I intended to make a somewhat filppant comment about how the punitive 'breaching' aspect of mutual obligation might be applied to foreign aid. Then I realised it mightn't be all that flippant, and felt slightly ill.

'Be like us' shouldn't be a condition attached to helping those in need. And Australian aid has gone further in that vile direction: 'If you want our money, BE us'.

A long prolapsed Catholic, I remain gobsmacked that the many Catholics in the Howard government can countenance such conditions being attached to simple human kindness.

Mutuality - what does it mean in spiritual and literal terms?

Or ethically; can a government, especially the Australian Government, assume mutuality with smaller partners, such as the Solomon Islands? The man imprisoned by Oz troops was heard on TV tonight as saying that his arrest was 'political'. Can we be believed when the instruments of enforcement are so visually confronting?

Regards and Happy Easter!