Author and journalist David Marr made an interesting observation on the ABC’s Insiders program last Sunday. He suggested Australians might be willing to countenance the unbelievable cruelty being exacted upon asylum seekers at Manus Island and Nauru if they thought it was a one-off effort that would bring an end to the boat people risking their lives to come to Australia. David concluded, however, that if this was what people thought, it was a false expectation. He was certain that the boat people would not stop coming, not now, not ever; and he is right.If Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison think news of unbelievable cruelty at Manus Island and Nauru detention centres will filter through to those who are seeking to find another country to live will succeed, they are wrong. Why? Because always there will be other ways for people smugglers to continue their trade and adapt to changing circumstances. That is what business people do. And always there will be people who do not hear the message and still come, believing that their efforts will be rewarded. As long as there are 40 million people either displaced or stuck in refugee camps around the world, there will always be those who lose faith in the likelihood of receiving genuine help. They will simply take matters into their own hands and try another way. And who can blame them? The worldwide management of the refugee problem by the UNHCR is being woefully mishandled as is the selfishness of individual countries that have the wealth to absorb these, the most disadvantaged of the world’s citizens. The management is what needs to be reviewed and that is something that cannot be left to the whim of mean-spirited individuals in power; especially individuals with a political agenda. Last Tuesday’s Dateline program on SBS proved that. What unbelievable cruelty. Excerpt from John Kelly Article
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 20:49:36 +0000
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