rabsi,
I'd also like , if I may to prevail upon you to address the current debate in Israel surrounding African refugees, as an ethno Nationalist myself I'm interested in the views of people who may be able to give some insight into such current affairs.
Here's a link to an L.A Times article which raises the issues to which I'm alluding:
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/27/world/la-fg-israel-africa-refugees-20120527
What's your opinion of the Israeli political figures who wish that nation to remain a distinctly Jewish state and to remove African refugees from the community?
Posted by Jay Of Melbourne, Friday, 13 July 2012 5:16:43 PM
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I find myself agreeing with Curmugeon This was not always the case, but too many lives have been lost; and every successful crossing organised by a criminal cartel, is one equally or more deserving refugee, pushed further back or delayed; or, even denied a place.
Not for nothing is it writ large, that justice deferred is justice denied!
We need to deal with an endemic homelessness problem right here, before we try to place more refugees?
How many more need to die before Dr NOONKANBAH, will give just a little ground, for a policy that has already passed through the lower house!
If Tony's right and it doesn't work, as he personally prophecies, [well he was once going to be a holier than thou, pulpit pounding Priest, while he's not a Priest, little else seems to have changed,] then the Grandfather clause, will see it ended in just twelve short months!
Sure, the mass drowning might be helping the coalition's political prospects, but what sought of people would want more of that?
Cross the floor!
We need to get back in charge of an orderly arrival of asylum seeking refugees. And we need to be more thorough in accessing who receives our largess, or a place.
We simply cannot admit part of the people smuggling cartel, and then allow them to continue to profit from this tidal trade, of human misery.
By all means lift the numbers we resettle, but offset those numbers by reducing the migrant intake; and or, seriously delay or refuse family reunions.
We simply cannot, having found a place for an irregular arrival, further compound a patent injustice, by allowing his or her family members, to punish those waiting their legitimate turn in refugee camps, by being pushed further back or be forced to wait for a decade or two longer, than otherwise ought to be the case.
We tell the world we believe in a fair go, then allow a criminal cartel to steal it from the more deserving, or those forced by untenable circumstance, to rot in refugee camps!
Rhrosty.
Posted by Rhrosty, Friday, 13 July 2012 6:08:23 PM
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'We wish them to subscribe to the belief that all are equal with no discrimination on the basis of gender, race, caste or faith. '

Exactly Rabbi and that is why we must give those who have not paid people smugglers and thrown away documents an opportunity to share the great blessings of this country. Every illegal boat arrival puts lives at risk and robs a genuine refugee a place here. That is simply discrimination based upon deceit and bad behaviour. I personally would like to see those waiting in camps not gazdumped by illegal arrivals many of whom have no intention of sharing the n ations values. I can see easily that the leftist haters of democracy think this is okay but thought being Jewish you would see through this scam seen you produce so many incredible scientist and scholars.

btw I have spoken to a number boat people involved in this scam and they think our current Government is a joke.
Posted by runner, Friday, 13 July 2012 6:14:15 PM
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Runner,
People smugglers are gangsters, are the pro boaties so naive as to think that these criminals don't run brothels, stand over rackets, pimp children, sell drugs or engage in the full gamut of Indonesian organised crime activities?
Indonesia is horribly corrupt as it is, our open borders make it worse, what do the pro boaties think these gangsters spend their millions on? Could they countenance the idea that these "queue jumpers" are by their actions funding sexual slavery rackets or further corrupting the justice system in Third World countries?
If the boat people were White Europeans you can bet the same people would be screaming the house down about how they were corrupting Indonesia.
Posted by Jay Of Melbourne, Friday, 13 July 2012 6:23:38 PM
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we should have compassion for those today who find themselves similarly placed.
Jeremy Lawrence,
You'll find most people do have the compassion. Where this compassion rightfully ends is at the non-genuine who come into Australia purely on an agenda.
Posted by individual, Friday, 13 July 2012 6:32:18 PM
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Ah, Rabsi, you avoided my question as I knew you would.

