Here you go, SM...some more "humanitarian" LNP supporters displaying the sort of integrity one expects from your side of politics these days.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/asylum-seeker-themed-university-pub-crawl-criticised-20140404-362md.html

"An asylum seeker themed pub crawl, hosted by The Queensland Universities Liberal National Club, has been criticised for trivialising "the dangerous and often tragic journey asylum seekers face and associated deaths at sea".

The Queensland Universities Liberal National Club Rivercrawl 2014 used aspects of the Abbott Government's border protection policy to promote the event via Facebook."

Details...

"The organisers boasted that after a BBQ to celebrate a hundred days of no boat arrivals, party goers would board a CityCat to commence operation sovereign borders and “smuggle” their way into a bar at the Queensland University of Technology.

Revellers could then “seek temporary protection” at another pub and if they felt “leaky” were assured they would be resettled.

Attendees were reminded to meet their regional processing requirements - a Go Card and identification - to avoid tow back, but entry was not guaranteed after all “we will decide who comes to the River Crawl and the circumstances in which they come“."

Etc.....

SR,

The issue that Abbott has saved many lives at sea is not in dispute, so already he has done for more for humanity than anyone from labor or the greens.

However, I am glad that you want to reward all the humanitarians from the left incl Rudd, Stalin, Gillard, Mao Tse Tung, Hansen young, etc who focused on pure humanitarian socialist principles and were happy to sacrifice thousands in a brutal fashion so as not to deviate from their principles.

The whole red herring of Sri Lanka, even the shelling of the Mullivaikal Hospital proves my point. The conclusion of the Commission is "that shells had in fact fallen on hospitals causing damage and resulting in casualties. However, the material placed before the Commission points to a somewhat confused picture as to the precise nature of events, from the perspective of time, exact location and direction of fire."

Which in layman's terms means that the hospital was shelled, but there is no conclusive evidence as to who shelled it or why. And with one sweeping stupid gesture this inquiry has guaranteed that no further information will be forthcoming whatsoever, probably for decades, and will achieve the exact opposite of its aims. I note the complete silence toward Tiananmen.

Give me grace to accept the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

As for the integrity of the labor party, we just need to look at Thomson, Williamson, Obied and Macdonald.

@Steele

If Steele had just left his comment at this: <<SPQR, I as completely oblivious>> who could have faulted him--not me!

But as he then pontificated-on about other matters I will have to throw my hat back into the ring.

There are two ways of exposing Steele's little sideshow. The first is to examine the credibility of his “evidence”.

He cut and pasted a little piece from Wiki:
“Mullivaikal Hospital…[came under an] An alleged series of shellings and aerial attacks beg[ining] on 23 April 2009 ….
on 28 and 29 April … the Mullivaikkal Primary Health Center was hit multiple times over a two-day period …
On the 29th and the 30th … Mullivaikal Hospital was again hit multiple times …[And] …There were two attacks against …Mullivaikal Hospital on 2 May…[and on] …12 May 2009 it was hit by an artillery mortar…

But in his tongue-dripping-haste to get a hanging verdict, he overlooked counter evidence in the same source:
“ Dr. Shanmugaraja said that he could only remember 4 instances of shelling; 1 on Vallipuram hospital, 1 on Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital, 1 on Mullivaikkal West makeshift hospital and 1 on Mullivaikkal East makeshift hospital…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies_Agreed_Upon

But even one incident is bad – we would be justified in asking *why might the Sri Lankan military even shell close to a hospital?*

Steele thinks he knows all the answers: “You and I both know ….This place was [targeted because it was] treating amongst its patients Tamil fighters. Some of them made fit enough to fight …” [all cut & dried,eh!]

But if Steele had cared to check he would have found this, again, in his same source:
“Dr. Sivapalan, medical officer of Chavakacheri and former medical officer - Vanni, claimed that LTTE had its commanding centres from within 100 metres of Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital, in which 2 artillery shells had fallen in February 2009. He also asserted that LTTE used heavy artillery as close as possible to the hospitals”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies_Agreed_Upon

Is this possible?
Have we heard about such ruses before?
Abso-bloody-lutely! And,strangely enough from Steeles other favourites Hamas & Hezbollah.

