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Humanity overboard : Comments
By Jeremy Lawrence, published 13/7/2012As 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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Posted by Chek, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 10:58:10 AM
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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?