On this World Refugee Day, it might be an appropriate time to remember the refugee crisis resulting from the invasion of Iraq. You know, that war that we were all too eager to sign up for. According to Der Spiegel, most of the Iraqi refugee with sufficient means to make it to Europe are ending up in Sweden, because the rest of Europe won’t take them:
Alvesta is just one of scores of villages, towns and cities in Sweden that are hosting an ever-growing number of Iraqis fleeing the violence back home. The Scandinavian country took in some 9,000 Iraqi refugees in 2006 — over 40 percent of the 22,000 Iraqi refugees who found their way to Europe. And Sweden is bracing for a significant increase this year. Based on the numbers of Iraqi refugees arriving in Europe in the first two months of 2007, the total seeking asylum this year could be well over 40,000. And with much of the rest of Europe doing little to help, most of them are likely to end up in Sweden.
But, as the article notes, that’s chickenfeed compared to the 1.2 million or so in Syria, and 750,000-odd in Jordan. Yep, the invasion of Iraq has thus far resulted in 2 million-odd refugees, not counting the internally displaced.
According to this fact sheet from the recently renamed Department of Immigration and Citizenship (no more multiculturalism for you!), Australia took 2150 Iraqi refugees last year.
I’ve had my say on the Hirsi Ali debate over at On Line Opinion. What primarily interested me was the way in which her interventions in Australian politics, and her story, were the subject of some absurdly illogical articles from the punditariat in the MSM - most egregiously irrational, in my view, were the columns from Janet Albrechtsen and Miranda Devine. If we’re going to trumpet the values of “Enlightenment reason”, I think it’s axiomatic that we need to be true to those values. And it seems to me highly significant that while both Albrechtsen and Devine claimed that “the left” condoned the vile practice of female genital mutilation on “culturalist” grounds, they were unable to identify anyone who actually did so. A number of columns were published from members of the Australian Islamic community, but the actual “secular left” was quite absent from the debate conducted in the broadsheet press. In fact, as I suggest, “multiculturalism, properly understood, in a liberal society does not and should not condone any practice, justified by whatever reason, which does such physical and psychological harm.” It does appear to have become part of the political culture of the right wing press to make accusations about “the left” without any foundation in fact, and this sort of symbolic politics of indignation does nothing to address the serious issues that do arise with regard to acts which transgress human rights and does less than nothing to improve the quality of Australian political debate. What we have exemplified in this debate is anything but a rational public sphere.
Quite an astonishing performance from Bill O’Reilly and John McCain on Fox:
Bill O’Reilly: But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far-left want? They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure, which you’re a part, and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have. In that regard, Pat Buchanan is right. So I say you’ve got to cap with a number.
John McCain: In America today we’ve got a very strong economy and low unemployment, so we need addition farm workers, including by the way agriculture, but there may come a time where we have an economic downturn, and we don’t need so many.
O’Reilly: But in this bill, you guys have got to cap it. Because estimation is 12 million, there may be 20 [million]. You don’t know, I don’t know. We’ve got to cap it.
McCain: We do, we do. I agree with you.
Update: Amanda at Pandagon on Bill O’Reilly.
Continue reading ‘Noise machine outs itself as power structure’
The National Character Cancellation Centre.
Rehabilitation camp for new leaders of the Labor Party?
Centre for revisionist studies in ‘Australian character’?
Unit for transforming terrible toddlers into nice human beings?
No. The NCCC is a new unit in the Immigration Department set up to “bring together cases where people’s character was in question”.
Continue reading ‘Character-cancelling’
If things get really desparate for the government this year, will they be tempted to take a leaf out of Utah Republicans’ book?
“Utah County Republicans ended their convention on Saturday by debating Satan’s influence on illegal immigrants. (…)
Don Larsen, chairman of legislative District 65 for the Utah County Republican Party, had submitted a resolution warning that Satan’s minions want to eliminate national borders and do away with sovereignty.
Via Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings.
