John Menadue

John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.

John's recent articles

Our better angels. Guest bloggers Brenda, Edith and Elizabeth

Dear Elizabeth, At our church, Liverpool South Anglican Church,we have befriended some men from Sri Lankawho have been released from the Curtin Detention centre.They are setting up house in Sydney.We held a BBQ and cricket match on Anzac Dayand about 30 men came along. Our Minister explained to them about Anzac Dayand why it is important to Australians. Another minister preached the gospel message to them in Tamil. We heard from about 5 of the men about the story of their trip to Australia. They were very grateful. It was the first celebration they had been...

Curbing health costs starting with pathologists and radiologists. John Menadue

In discussing the looming budget deficits there has been focus on the rising costs of healthcare. And so there should be. But before addressing some of the factors leading to increased costs, we should keep in mind that Australia spends about 9% of GDP in health. That compares with France 12%, Germany 12%, Canada 11%, New Zealand 10% and UK 10%. The OECD median is 9%. The US at 18% of GDP is off the charts largely due to private health insurance. Thus 9% of GDP spent on healthcare in Australia is not excessive in world terms. Medicare...

Are wage rates to blame? John Menadue

We have read a lot recently from retailers and restauranteurs about high wage rates particularly at weekends that are said to be a major burden for business. But is this the full story? There are several factors that we need to consider. Do we have too many retailers and restaurants? Restaurants seem to be opening every second day, driving out mixed-businesses, green grocers and butchers from our shopping streets. Has the proliferation of retail outlets and restaurants reduced profit margins and put pressure on business rather than wages? Our lives are being driven by the 24/7 craze. Do we...

National Party fails farmers. John Menadue

Warren Truss and Barnaby Joyce have allowed the National Party to be dragged along at the heels of the Liberal Party on climate change and other issues. What was it that Tony Abbott said about climate change being bullshit? Australian farmers particularly in Western Australia are now paying the price of failed leadership by the National Party. Last week the government announced measures to assist distressed farmers who face drought, a strong dollar and other difficulties. Particular mention was made of farmers in the south-west of Western Australia. Evidence keeps coming that the drought in Western Australia is...

Malaysian General Elections - Change or Chaos? Guest blogger: El Tee Kay in Kuala Lumpur

The run up to the 13th General Election on Sunday May 5 has been described as the dirtiest in Malaysian history. For the first time in 54 years the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government led by Prime Minister Najib Razak fears it may lose its grip on power. For the first time the Malaysian voter has a choice of a credible opposition, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) led by Anwar Ibrahim, which is mounting a strong challenge. Indications are that the main coalition partners of BN the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) and the Gerakan may suffer...

A canary in the coal mine. John Menadue

When environmental activist, Jonathon Moylan, sent a hoax email concerning Whitehaven Coal to the ANZ in January this year, there was outrage and tut-tutting by business journalists about his action. A few months later, it is becoming clear that the future of new thermal coal mines is doubtful. Australian resource companies have let over-optimism skew their investment decisions. Would any sensible investor take not only the political risk but also the financial risk of investing in new thermal coal mines in Australia? The case for continuing investment in coking coal for steel making remains strong, but not...

Is the ALP a political party or a suicide cult? John Menadue

Friends overseas are amazed that with a world class economy such as ours, the Australian Government faces a rout. I try and explain that the governments difficulties are self-inflicted; that it is tone-deaf on many political issues; that the Prime Minister is not being listened to and the public will not accept what she did to Kevin Rudd. How could Australias longest-established and most reputable political party be behaving like a suicide cult? Where are the wise men and women in the ALP to stop the Party going over the cliff? Australians are genuinely concerned about the prospect...

Tony Abbott keeps telling us that boat people are illegals and by inference, criminals. John Menadue

Last week on radio Tony Abbott was at it again, repeatedly referring to illegals and illegal boats. It cannot be ignorance to keep calling asylum seekers illegals. He must know they are not illegals, but by using this language he inflates fear and hatred of people in distress. We cannot presume that boats are illegal because they are exercising passage through our territorial waters. The Law of the Sea makes that clear. And people seeking asylum are not illegals because of our commitments under Article 31 of the Refugee Convention. The Centre for Policy Development has just published...