Let's face it, Palestinians according to Israel, are subhuman.

Anyone who knows anything about the Palestinian people since 1947 knows which group is subhuman.

You crying crocodile tears for refugees is a red herring!
Posted by David G, Friday, 13 July 2012 7:14:43 PM
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People seeking asylum has nothing to do with smuggling, smuggling under the law is the forced movement of MIGRANTS across borders for exploitation.

Refugee applicants simply pay for transport one way and that is their legal right and who they pay is nothing to do with anything.
Posted by Marilyn Shepherd, Saturday, 14 July 2012 5:38:33 AM
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@Marilyn,

<<First we have to stop all the lies>>

Talking of lying, it seems that someone is telling big ones. See the below ABC AM report:

“One [of the smugglers] … says he was attracted into helping by the promise of just $300…Mr X's lawyer Lisa Hiariej says he had no choice but to go through with it…: Mr X tell me that a lot of passenger want to kill him, tell him you have to go to this islands,… So almost all the people there, the illegal people want to kill them…Things were made worse, when another boat arrived to take the captain away and two asylum seekers forced Mr X to keep driving the boat.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3543208.htm

Marilyn tells us: it’s a perfectly legit operation and all we are dealing with are *harmless* "asylum seekers" & their helpers.

But.

The smugglers tells us: The passengers “forced” me to do it

The illegals tells us: the smugglers tricked us to it

Someone has got to be lying –most likely, it's ALL of the above.
Posted by SPQR, Saturday, 14 July 2012 6:38:22 AM
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Marilyn, you are far too narrowly focussed.

What about our offshore refugee programs?

You seem to pay them no regard whatsoever.

Can you not agree that those people are deserving of refugee status more so than onshore asylum seekers or at least to the same extent, and that there is something fundamentally wrong with onshore asylum seekers displacing them?

Don’t you think Australian aid workers or Australians in conjunction with UN personnel do a good job of selecting the neediest of refugees to come to this country?

I’d say they do, and that therefore offshore asylum seekers are those most in urgent need of resettlement and onshore asylum seekers would have to be deemed considerably less deserving than the offshore asylum seekers they displace or push further back in the queue.

Even if all onshore asylum seekers were genuine refugees, with no economic opportunism associated with the whole deal, it would still be far better to work towards shutting down onshore asylum seeking and concentrating on our offshore programs, wouldn’t it?

Wouldn’t any holistically thinking humanitarian concur with that?

Hey, defending this terrible onshore asylum seeking business is just crackers. No matter which way you look at it, it would be FAR better to decisively shut it down.

I’ve said all of this to you before multiple times. You don’t respond to it. You won’t let anything get in the way of your very blinkered view on this subject.