I am not proposing that the Sri Lankan government or military are angels. But I am suggesting the we need to be little bit more circumspect than hanging-judge Steele.

The second way to upset his sideshow is with this:
Let's suppose that Steele is right. The Sri Lankan military deliberately and systematic went out of its way to target hospitals—how does it justify/call-for Steeles (NOW) Open Door Policy re any Sri Lankan opportunist who boats in and cries "poor!"

Remembering, that:

The war is long over and
<< more than 440,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned to the [Sri Lanka's] north,>>

<<<< more than 5,000 Sri Lankans have returned to the island nation under a UNHCR-facilitated voluntary repatriation scheme. Most were from refugee camps in Tamil Nadu[India]>>

And the biggest political party in northern Sri Lanka is Tamil based:
<<The Tamil National Alliance (TNA)...on 30 seats in the 38-member provincial council in the former northern war zone, election officials said on Sundaÿ>>

They hardly sound like they cowering in the closet in fear, eh!

And lastly, let me say that I am very, very disappointed in that ,FOXY, our *alternative view point* source -- couldn't offer even a smidgen of opposition/alternative view point, and succumbed toSteeles kangaroo court-–you’re falling down on the job, girl!

Dear Foxy,

I am so glad you are finally coming around to accepting the deep humanitarian logic presented by Shadow minister. It is a measure of you as a person when you can view the repeated shelling of a hospital as an understandable act of a necessary war, or to put it in the Sri Lankan Prime Minister's own words 'a rescue mission'. Of course there are extra points if you can bring yourself to describe it as a 'red herring'. You keep playing your cards right and there will be a seat for you right next to Tim Wilson.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Slight hiccup I'm afraid, the selection panel has insisted I subtract the 755 who drowned after our Tony rejected the Malaysian Swap (for purely humanitarian reasons of course) in 2011 from those he has said to have saved since being in power. I think we will have to take the deal because there are some who, quite unfairly, want those deaths attributed directly to him. A bit rough I feel so I have agreed to the subtraction. I still think we have to make sure we continue to highlight the 262 who drowned under Labour up to that point.

Anyway Tony gave a full and frank explanation when he apologised to the Malaysian Prime Minister;

“"I offered an act of contrition, if you like, to Prime Minister Najib for the way Malaysia got caught up in what was a very intense and at times somewhat rancorous debate in Australia. He knows we play our politics pretty hard in our country,"

That really should have been the end of it.

Dear SPQR,

Wow! Now that is impressive. I certainly have a lot to learn from you.

You took my quote;

“Mullivaikal Hospital was a makeshift hospital located in the Safe Zone in northern Sri Lanka. An alleged series of shellings and aerial attacks began on 23 April 2009 when the Mullivaikal Hospital was hit by three artillery shells. It continued on 28 and 29 April when the Mullivaikkal Primary Health Center was hit multiple times over a two-day period with six killed and many injured including one medical staffer. On the 29th and the 30th the Mullivaikal Hospital was again hit multiple times with nine more killed and fifteen injured. There were two attacks against the Mullivaikal Hospital on 2 May, one at 9 a.m. and a second at 10.30 a.m. resulting in sixty-eight killed and eighty-seven wounded, including medical staffers. On the morning of 12 May 2009 it was hit by an artillery mortar, killing at least forty-nine patients and injuring more than fifty others.”

And turned it into this;

““Mullivaikal Hospital…[came under an] An alleged series of shellings and aerial attacks beg[ining] on 23 April 2009 ….
on 28 and 29 April … the Mullivaikkal Primary Health Center was hit multiple times over a two-day period …
On the 29th and the 30th … Mullivaikal Hospital was again hit multiple times …[And] …There were two attacks against …Mullivaikal Hospital on 2 May…[and on] …12 May 2009 it was hit by an artillery mortar…”

Comprehensively stripped of any humans. Of course you are right to do so. Any discussion about humanitarian actions could only be ill served by clouding it with real casualties. It should remain as logical and pragmatic as possible.

Best also to use authoritative accounts that way when we present our case we can do so without accusations of bias; “Lies Agreed Upon is an documentary produced by Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence.”

Foxy should be taking notes.