An Excel coding error with tragic consequences. John Menadue

In 2010, just after the Greek financial crisis, two respected conservative Harvard economists, Reinhart and Rogoff, published a paper Growth in a time of debt that said that once debt exceeded 90% of GDP, economic growth drops off sharply. Their thesis added great weight to those urging austerity on such countries as Greece, Spain and many others. Paul Krugman in the New York Times of April 18 has drawn attention to a major flaw in their tipping point theory for national debt. According to Krugman, Reinhart and Rogoff, allowed researchers at the University of Massachusetts to examine the spreadsheets...

The post-September struggle. Guest blogger: Red Pimpernel

As the Labor Party lurches to a blistering defeat in September there is a lot of work going on to reframe it as a democratic and progressive organisation. Those that seriously believe in the ALP as a 21st century social democracy have begun quietly. The reframers know they will run into internal conservative opposition. It will be a debate that gives Labor members and supporters plenty to keep themselves busy as they contemplate the Abbott era. In NSW we have seen the beginnings of attempts to challenge monoliths of preselection power bases and union block voting. We have...

There's nothing basic about basic nursing care. Guest Blogger: Professor Mary Chiarella

The Minister for Health and Ageing, Mark Butler has announced a new aged-care workforce compact which will result in 350,000 workers receiving supplementary payments of 1% over and above award increases. This amounts to $1/hour more for each worker the lowest paid workers in the health care industry. Why is intimate nursing care, for the purposes of distinguishing it from technical nursing care, identified as not needing qualified nursing staff and relegated to care workers? Furthermore these care workers, the mainstay of our nursing homes and residential aged care facilities, may only have the support of a single registered...

The Wars we would rather forget. John Menadue

Aboriginal Wars The Australian War Memorial records as follows: When it became apparent that the settlers and their livestock had come to stay, competition for access to the land developed and friction between the two ways of life became inevitable. As the settlers behaviour became unacceptable to the indigenous population, individuals were killed over specific grievances. These killings were then met with reprisals from the settlers, often on a scale out of all proportion to the original incident. It is estimated that some 2,500 European settlers and police died in this conflict. For the aboriginal inhabitants the...

The blame game over schools: a way through the impasse. John Menadue

The Commonwealth and the States will blame each other for failure to agree on Gonski light. It is a pattern we have seen so often over many years, particularly in health. Federalism is just not working for us. It has become an obstacle to good government. The Commonwealth financial dominance will continue. The States are poor but proud and reluctant to concede jurisdiction. Kevin Rudd threatened to hold a referendum in association with the 2010 election to give the Commonwealth power to fund and run State public hospitals. But he was persuaded not to persist as it was...

Where has the Business Council of Australia been? John Menadue

The BCA President, Tony Shepherd, was at it again on Wednesday 17 April at the National Press Club attacking the Government for many failures a lack of focus, the need for politicians to sacrifice their jobs for the national interest and that old perennial of his, reform of the labour market. His comments were loudly supported by the Australian Financial Review which now reports on behalf of the business sector rather than about business. In my blog on March 14, (Productivity and Skills see below) I drew attention to the failure of the BCA to make its case...

Report of 'Clerical celibacy in context'

A few nights ago, some fifty people went to the Veech Library, at Strathfield, to hear a retired history professor, Ed Campion, give a lecture entitled Clerical Celibacy in Context. The next day people telephoned the library to get copies of this lecture but there was none to be had because the lecturer performed without the safety net of a text. He started with the story of the Mass, showing how the clergy became more and more dominant in worship. Parallel to this, their privileged civil status grew until by the time of Thomas Becket and Henry II they...

Privatisation on the wane. John Menadue

From the days of Maggie Thatcher, Ronald Reaganand John Howard, the assumption has been that the private sector will grow in relation to the public sector because it is more efficient and contributes more to the public good. The political correctness of the political Right assumed that privatisation would carry all before it. But not any more. The market failures of many key players in the private sector are clear. It is not just Wall Street, but our own local giants, BHP, Rio Tinto and others, who have lost tens of billions of dollars in shareholders funds in recent...