So I implore you to shift your wonderful humanitarian focus to supporting refugees that are brought here through our formal refugee programs….. please.
Posted by Ludwig, Saturday, 14 July 2012 9:30:50 AM
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It beats me how penniless asylum seekers, escaping with what they stand in, can find the money to pay people smugglers $10-15,000.00 for the boat ride to Christmas Island?
Clearly people, [shamed and or brutalised women and children,] are being exploited, and not just as fare paying passengers!
There are no visas or passports, where there are, we have enough eyewitness accounts, to establish that they are advised to throw them overboard.
We might as well run a water taxi service for irregular arrivals, given what is occurring now.
Criminals, simply posing as asylum seekers have entered and or beaten our validation system, the reason for destroying documents! Means we have no choice but to reimpose temporary protection visas.
Take Burma as a case in point.
Recent changes there and democratisation, means, many people fleeing for their very lives, and therefore genuine asylum seekers; may now find that is actually safe to return?
As Marilyn states, seeking asylum for or by genuine deserving refugees is not illegal!
And those who keep calling them illegal boat people, need two lessons, one on international law and another on basic humanity.
Even as I pen these lines, an 11 year old Afghani girl is fleeing inhumanity. You see, her father contracted to the Taliban to grow poppies.
However, the Afghani govt is trying to stamp out this terrible trade in dehumanising misery and or premature death; and consequently, found and destroyed this farmer's crop.
The only way he could avoid the promised repercussions, was to offer his 11 year old in marriage to a very old man.
This poor little bugger now moves from refuge to temporary refugee, and fears for her very life.
This is what we would call a genuine refugee, and ought to welcome her here with open arms!
As opposed to patent criminals, with absolutely no scruples or conscience, who'se initial goal is to beat our identity validation system, and the second, to reside amongst us, belittling everything we believe in or stand for, which includes our laws and the orderly arrival of intending asylum seeking, genuine refugees!
Rhrosty.
Posted by Rhrosty, Saturday, 14 July 2012 10:15:49 AM
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seeking asylum has nothing to do with smuggling,
Marylin, Shepherd,
It has EVERYTHING to do with it when asylum is used as a diversion to the real agenda.
Posted by individual, Saturday, 14 July 2012 10:41:26 AM
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Rhrosty.
You've made two similar "Bleeding heart" posts today, explain to me how I'm responsible for all these "Evils" in the world, if I bear some responsibility for the Holocaust, or Slavery or John Lennon's lack of songwriting talent then so does that Afghan child. Your posts make no sense, (neither do the lyrics to Imagine BTW) only gullible middle aged women fall for that kind of romantic nonsense, which may be a handy tactic in a romantic situation but in a serious debate it's just not going to cut it.
Your position is: "Afghan people make me sad because they can't look after themselves, let's bring them all here so we can feel better".... hey, they still can't look after themselves here, they still contribute nothing to the world but at least you'll feel better about yourself eh?
Posted by Jay Of Melbourne, Saturday, 14 July 2012 5:34:19 PM
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The offshore refugee resettlement has zero to do with the proctection of refugees here.

there is no legal basis for it.

And the idiotic notion that we can push away one set of refugees so that we can pay to take in another set is ridiculous.
Posted by Marilyn Shepherd, Saturday, 14 July 2012 9:51:45 PM
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BTW the Wilhelm Gustloff sinking claimed the greatest number of civilian lives in a maritime disaster during the war, over 8,000 German civilians died after the ship was torpedoed by the Soviets.
It's interesting to me that the politicians aren't discussing a solution like that applied to Vietnamese boat people in the 1980's where a large number (90,000?) were re settled en masse creating an instant and to a large extent self reliant community.
I suspect the reason they need this drip feed system is so that their joint venture partners in people smuggling, Anglicare, SERCO, the Salvation Army etc can maximise their income, it wouldn't do to have Sri Lankans and Afghans congregating in one area and developing support networks of their own.
The past model of refugee/migrant settlement worked well and enhanced multiculturalism because it created communities which could fend for themselves, releasing and dispersing small groups of asylum seekers all over the land only creates dependance and disadvantage.
What's upsetting a lot of my people is that the current practices are anti egalitarian and un-Australian, what's more if an ethnic community, for whatever cannot sustain itself and provide it's own culturally appropriate support sytems then what is the point of them being here?
Importation of an underclass which is immediately doomed to failure is insane but it looks to me as though that's exactly what's happening, detention drives people mad, some 60% of "Asylum Seekers" are said to be mentally ill, what do the pro boaties expect to happen when these people are scattered all over the place in small groups?.
Why not just say, we'll take 40,000 Iranians, 40,000 Afghans, 10,000 Burmese in intact family units who have proper documentation, then no more?
Posted by Jay Of Melbourne, Sunday, 15 July 2012 11:29:42 AM
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A constitutional change is required to ensure that bleeding hearts and political and social climbers are restricted to inviting refugees and boat people EXCLUSIVELY to their own residential neighbourhoods.

Put these slimey excuses for humanitarianism in their PLACES!