The bizarro world refugee swap plan (whereby we swap Sri Lankan refugees who’ve arrived at Christmas Island and been shunted off to Nauru with Cuban refugees who’ve been intercepted trying to reach the States) has almost everyone perplexed. Though maybe the whole flight plan from Guantanamo Bay to Adelaide idea could work better with bulk ticket purchases? Actually, I think Kerry Nettle is on to something. Though her gender is mis-ascribed, her comments are being picked up in American news reports. This from Voice of America.
“This is about political mates helping each other out,” Nettle said. “Immigration issues in Australia and in the United States have been issues that conservative governments have sought to stand up on, and they’re now helping each other out. It’s nothing more than a political fix in the lead up to the election campaign.”
The unconvincing explanations from Kevin Andrews demonstrate that the plan makes little political sense in the Australian context. “We determine…” etc is dead as an electoral issue here, except insofar as its legacy will return to haunt Howard as public awareness of his history of deceit grows. But in America, high profile Republicans are seeking to revive illegal immigration as a stick to hit the Democrats with. But Cuban refugees also pose a political problem - many are relatives of the largely GOP voting Cuban-American population in Florida, which will be a hotly contested state in the next elections.
Since people on the other thread wanted to get all Spenglerian on me, perhaps a demography thread is timely, particularly with the release of Peter Costello’s latest Inter-generational report. Fertility, obviously, being his signature issue. I can’t put my fundamental objections to the manner in which this debate has played out in Australia better than Charles Richardson, writing in today’s Crikey does, so I’ll just quote him.
Continue reading ‘Demography? Destiny? Decline of TEH WEST?’
John Howard may be remarkably adept at coping with being hard of hearing, but his bout of political tin-ear may just be continuing.
While he was getting all lined up to party like the MV Tampa all over again over the latest bunch of Sri Lankan boat people, nobody except his cabinet colleagues are joining in.
Continue reading ‘If a wedge falls in a forest and nobody cares, is a leader flailing?’
The ABC’s balance police have brought forth their first fruits.
A Difference of Opinion premiered tonight. It was specifically tagged as the ABC show that would provide “balance” after the new Board imposed policy came in last year.
Personally I would have preferred the original Gerard Henderson suggestion of a couple of demented ideologues shouting over each other. (That might be stretching Gerry’s words a bit, but I’m sure he had something in mind not too unlike the Fox News model of demented far right nutters ranting and raving with a token liberal who’s actually also a right winger.) I mean, couldn’t we debiasify the ABC by spending the entire current affairs budget on making Sean Hannity an offer he couldn’t refuse? (For those not familiar with Mr Hannity’s work, check out his show’s website for an idea of what constitutes balance in Foxspeak).
What we got instead was tedious piffle.
Continue reading ‘Balanced television’
A couple of weeks ago, I posted on a few of my “left-wing� beliefs. In a comment on that post, Yobbo remarked:
You just listed things that everyone stands for. Why waste pixels? Or are you attempting to imply that the right doesn’t stand for those things?
No such implication was intended – whatever Yobbo might have thought. And no such implication is intended here, where I’m going to skim over Kevin Andrews’ recent speech to the CIS (PDF file) on the subject of Australia’s dark future if the ALP is returned at the next Federal election.
I believe in secular democracy and the separation of church and state under section 116 of the Australian Constitution. Kev believes in something called democratic capitalism:
In Michael Novak’s 1982 seminal apologia for private property, freer markets and individual agency, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, he con�dently wrote:
Of all the systems of political economy which have shaped our history, none has so revolutionised ordinary expectations of human life – lengthened the life span, made the elimination of poverty and famine thinkable, enlarged the range of human choice – as democratic capitalism.
Democratic capitalism is neither exclusively liberal nor conservative, neither secularist nor religious; it implies the role of constitutional government, is responsive to community standards, and rejects social engineering.
(my emphasis)
Continue reading ‘Who Doesn’t Believe?’
