Boat People, or How We Lost Our Charity

Greetings Dear Ramblers,

After a rather mediocre political discussion with my father, who seems to be of the opinion that "boat people" are criminals, I could not help but to put my thoughts into words. As this rather non-event policy issue seems to be soaking up more than its fair share of the limelight in this particular election lead-up, it seems topical to discuss it, and to dive beneath the superficial surface presented by our politicians and media outlets.

Firstly, let me start by defending my father's point of view. I see where he is coming from. As first generation voluntary immigrants to Australia, we were not escaping oppression. Instead, we were just wanting to start afresh in a country that provided so many more opportunities to live the lives of our hopes and dreams. We had to fight through a very difficult and lengthy process of some two years of paper-shuffling to finally be accepted into this country. My mother, father and I value the opportunities we have been given to make something of our lives in Australia.

It would only be natural to look askance at those "queue jumper" boat people. We had to tick so many boxes to be let into the country, so why should other people be allowed to waltz in just because they arrived by boat on our northern shores? It seems rather unfair. Criminal, in fact. These people are breaking national and international laws by arriving unasked at our borders.

Now, that's all well and good as an argument, and I feel the visceral undertow that the mass media and vapid politicians have tapped in to. However, it just doesn't cut it. I realise that there is a lot of complexity here - but first we must identify the real issues, and prune away all of the rhetoric and bullshit.

The whole "queue jumper" thing misses the point. The real point is this - we need to establish if the people arriving at our shores are genuine refugees or genuine free-loading queue jumpers. To label them all as queue jumpers is a gross over-simplification. So, I agree that we need to detain people arriving illegally at our borders, whilst we are determining whether they are genuine refugees or not.

However, the whole media and political spin has gone way beyond this. By default, we are labelling all of these people as criminal queue jumpers from the very outset. This sets a very negative vibe, and makes it so very easy for the xenophobes amongst us to score cheap political points (just look at the latest meandering bullshit spouted by that old-school race expert and White Australia throwback Philip Ruddock). It is hard for us to feel any of the ordinarily human emotions for these people, such as pity, empathy or solidarity, when they are drawn, caricature-like, in the media as criminals willing to throw their own children overboard.

Now, I don't want to fall into the trap of over-simplification myself. There are a few more angles to be explored before a proper understanding of this issue can be obtained. The role of people smugglers is a case in point. One way of looking at people smugglers is that they provide a lifeline for utterly abject and desperate people who have nowhere else to turn. Another way of looking at it is that people smugglers are criminals of the first order who profit from the misery of others. Both of these points of view are true.

The detainment and processing of asylum seekers is costly and time consuming. At current levels of approximately 2,500 boat people a year, we are at the limits of what our facilities can cope with. If 10,000 boat people arrived each year (or perhaps 40,000 as arrive by boat in Italy each year) we would quite likely have some major problems. The tyranny of distance has shielded Australia somewhat from the refugee problem - it is difficult to get all the way to Australia by boat.

The other issue of boat people is this - Australia currently caps its refugee intake at 13,750 people per year. The boat people are counted in this total, along with the people who have applied for refugee status through official channels. These official refugees are the lucky ones of a sad lot of humanity - people stuck in temporary refugee camps on non-hostile soil who have legal recourse to throw themselves at the mercy of international law. So, in this context, the boat people could be seen as queue jumpers.

The reality, as always, is much more complex than the rather 2-dimensional picture the media presents in their 2-minute grabs whilst we are eating our breakfasts, or the bile that the radio shock jocks spew at us through our car speakers as we drive to work. Here is my counter argument, presented as a rather simple what-if.

What if China invaded Autralia and made us all their bitches? Might makes right in this world, so we would be in no position to argue. Let's continue this hypothesis and say that the Chinese powers that be decide to impose strict martial rule, and dissenters are taken away and tortured and/or killed. You are a fine upstanding citizen - you used to pay your taxes, you used to do the right thing, only now you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. World events beyond your control have transformed your very existence. You and your wife and your children are exposed to lethal danger every single day. You have no authorities to appeal to, no guardian angels to pray to. There is no migration department where you go into a nice office, press a button to get your number, wait in a comfortable chair, and approach the window to state your case when your number is called. There are no refugee camps to which you can escape and live in squalor as your application for official refugee status is processed.

The only possible avenue of escape lies in you selling everything you own and have worked hard for, bribing some guards or officials, paying unscrupulous people smugglers with every cent that you have, and jumping on a boat to New Zealand.

However, when you get to New Zealand, they all call you a queue jumper and a criminal, detain you, prod you for a while, and then tell you to fuck off back to Australia. You are sent back to Australia, and you and your family are tortured and executed.

This is potentially what happens to genuine refugees. They don't have an office they can go to for migration to another country. They don't have any other option than to break the law in order to flee from oppression to save their lives and those of their loved ones. There is no queue to jump. There are no legal options at all for these people to escape oppression.