Apart from that, this desert land does not have the environmental depth (Mountains and rivers) nor the SECURITY infrastructure to deal with the large scale immigration intakes we are currently experiencing. Boat peopling to Australia that took place in the past cannot take place NOW. Bob Carr wanted to put the "FULL" sign up at least a decade ago.
What if you ran a motel chain like a Australia and kept bringing in clients after the FULL sign went up. There would be pandemonium - just like we are seeing in our hospitals, schools and on our gridlock highways. Far too few people are benefiting & the ones that are benefitting are NOT humanitarians but rather corrupt to the core like The tripple 'a' Premier of Sydney Barry OFarrell.

As for the UN and its immigration quotas. This is just one more failure of an organisation that helps Syrian citizens by counting their dead bodies. The UN would betray Australia into the poverty and violence of another Libya or Egypt at the drop of a hat. Damn them and their bloody ill conceived humanitarian quotas when they ought to be demanding birth control instead.

There is only one planet and the corruption of its human leaders is enough to destroy it within a generation without any additional people at all. If it is insurance to stop CO2 emissions against the weak probability of Global warming then it MUST be insurance to stop women breeding against the high probability that mankind is within a generation of wiping his species off the face of this planet.
Posted by KAEP, Monday, 16 July 2012 3:05:56 AM
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Windy Feminista here,

Kaep you should be careful what you wish for. If we feminists all voted not to have babies then the human species would also be wiped - how did you put it - off the face of the planet.

We don't have babies because we are bored or because we want the big Government handouts or because it spares us the agonising oversexualisation of more than one screw a week/month. We have babies for the prosperity of Australia and Islam, Islam and Australia. And we could pull the plug any time so you be quiet Mr KAEP or we will pass laws to get you good!

Windy Feminista

Director of the Institute of
Government handouts and Baby bonuses
And Lesbian Relations
Federal Labor Plaza
Canberra
Posted by KAEP, Monday, 16 July 2012 3:22:24 AM
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Firstly I am not racist and do feel sorry for genuine refugees but at the same time I, like many other Australian people, have concerns on our future and the future for our children.

Australia is fundamently based on christian values, regardless if you are christian, agnostic or athiest.

Many of the current refugees are from an entirely different culture and religian which is their democratic right in a free society.

They have come to Australia as refugees for a better life than they had in their own countries, many fleeing persecution and poverty.

The problems I find most disturbing are that they are attempting to replace our Australian culture with their culture such as they are attempting to have Sharia Law added to our laws, so far they have been unsuccessful but they keep trying.

They appear to congregate and reside in suburban areas. This may be due to companionship of their own people and culture.

Their culture and religion is based on Islam and the Koran and our culture is based on Christianity and the Bible.

For many centuries there have been wars and crusades between followers of Islam and Christians and in a sence is still occurring to this very day in many middle eastern countries they are arriving from.

In those countries christians are persecuted and some are executed just for being christians.

Continued next comment
Posted by gypsy, Monday, 16 July 2012 12:10:57 PM
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What happens when their numbers grow here in Australia and they form their own political parties and many of their own politicians by their votes are elected into parliament? Will Sharia Law then be enacted and passed? If so what will happen to our christian culture? Will we be persecuted as is happening in many of their countries?

At present we honestly cannot say or prove who is arriving here by boat as many of them have either dispossed of their papers or they cannot be authenticated. For all we know they may be soldiers of Islam invading Australia to occupy us and eventually take our country by stealth.

At least with the refugees who are following the correct and process we have a better idea.

Smuggling in any form is a criminal offence and if we were to aid and abet the crime the law says we are as guilty as the purportrators, so are the boat refugees immune from the same laws we must adhere to?.

Compassion for our fellow man is being shown to the genuine refugees which follow the proper protocol to migrate to Australia.

Our current Government and politicians are have an obligation and duty of care to foremost the Australian people and then the refugees who follow the proper protocol to migrate to Australia.

By allowing refugees who have not followed the proper protocol, such as the quew jumpers, the ones arriving by boat into Australian Territories has not acted as a deterant but opened the flood gates.

Our Government has an obligation and a duty of care to the Australian people, who vote for and elect them into Government, to set in place and enact a Law to deter people smugglers and refugees who do not follow the correct and proper protocol. They should be deported back to where they came from on the next available flight, this would be the start of a deterrant.
Posted by gypsy, Monday, 16 July 2012 12:11:58 PM
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Humanity overboard!