Post card from Kyoto

Kyoto is both an historic and beautiful city. Fortunately it was spared allied bombing during the last war. When our family first visited Kyoto and other parts of Japan in the 1960's the exchange rate was about 400yen to the Australian dollar. It made for not only wonderful holidays, but cheap holidays as well. We usually stayed at Japanese minshuku for less than $A 10 for dinner, bed and breakfast for an adult. Over the years, the yen strengthened considerably until it appreciated to about Yen 65 to $A1. To reverse this appreciation of the yen, the new...

Reviving Malaysia. John Menadue

As I pointed out in an earlier blog (27 March 2013), the Nauru/Manus solution is not working to deter asylum seekers. The government foolishly adopted Tony Abbotts proposal. With the failure of Nauru/Manus, the Minister for Immigration, Brendan OConnor has spoken about the need to revive the earlier proposal on Malaysia. Last weekend the SMH published an editorial headed Time to revisit the Malaysian plan. Arja Keski-Nummi and I have consistently supported the Malaysian plan. We did not see it as perfect by any means, but it did provide a basis for developing a regional arrangement. We are...

Fear of Asia. John Menadue

This fear has been with us since European settlement a small, relatively wealthy white community living on the rim of the large populations of Asia. This fear stunts our own human growth and is an obstacle to trusting relations with our own region. Although we have broken the back of white Australia, fear of Asia and the yellow peril is still alive. We see it in so many ways. Our uncritical alliance with the US and formerly with the UK stems from the fear of our region and the need for a strong external protector. Politicians such...

More punishment for asylum seekers and refugees. John Menadue

The Coalition has announced that in government, it would deny boat arrivals access to an independent review of their claims for refugee status. It is another way of punishing vulnerable people and winning political points. There will be no change in appeal rights of asylum seekers who come by air. The punishment will only be for boat arrivals. 82% of initial rejections for refugee status were overturned in 2011/12 by the Refugee Review Tribunal. This has been the pattern for several years. This suggests that there is some fundamental problem with the way primary decisions are made by...

Tokyo postcard. John Menadue

It is great to be back in Japan for cherry blossom. I first came to Japan almost 45 years ago and have been visiting regularly ever since. On our visits and residence in Japan, we stayed at scores of minshuku - Japanese B & B - across the country. It was a wonderful experience. Cherry blossoms have been early in Japan this year. Many locals say that it is due to climate change! I suspect that many Japanese are more concerned about their environmental pollution of dust out of China, soaring eastwards, first over Korea and then over Japan....

Are most asylum seekers and refugees Muslims?

Well, as a matter of fact, most asylum seekers and refugees are not Muslims. But I am sure that many commentators and a lot of the community believe that most are Muslim. The dog-whistlers like Scott Morrison feed on this assumption .According to Jane Cadzow in the Sun Herald he urged the Coalition parties to ramp up its questioning to capitalise on anti-Muslim sentiment. Figures on this issue are extracted from the DIAC Settlement data base. One reason for the difficulty in analysing the figures is that a religious test is not applied to persons seeking refugee...

The Asian Century - another smoko? John Menadue

Chaired by Ken Henry, the White Paper, Australia in the Asian Century was released five months ago, in October 2012. We have heard precious little about it since. Prime Minister Gillard appointed Craig Emerson, the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Asian Century Policy. I have not seen or heard anything from him that gives me confidence that an implementation plan has been drawn up and is being implemented. Will we go on smoko again as we did after the Garnaut Report of 1989 on the challenge and opportunities we faced in North Asia and particularly Japan and Korea....

Hazaras in peril. John Menadue

There are an estimated 50,000 persons of Hazara background living in Australia. Many of their relatives and friends are being intimidated and killed regularly in Pakistan. It is not surprising that they are fleeing and paying people smugglers to get to safety in Australia or elsewhere. The Hazara are a Shia group who have traditionally been persecuted in Afghanistan. Their physical appearance also makes them different. For decades, Hazaras have fled to Pakistan for safety and reside mainly in the Quetta area of NW Pakistan. That has now changed with the Hazara in Quetta being specifically targeted by...

The Boat People Obsession. John Menadue

The Australian Parliamentary Library has again pointed to our obsession with boat people. In its 11 February 2013 Research PaperAsylum seekers and refugees, What are the facts, it highlights (p.8) that despite increases in boat arrivals in recent years, the number of Irregular arrivals by sea to Australia is quite small compared with other countries. The chart below shows this quite clearly. Parliamentary Library, data source: UNHCR, All in the same boat: the challenges of mixed migration, UNHCR website. The chart shows dramatically that boat or sea arrivals in Australia are quite small...

