*Pic: Flickr, Global Panorama.
The Turnbull government is enacting legislation to prevent people who come by boat to this country from ever being able to settle in Australia. This is intended to lock out refugees imprisoned in physically and mentally unhealthy conditions on Nauru and Manus Island.
Under a different mind-set, the Coalition government has also enacted legislation that allows extremely wealthy migrants to settle here. The source of their wealth is not investigated. For all we know, they could be from Mafia organizations. We only discriminate against those who have not got the money to buy a plane ticket.
The government’s justification for excluding boat arrivals and keeping genuine refugees held indefinitely on Nauru, is that Australia “must keep strong border security”, and that government wishes to “prevent deaths at sea”. However, John Howard quietly removed refugees from Nauru without a resurgence of boat arrivals. Offers from New Zealand to take refugees from Nauru were declined by the Coalition government.
It is ironic that the government has allowed Australian land to be sold to undemocratic repressive countries and to corporations under such regimes’ influence, whilst under the guise of “Border Security”, our government confines harmless refugees in expensive hot hell holes like Nauru.
A real potential threat to Australian sovereignty is a slow take-over by repressive governments who kill or imprison their own minority groups.
Refugees detained on Manus and Nauru suffer worse conditions than those experienced by convicted criminals in Australian jails.
They came as potential good Australian citizens, and they are now broken.
Is Australia on the way to becoming a repressive totalitarian regime?
• SMH: Opinion divided as government seeks lifetime ban on asylum seekers entering Australia
• James Dryburgh: Brighton’s Open Hand
• Guardian: Asylum seekers face lifetime ban from entering Australia if they arrive by boat
• Nick McKim: Time for Labor to find a spine and reject refugee cruelty
• Will Hodgman: Tasmania welcomes refugee arrivals
• Madeleine Ogilvie: Tasmania opens its doors and its hearts to refugees
• Andrea Dawkins: Syrian and Iraqi Families Welcome, Resettlement Process Unclear
