According to the evening news, Australia stands on the precipice of one of the greatest security threats to Australia since World War II, with the Imperial Japanese Army in the Owen Stanley’s overlooking the lights of Port Moresby. A few dozen impoverished, bedraggled refugees right up there with the Imperial Japanese Army as threat! It is a joke isn’t it, except that this stuff is taken seriously.
A few definitions are in order to begin.
Hysteria has been defined as: ‘behaviour exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess.’ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) ‘Extreme fear, excitement, anger etc. that cannot be controlled.’ (Cambridge Dictionary) ‘An uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, often characterised by irrationality.’ (Collins Dictionary).
The above would seem to be apt definitions for the recent reaction in Australia to a few dozen ‘illegal boat arrivals’ on the north-west coast of Western Australia. ‘Illegal boat arrivals’ sounds far more nefarious than ‘refugees.’ Why, that latter word may even invite sympathy, perhaps even empathy.
In all this, forget of course that under international law such arrivals are not illegal. That is clear under the 1951 Refugee Convention, ratified by Australia. The recognition of that seemingly has long been laid aside by both sides of politics, since ‘the national crisis’ of the Tampa affair.
And of course bracket also that most people arriving in Australia without proper documentation come by air, and that most illegals, speaking technically now, are overstayers from wealthy countries. It is far too complex to wrestle with those sort of things.
While the government response to these two boats arriving was hysterical enough, nothing could match the antics of the Leader of the Opposition, who blamed the government for not over-riding the High Court, with its ruling that permanent detention was illegal. That had given an invitation for these latest arrivals. The concept of ‘the separation of powers,’ seemingly is beyond the nous of Peter Dutton, the High Court decision being all the fault of the government according to our alternate Prime Minister. Pesky that independence of the judiciary. Perhaps Peter would prefer the Indonesian model where uncle can have the law bent to allow his brother’s son to run (successfully) for Vice President, or Pakistan where the High Court is amenable to getting rid of that nuisance former cricketer.
Of course our docile media platforms this. No penetrating, or even slightly probing, questions are asked. Politicians are allowed, uninterrupted, to spin the most embarrassing droll nonsense as though it represents the most profound thing said since a certain Galilean pronounced the Sermon on the Mount. Ah, for a the ‘impertinence’ of a Richard Carleton taking it up to a Prime Minister, those days when the media was the 4th estate before it came in out of the rain to sit comfortably in the establishment suite.
Still this line is played by politicians because this stuff is appealing to the electorate. That is what is truly frightening. What is it in the electorate that generates such fear? Or is it the politicians who kick it up and then feed off the fold-back. ‘We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.’ Now, there’s an appeal to xenophobia to use the diplomatic word. And it worked. Indeed worked brilliantly, and Australia was set on a different path, one more fearful, less generous, meaner and less compassionate. Prime Minister and electorate fed off each other in the downward spiral.
Here apparently we stand on the precipice of one of the greatest security threats to Australia since….World War II with the Imperial Japanese Army in the Owen Stanley’s overlooking the lights of Port Moresby. Now that was a threat! Can you imagine our current ‘chicken little’s’ reacting to that?
A few dozen impoverished, bedraggled refugees right up there with the Imperial Japanese Army as threat! It is a joke isn’t it, except that this stuff is taken seriously!
Watch the evening news, watch the grave intonation of both government and opposition as they race for the bottom. Just don’t eat beforehand.
John Queripel is a Newcastle-based historian, theologian, social commentator and published author of three books. His blog may be found at www.johnqueripelblog.com.
Substack / https://johnqueripel.substack.com
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