The Pacific Solution has failed. John Menadue

The Government fell for a dud Coalition policy that suggested that by re-opening Nauru/Manus the flow of asylum seekers by boat would be reduced or even cease. We recall that many times Tony Abbott said that on becoming Prime Minister, the first thing he would do would be to get on the phone to the President of Nauru to re-open the Nauru detention centre. Following the Houston Report and in a spirit of political compromise, the Government foolishly accepted the Coalition policy to re-open Nauru/Manus as deterrents to boat arrivals. It was part of a larger package. The...

Judge Murphy and Sexual Abuse in Ireland. John Menadue

The Australian Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse commences its hearings in Melbourne on April 3. If the experience of the four enquiries in Ireland is any guide individuals and intuitions in Australia face ordeals. Judge Murphy headed the Commission of Investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin. Her report was released in 2009. Only a few months earlier, the Ryan Report was released which dealt with abuse in industrial schools controlled by Roman Catholic religious institutions in Ireland. Judge Murphy was recently in Australia and spoke at the University of Sydney...

The Flow of Asylum Seekers to Australia follows world trends. John Menadue

The Australian Parliamentary Library has just released a Research Paper showing that the flow of asylum seekers to Australia since 1999 follows the trends of asylum flows to OECD countries generally. Reading the Australian media one would think that we have a problem with asylum seekers that no other country has. At the Centre for Policy Development, in a report we issued in April 2011, we pointed out that the trend of asylum seekers to OECD countries, including Australia, showed that civil unrest and persecution in source countries are the major influences in asylum movements around the world...

The Medicine Lobby. Vested interests win again. John Menadue

Professor Stephen Duckett of the Grattan Institute has just reported that Australians are paying too much for prescription drugs. The cost of this overpayment is at least $1.3 p.a. This is another example of the power of vested interests in the health sector and their ability to extract economic rents from the community. The other privileged players in the health sector include doctors, particularly specialists, and the private health insurance industry that extracts a $3.5 billion annual subsidy from the taxpayer. The Minister for Health and her department spend much of their time placating and appeasing the vested...

Does Australia care about what happens on its doorstep in Sabah? Guest blogger: El Tee Kay

Almost a month ago two hundred of the self styled Royal Sulu Army, some heavily armed, landed in a small coastal village in Sabah, Malaysia. They came from the nearby Tawi Tawi islands in the southern Philippines. Their objective was to persuade the Malaysian Government to recognize their hereditary claim to Sabah for the Sulu Sultanate. The Suluk or Tausag tribes have traversed this narrow stretch of water as traders and pirates for centuries and many settled along the East coast of Sabah. The influx increased during the Moro uprising in the southern Philippines. This most recent invasion, it...

Confusion and Contradiction on Asylum Seekers in the Community. John Menadue

Arja Keski-Nummi and I have described the services and lack of them for the 12,000 asylum seekers living in the community as Kafkaesque. The policies and rules concerning these asylum seekers have no sense or logic. Some are living in the community on bridging visas with work rights and some without work rights. Boat arrivals between October 2012 and August 2013 and released into the community have work rights but boat arrivals after August 2013 have no work rights. Some have access to Medicare, but many dont. Some are in detention because they came by boat, while those who...

Could this be a John XXIII moment. Guest blogger: Monsignor Tony Doherty

Announced in every news outlet, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, an Argentinian Jesuit who is the first in his order and the first from Latin America has been named as the bishop of Rome Pope number 266. In these early hours of the announcement, we are left with the crumbs of his story. Theologically conservative, we are led to believe. Socially active and human left his Episcopal palace and lives modestly, catches public transport, a seventy-six year old who loves to walk, and interestingly cooks for himself. Never underestimate a man who cooks. More significantly there is some...

Productivity and Skills. John Menadue

For months, the Business Council of Australia and senior business executives have been banging on about the need to increase labour productivity. To achieve this, they have emphasised the need to amend the industrial relations legislation, Fair Work Australia as essential to lift productivity. Many have seen it as an attempt by employers to rebalance the industrial relations framework in their favour and has little to do with productivity. Others would see it as political identification with the Coalition But this campaign by employers was not based on fact. Ross Gittins in the SMH 11 March 2013 has drawn...