Now if we can just get the humanities to go after them, it would sure help our higher education sector.
Posted by Hasbeen, Monday, 16 July 2012 12:20:47 PM
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Gypsy, I'll just give you a couple of points to think about.
-It doesn't matter if you're not trying to be racist, political correctness teaches that you are subconsciously Racist if you oppose any of their dogma and anti Racism is just a code word for Anti White anyway.
-It's Judeo Christian morality that's the problem and the churches are the biggest advocates of open borders, there is no such thing as a "Secular" pro refugee position.
-Well may you ask about the orthodox Christians and Catholics who are being ethnically cleansed from the Middle East by Western Backed Islamists such as Al Qaeda, you'd think they'd have priority but it seems fundamentalist Christians from Sudan, China, India, Korea and Oceania are being favoured.
-Why would Asylum seekers and Third World migrants even want to start their own political parties when they have Labor, the Coalition and the Greens on their side?
-Sharia is no threat, it's not even fully implemented, much less respected in Islamic countries, Third World people don't have the same relationships with the state as White people do, they don't respect the law and pretty much do whatever they want as the mood takes them. The only way Sharia could be implemented here is if millions of White people converted to Islam and took over direction of all the mosques and congregations, Third worlders have neither the energy or the intelligence to "take over" Australia.
-If you value a cosmopolitan, European style democracy then worry about the numbers of fanatical Third World Christian fundamentalists coming here, they do have millions of White ministers, supporters and apologists, as they grow in numbers and influence you can say goodbye to tolerance, egalitarianism and a "fair go".
Posted by Jay Of Melbourne, Monday, 16 July 2012 3:33:14 PM
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Marilyn,

I've asked you before and you've never answered.

Given that there are millions of refugees across the world, at what point will you support Australia saying enough is enough?

20,000, 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 ... 5,000,000 p.a.?

If you refuse to answer you are intellectually bankrupt, and should no longer enter this debate.
Posted by imajulianutter, Monday, 16 July 2012 6:51:54 PM
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What's humanity when winning is everything?

On 5 May 1888 the Opposition Leader, Sir Thomas McIlwraith, won the Brisbane Elections by an unprecedented margin. He had campaigned on the total and immediate exclusion of the Chinese in Queensland. The Government Leader, Sir Samuel Griffith, had urged that the Chinese Question was largely settled by legislative measures. But the Opposition Leader was not giving up on a winning formula. For years the populace had been fed on a relentless campaign to demonise the Chinese.

That was 120 years ago.

We seem to be agreed now that we have to stop the boats, to stop asylum seekers from drowning at sea. What enlightenment! Yet we are still stuck in political gamesmanship. Tony Abbott seems to be unable to give any ground to the Malaysia plan to starve the people smugglers of their human cargo. No doubt it is far from perfect. But it could be a circuit breaker that allows us to evolve something better - a regional solution say. Besides the Government has acceded to Abbott's demand to reopen Nauru.

McIlwraith as Premier did not deport the Chinese. And the Chinese have returned in recent decades, and they are quite all right now. But we have moved on to a new scapegoat, the Muslims, since the Tampa. And the population so far seem unable to climb out of the scare campaign on "border security" that Howard so successfully orchestrated with the children overboard lie. Regrettably some politicians have done even worse. "Human rights" have stopped the Greens and Abbott from giving the Malaysia plan a go at the last sitting of parliament. Is it just naivety, hypocrisy, or pure bloody mindedness?

I guess winning is everything - for a true blue boxer. How that sits with Abbott's seminary training and George Pell's spiritual guidance, is beyond my comprehension.

Why are we complicit in demonising the government by hook or by crook? First with charges of being illegitimate, untrustworthy, incompetent, and now of being just so "chaotic" that we need an election to install Abbott! Have we smelled blood?
Posted by Chek, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 10:58:10 AM
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