Australia’s immoral asylum policies
Jul 23, 2023
Whereas once upon a time Australia was regarded as a country of goodwill, tolerance and decency, it is now reputed, worldwide, to be the country with the most inhumane treatment towards refugees.
When I moved to the U.S. in 1981 I carried the Australian flag with an immature and ignorant pride, totally oblivious to the atrocities committed by successive Australian governments before me.
I have learned a few things these past 42 years.
Least of all, when traveling abroad I have learned not to disclose the country of my birth in unknown company.
Why? Because the topic of immigration imprisonment for asylum seekers invariably comes up.
Whereas once upon a time Australia was regarded as a country of goodwill, tolerance and decency, it is now reputed, worldwide, to be the country with the most inhumane treatment towards refugees.
I don’t play the piano, and I’m certainly no maestro of music, but I can tell if a wrong key has been played.
Do I know what key should have been played? No. Although I know the one I heard was not it.
Similarly, I know that immigration policies based on fear will not benefit us as a national people.
Something is seriously out of tune in this country; more than that – there is an obscene and grotesque ideology at work to destroy the lives of our people who are most in need of help.
Through my interest – and somewhat reasonable knowledge – of history, I have come to learn and expect that governments, along with extremely wealthy and powerful elites have acted and will continue to act in nefarious, ruthless and treacherous ways to achieve their own agendas, regardless of the cost to innocent people: financially, emotionally, psychologically and socially.
Do I know how to turn this metaphorical boat around? No. My education and experiences lay elsewhere.
Frankly, I know as much about immigration law and politics as I do about pianos.
But I do know the sound of a dirge when I hear one; that’s the tune of funerals.
The “fair-go” Australia of yesteryear is sick near death, dying from apathy, but most people are so fixated on the state of the economy they have failed to see the seeds of moral turpitude being sown right in their own backyards.
History will judge us, not by how many pieces of silver in our pockets, but by how we treated the poor.
Modern geo-political history is replete with examples of both overt and clandestine wars; denied or covered up human atrocities; planned and executed genocides; and a blanket disinterest in justice for the victimised.
Add to these, an ongoing mass destruction of nature, either for financial gain or as a consequence of it.
Laws are passed by legislators which further propagate the marginalisation of minorities and the helpless: e.g. the physically and mentally impeded; defenceless children and minors; elderly; many refugee groups based on colour of skin and ethnic origins; homelessness and so on.
At no point in history has the worth of a human being been so widely and blatantly judged on their monetary and/or economic value, as we see today.
The gaping disparity between the rich and the poor grows greater by the hour, almost as if the poor have an incurable and deforming, communicable disease. Keep them at a safe distance.
Consumerism is pedalled as the panacea of the masses, but the poor don’t realise the material dream was never intended for them. Instead, they provide, by their labor, the fodder which keeps the market machine turning.
Their hopes of something more are kept alive through a steady diet of TV commercials, tidbits on Social Media and massive advertising campaigns that act as a life-support apparatus designed to sustain their longing.
Any appeal on their behalf or talk of equality is twisted by the self-absorbed and greedy – variously known as ‘Conservatives’ or ‘Capitalist’ or ‘Fascists’ – as an attempt to introduce Socialism.
Concern and care shown to the downtrodden, however, should not only be a defining political principle in a civilised country, but evidence of human kindness.
Even Babylon’s Hammurabi knew that nearly four millennia ago.
Sad to think, as a current day Iraqi, he would be imprisoned if he sought shelter in Australia today.
Roderick St George was an ordained minister for 14 years in the United States, but who also worked in the corrective services and immigration industries in Australia for almost 10 years. He came forward as a whistleblower on conditions for asylum seekers on Manus Island.
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