The Power of the Gambling and Liquor Complexes. John Menadue

I remember speaking many years ago to an old friend, Justice Xavier Connor, after he had completed an enquiry for the Victorian Government on a possible casino in Melbourne. He recommended against it. He said John, gambling and casinos everywhere in the world attract criminals and organised crime. It is like bees around a honeypot. Criminals are naturally attracted to gambling and casinos. We have had warnings that the gambling industry has enormous power and influence. Look how easily it ran off the rails the attempts by Andrew Wilkie and Nick Xenophon to curb problem gambling in licensed...

Asylum Seekers and Paedophiles. John Menadue

In my blog of March 5 I spoke about the demonization of asylum seekers by Scott Morrison. He has variously alleged that they bring disease, wads of cash and jewellery. He has also called for the registration of asylum seekers moving into a residential area. But Senator Abetz has gone even further. He made it very clear that we should draw the inference that just as the public wanted paedophiles registered when they moved into a community, so there should be registration of asylum seekers. He was not rebuked by Tony Abbott. Senator Abetz is a senior...

Let them Work. John Menadue

Last month, Bruce Kaye (guest blogger) and I wrote articles about the need for a change of government policy to allow asylum seekers to work. This is important for their dignity and self-respect and their integration into the Australian community. It would also be less costly to the Australian taxpayer and the Australian community. Today the Asylum Seekers Centre, Sydney, and fifty other organisations have joined together to call on the Australian Government to allow all asylum seekers to work, whether they came by air or boat. A press statement by the CEO of the ASC, Melanie Noden,...

The Neverending Story. Guest blogger: Greg from Cottesloe

Side show alleys have become smaller these days.They used to be the centre of attraction at the annual Royal Show with the boxing troupes, the bearded ladies and so on but even the shrunken lane of today still has a conjuror performing the old pea and thimble trick. The conjuror puts a pea under one of three thimbles then swirls them around with appropriate flourishes and invites a member of the audience to pick the one hiding the pea. Some honest but dim fellow steps forward and has a go but...no luck. He retires ruefully shaking his head and the...

The Malaysian General Election. Will the fix be in again? Guest blogger El Tee Kay, Kuala Lumpur

Australian Senator Nick Xenophon flew into Kuala Lumpur in mid-February. He was detained and deported back to Australia as he posed a security threat to the country. He was roundly condemned by the Malaysian Home Minister, the Election Commission and the media for his interference but received favourable support overseas and from the opposition parties, civil and human rights groups in Malaysia. He was blacklisted for participating in an illegal rally for free and fair elections in last Aprils Bersih 3.0 rally and tarnishing Malaysias image. His summary deportation has cast further doubts about the fairness of the coming general...

Prejudice compounded by ignorance. John Menadue

The Scott Morrisons and Ray Hadleys of this world have had a field day vilifying one asylum seeker living in the community who came by boat. The prejudice is bad enough, but their ignorance is just as appalling. In the last ten years, 65,000 asylum seekers came to Australia. 47,000, or 72% of them, came by air. The fact is that those 47,000 who came by air all went directly to living in the community on bridging visas. Scott Morrison and Ray Hadley showed not the slightest interest. There is no campaign against the much larger number of asylum...

'I was a stranger and you took me in.'

I was a stranger and you took me in (Matthew 25) Well not really, according to Scott Morrison. In her article in the SMH on 3 November 2012, Jane Cadzow describes Scott Morrison as a devout Christian who worships at Shirelive, an American style Pentecostal Church. The Shirelive website says its members believe the Bible is the accurate authoritative word of God. Formerly, Scott Morrison belonged to Hillsong. In his maiden speech to the House of Representatives in 2008 he said from my faith I derive the values of loving kindness, justice and righteousness. I am...

Normalising Crime

There is a tendency to normalize crime in our own group, church or community by saying that the rate of crime in our own group is no worse than in other groups. It is a view I have heard expressed recently in the Catholic Church. Cardinal Ratzinger used this argument at a conference in Spain in 2002....the percentage of these (sexual) offences among priests is not higher than in other categories and perhaps it is even lower...less than 1%of priests are guilty of acts of this type. The constant presence of these news items does not correspond to the objectivity...

