Labor to turn back the boats.

[David]

You've got to give it to our refugee policies - just when you thought nothing could surprise you, another act of bastardry comes along.

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-01/refugee-not-allowed-to-leave-manus-island-to-find-job-png-govt/6366086

That story was actually from a few months ago, but I only just heard about it for the first time on Radio National tonight. To break it down:

• An Iranian boat person being held on Manus Island was found to be a legitimate refugee.
• As a trained engineer, he was offered a job in Port Moresby.
• The Papua New Guinean government - quite possibly at the request of Australia, given that this arrangement is entirely run and funded by us - refused him entry.
• This means that he will be remain imprisoned indefinitely, unless he decides to return to the place that he has been found to have genuine need to seek refuge from.

Are you sure you still want to defend this policy on utilitarian grounds?

[Dangles]

It'd be funny if they needed the Greens to govern again and the Greens didn't let them turn back the boats.

[David]

The way things are going, it's a reality they may well have to get used to. Certainly, it's hard to imagine an upper house without a Green balance of power. I wonder if they would choose to negotiate with the Coalition instead?

[Tannin]

[David]

Well, not strictly. The Greens hold some of the balance of power, along with the eight independents; they just don't often get referred to in the same category because they almost never vote with the Coalition government. Even if the current Greens/independents numbers remain after Labor wins the next election, they'll wield a much stronger bargaining position as Labor won't always be able to count on them for support.

[stui magpie]

[Tannin]

They don't get Labor preferences now, Stui. Labor is notorious for preferencing almost anyone except the Greens. Look at our dipshit religious fruitcake Senator for Victoria, Fielding of Family First, for example. How did that hard-right moron get in? Labor preferences. And it's not the first time they've done it.

The Labor Party has a loyal, hardworking, moderately intelligent and quite often fairly sensible grassroots membership, but there is only once cure for the Labor Party machine: a bloody great big enema followed by a flush.

[stui magpie]

^

You know which part I think would need to be dislodged and flushed but 3 might have another meltdown if I wrote it out.

But to be fair that's only a part of the problem and the same infects the Libs, just different ideologies. Politics and the business of it has become a career choice for many people who, if the public had the knowledge and choice, would not have a bar of them.

[Tannin]

Yep. I was talking more about the backroom boys in the smoke-filled rooms as opposed to the elected ones, but I wouldn't argue. The one infects the other.

[stui magpie]

So was I , the elected ones are actually the tip of the iceberg.

[David]

There is an alternative approach to this issue:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/01/guardian-view-on-europe-refugee-crisis-leadership-at-last-angela-merkel

[Mugwump]

germany wants solidarity on this issue, because Merkel knows she has backed her country into a corner and she needs to start to disperse the unsustainable problem she has licenced. Yesterday there were riots at the Budapest rail station as the route to Germany was closed. The situation in Europe will become a powder keg within 5-10 years at the current rate (800,000 in Germany so far this year, rate still increasing) as "leaders" deny the will of their people. Eventually the people will shout, as they see their environment, culture and economy being transformed without their democratic consent.

The masses at Calais desperately trying to board lorries to Britain are already in a continental Europe that has signed up to the UnHCR conventions. Their decision to come to Britain is self-evidently migration, not asylum. However tough and unpalatable, we must remind our government that unfettered movement across borders is not a human right, and that the first priority of any government should be to enforce the nation's territorial integrity.

[David]

A fact check on some of the government's claims about refugees:

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/sep/08/fact-check-do-refugee-claims-made-by-tony-abbott-and-peter-dutton-stack-up

[stui magpie]

Interesting they got this bit right.

[pietillidie]