The moral bankruptcy of the Australian government ...
On the moral bankruptcy of the current Australian government, Julian Burnside QC at an RACV dinner reported in Crikey:
"Australia has made a choice with terrible consequences. We have chosen a government which shows contempt for human rights, whilst posturing as champions of decency and family values; a government of hypocrites whose dishonesty has made us relaxed and comfortable only by anaesthetising the national conscience.
In her latest novel, The Prosperous Thief, Andrea Goldsmith says of Germany in the 1930s: "The Government was a meticulous launderer of the public memory". I live in hope that, at the next Federal election, the Australian public will recover its memory of the days of Chifley or Menzies, its memory of the days when the idea of a fair go meant something, the days when decent treatment of other human beings was more important than blind pursuit of self-interest. If that happens, even for a moment, the Howard government will lose office and we will have a chance to return to the values which truly mark Australia as a great nation. "
...
"The government's recent hard-line stance on the refugee issue is officially justified in the name of our sovereignty. To guard our sovereignty, the government calls boat people "illegals", and it locks them up.
It is the great lie on which government policy rests. People who come here informally are not illegal. They commit no offence by arriving without papers, without an invitation, seeking protection. They may be locked up for months or years, but our moral conscience is lulled to sleep because we are told they are "illegals".
The fact is that to come to Australia without authority and seek asylum is not an offence against Australian law. There is no provision of the law which says it is an offence to arrive in Australia without permission. Much less is it an offence to arrive in Australia without permission and seek asylum. To the contrary, Article 14 of the Universal Declaration, entered into force on 10 December 1948, guarantees to every human being the right to seek asylum in any territory they can reach. Those who come here trying to exercise that right are locked up in desert camps or, more recently, in remote desert islands."
"Australia has made a choice with terrible consequences. We have chosen a government which shows contempt for human rights, whilst posturing as champions of decency and family values; a government of hypocrites whose dishonesty has made us relaxed and comfortable only by anaesthetising the national conscience.
In her latest novel, The Prosperous Thief, Andrea Goldsmith says of Germany in the 1930s: "The Government was a meticulous launderer of the public memory". I live in hope that, at the next Federal election, the Australian public will recover its memory of the days of Chifley or Menzies, its memory of the days when the idea of a fair go meant something, the days when decent treatment of other human beings was more important than blind pursuit of self-interest. If that happens, even for a moment, the Howard government will lose office and we will have a chance to return to the values which truly mark Australia as a great nation. "
...
"The government's recent hard-line stance on the refugee issue is officially justified in the name of our sovereignty. To guard our sovereignty, the government calls boat people "illegals", and it locks them up.
It is the great lie on which government policy rests. People who come here informally are not illegal. They commit no offence by arriving without papers, without an invitation, seeking protection. They may be locked up for months or years, but our moral conscience is lulled to sleep because we are told they are "illegals".
The fact is that to come to Australia without authority and seek asylum is not an offence against Australian law. There is no provision of the law which says it is an offence to arrive in Australia without permission. Much less is it an offence to arrive in Australia without permission and seek asylum. To the contrary, Article 14 of the Universal Declaration, entered into force on 10 December 1948, guarantees to every human being the right to seek asylum in any territory they can reach. Those who come here trying to exercise that right are locked up in desert camps or, more recently, in remote desert islands."
posted by BorisEarTh at Friday, February 20, 2004
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