Another misleading story about hospital costs

The head of Ramsey Health told us in the AFR today that the Productivity Commission report on public and private hospital systems found that the private sector was 30% more efficient It did not. Last year the CEO of the Private Hospitals Association said that private hospital costs are 32% lower than public hospitals. The same old hoary untruths keeps being repeated. The Productivity Commission concedes (p83) that it is hard to compare the costs of the two systems. However it went on to say that at a national level public and private hospitals had broadly similar...

The blame game in health continues.

Some weeks ago Victorian hospitals announced bed closures, job losses and elective surgery delays because of a dispute with the Commonwealth Government over the hospital funding formula. In an election year the issue seems to have been temporarily resolved by the Commonwealth stomping up more money. But it highlights the continuing malaise with divided. funding and operational responsibility for health care. The commonwealth has major responsibility for the Medical Benefits Scheme, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, Veterans Health and Aged care. The states run hospitals but depend on commonwealth funding to do so. Broadly, the commonwealth provides 43% of...

What the Subtitles Say. Guest blogger Greg from Cottesloe

Heres a popular generalisation. Subtitles or dubbing? Americans prefer dubbing of foreign films because it demonstrates that even Shaolin monks can speak English with a Bronx accent if they try hard enough. The fact that the lips keep on moving seconds after the voice stops merely adds to the mystery and allure of these foreigners. The smart set however likes subtitles because they add to theje ne sais quoiof the foreign experience of going to a film festival at the Cinema Paradiso. Dubbing or subtitles, they provide both access to foreign films and to foreign news and opinion, albeit that...

The Greens and Asylum Seekers. How the 'perfect' became the enemy of the 'good'.

The policy purity of the Greens has helped deliver us Nauru and Manus where asylum seekers are suffering. Furthermore, and as the former Secretary of the Department of Immigration told us last year, the Nauru/Manus approach would not work again to deter asylum seekers. That now seems tragically borne out by more tragedies at sea In the Senate last year, the Greens voted with the Coalition to defeat Government legislation which would have allowed cooperation between the Malaysian Government, UNHCR and the Australian Government on processing in Malaysia. This legislation was in response to the High Court striking down...

Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church

There is nothing on this earth as ugly as the Catholic Church And nothing so beautiful (Cardinal John Henry Newman) A letter to fellow members of St Mary Magdalenes Parish, Rose Bay I have found great beauty in the Catholic Church. Inspired by the Eucharist, I joined the Catholic Church over 30 years ago. That inspiration remains. Despite its failures the Church remains for me the greatest influence for good in the world. I am grateful for its worldwide works of justice, mercy and charity. At the local parish level I have found wise and generous...

Work rights for asylum seekers. Guest blogger: Bruce Kaye

Having had direct experience of asylum seeker hosting it has become obvious at the ground level that the no work policy introduced in August last year by the Federal Government is creating confusion and misery for the asylum seekers and frustration and despair for those involved in hosting. As citizens, my wife and I are happy to continue to provide this hospitality. These people are in great need. However it seems to us that the Governments policy of not allowing these people to work simply makes it impossibly hard for them to live in the community at the end...

The asylum seekers that we don't talk about

In the last ten years, 65,000 asylum seekers have come to Australia. 47,000 or 72% of those came by air. Only 28% came by boat. In the last five years, we received 47,000 asylum seekers, of whom 28,000 or 62% came by air. Only 38% came by boat. In only one year, in the last ten years, 2011-12, did we have more boat arrivals (7,379) than air arrivals (7,036). Air arrivals are fairly steady at about 5,000 to 7,000 p.a. whilst boat arrivals fluctuate more. Yet for years our whole debate is about boats, boats and more boats. As...

Minister! Let them work.

There is a growing number of asylum seekers living in the community who are not allowed to work. The new Minister, Brendan OConnor, could put his stamp on the portfolio by immediately making a decision to allow almost all asylum seekers to work. The present policy of denial of work is cruel, denies the dignity of people and does not deter future asylum seekers. The number who are not allowed to work is growing as the government, quite rightly, is releasing from immigration detention and into the community, asylum seekers on bridging visas. There are presently about 7,000 asylum...

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