Of course there are ingenuine people who attempt to play the refugee angle and try to jump the queue, but we cannot just tar all boat people refugees with the same brush because of this. Each and every person who arrives unasked at our shores should be detained but treated charitably. Whilst they are detained, their application for asylum should be considered fairly, and the appropriate decision to return them or welcome them made. Immigration department figures show that, on average, 85-90% of boat people are genuine refugees.

Australia is a rich country. Our general levels of wealth are such that we can cope with a few thousand poor lost souls coming to our shores each year. Our current annual cap of 13,750 refugees represents about 0.06% of our population. Does our charity really only stretch so far? Anyone who thinks that this is an unacceptable burden on our population and infrastructure has got rocks in their head.

I can only say this - we should treat refugees in the same way that we would wish to be treated if we were refugees. Being a refugee is not a matter of choice. World events beyond your control could plunge you from a position of privilege and comfort (or poverty as your starting point for that matter) to one of mortal danger for you and your family.

Charity begins at home, and when people have lost their homes, they need that charity all the more. Do not harden your hearts, based on cynical political spin and populist media beat-ups. Do not blindly accept the messages of intolerance that the hate mongers in politics and the media dish up to you. Instead, deconstruct the issue, study the facts, apply emotion, intellect, compassion and logic, and make up your own minds.

And if you still come to the conclusion that all asylum seekers are criminals, I hope for your sake that you are never placed in the situation of being a refugee by events beyond your control. The only option left to you would be to accept your fate and, hand in hand with your loved ones, go quietly to the torture chambers.

Ahhh Election Time

Hello Dear Rambling Masses,

It has been a long time since last I blogged. The reason for this is that I have been swept away by mediocrity. The way in which the fine country of Australia has been governed has been a very steady does it affair. It has also proved to me that no matter what side of the old left-right spectrum of the political divide in which you reside, the modern era does not actually allow for any differentiation. The old adage has now become same shit same shovel. Whether you are labor or liberal does not matter - they both ineffectually stumble towards the same beige washed-out populist policies.

We are living in a time where the possibilities are endless. General levels of wealth are so high in this country that supposedly "unpopular" but needed policies that address such things as environmental sustainability, energy independence, long-term planning of infrastructure in major population centres, and the very concept of what Australia should and could be, could be implemented with only a modicum of forward thinking and political bravery.

However, the two major political parties in this country continue to race each other to the bottom of the barrel, providing no clear alternatives. Instead of viable and well thought out alternative policies, the Liberals continue to founder in their state of "what the hey - how did we lose the last election? Oh, and what promises and scare campaigns can we employ to win the next one?" Labor continues to pander, ever more, to the unions, now that they have gotten rid of Rudd and put the Cath and Kim-esque Julia Gillard in power.

The problem is that, as has so often been the case in this country, there is no forward thinking. There are only policy decisions made as far as the next election. The next 3-4 years in office is the only goal. What this means is that Australia is sold short by the people who are meant to have her best interests as their prime concern. Instead, they pander to what their media trainers tell them is the best bet at winning the next election.

Take for example the current major election platform of boat people. My God, how is it possible that such a non-event could make it on to the public radar, much less be a major policy differentiator? There are, what, 1,000 - 2,000 people that arrive by boat every year. What effect does this really have on the masses?

That is the question I apply to any political policy, and so should you all. I realise that there is only so much pie, and it has to be sliced up in a certain way. So, in the cold harsh light of day, I realise that not everyone will get their wishes whenever policy decisions are made. There is not enough pie to go around to please absolutely everyone. So, things like health, education, defence, public transport and the like should get the lions share of the attention. Most of these areas have fallen into a sad state in the past 20 years or so, and desperately need some REAL leadership instead of just rhetoric to fix them.

So, I ask you, how many people are affected by boat people? I would suggest that about 1,500 - 2,000 people are affected - and these are people who are gainfully employed to look after the boat people currently detained - so that's a good thing, right? They have jobs. This means that this particular issue affects almost 0.01% of the population. Hello? What am I missing. This has been announced as a major election platform by both of the major political parties. So, let's just listen to the scare-mongering cliches from both sides of the political divide, and hope that the government we elect is the best at protecting us from the "hordes".

Why the hell don't they spend their time coming up with some genuine (and I admit difficult) solutions to the problems that affect 70-80, even 90 percent of the population, such as the shithouse medical facilities, dodgy education, crap public transport in major urban areas, energy concerns, unsustainable practices, environmental disasters, etc.?

Because, dear readers, they are modern politicians. Big on promises, but lacking in actual ideas or forward thinking. The problems are many. The solutions are well within our reach to accomplish. They do require a real government, and that is something we haven't had in a long time. I don't hold out much hope, because no matter who wins the next election, it will be same shit, same shovel.