See also Mark’s post on the topic
Today brings news that yet another immigrant son has been found unfit to continue living here and faces repatriation to the country of his birth. But there’s one small hitch:
THE Immigration Department wants to deport a man to Germany, even though the German consulate had said he would be entitled to only a two-week visa, his lawyer said yesterday.
Michaela Byers said she held letters from the consulate from the time the department previously tried to deport the man, Harald Kertz, 48, in 2005, stating that he was not a German citizen, and would be given only the short-stay visa.
(The Age)
Undeterred, our newly renamed Department of Immigration and Citizenship plans to continue with Kertz’ deportation:
A spokesman for the Immigration Department said: “As an unlawful non-citizen, arrangements are being made for his removal as soon as possible to a country where he has a right to entry and long-term stay.”
In the meantime, Kertz is in detention as an “unlawful non-citizen�, raising the interesting question of what DIC and current DIC head-honcho Kevin Andrews will do if they can’t find a country where he has a right to entry and long-term stay.
More reports here, here, here and here.
Note: [by MB] Please post all comments on this thread so things don’t get too confusing with two threads open on the same issue.
Inexplicably, Robert Jovovic appears to be headed for a detention centre. Under Vanstone’s regime, Jovovic was returned to Australia on a special visa because he was stateless. That visa has now expired. It appears that Kevin Andrews has decided that he has to apply for Serbian citizenship within fourteen days. The Age reports:
Ross Waraker, a spokesman for Jovicic, said he has now been given 14 days to apply for Serbian citizenship or be placed in a detention centre.
Comment was being sought from immigration authorities.
But Mr Waraker said at this stage Jovicic did not intend to apply for Serbian citizenship, as demanded by the government.
He said Jovicic had decided that swearing allegiance to another country when he was trying to remain in Australia would send the wrong message.
Neither Mr Waraker or Jovicic fully understood why the government wanted Jovicic to apply for Serbian citizenship.
He said Jovicic was “gutted” by the visa decision, which had been made by new Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews.
Jovovic is reportedly employed full time in Sydney. Presumably the thrust of Minister Andrews’ decision, if it’s being reported correctly, is to give him a choice between moving involuntarily to Villawood or being deported back to Serbia.
Yesterday, Senator Andrew Bartlett posted on the Government’s intention to amend the Family Law Act, so that the adoption of children overseas by same sex couples (poofs and lezzoes, in other words) will no longer be recognised in Australia.
In one of those “MSM versus the bloggers” moments, page 5 of today’s Age carried a report on the Bill, from Legal Affairs Reporter Kenneth Nguyen, including quotes from the personal website of one “Guy” Bartlett — a “Queensland Democrats senator”. To give Nguyen his due, he does include reactions from gay rights advocates (against the Bill) and Bill Muehlenberg of the Family Council of Victoria (for the Bill) who:
… hoped the bill would discourage same-sex couples from adopting foreign children, favouring children having a mother and father.
Damn straight. We can’t allow foreign governments to undermine traditional Australian values by letting poofs and lezzoes adopt their unwanted kiddies. That’s definitely not on - far better that the little buggers stay institutionalised, than that they should come to God’s Own Wide Brown Land to suffer taunts from their schoolmates because one of their daddies is a mummy, or vice versa. Or, worse yet, being used as a juvenile fifth column to undermine everything that makes this country great by introducing the decadent values of their so-called parents into the kindy and the school classroom. It’s either a proper, Family Council approved, family or the orphanage and nothing in between.
Postscript: more at Blogocracy…
Update: and from Rodney Croome.
The reshuffle has been announced, and Amanda Vanstone isn’t in the new ministry.
Mr Howard thanked Senator Vanstone, who has had numerous problems in her immigration portfolio, for her service as a minister since the election of the coalition government in 1996.
“She’s a very colourful person who has worked very hard and in a very committed fashion in the various portfolios that she’s held,” he told reporters.
“She’s made a wonderful contribution to the government and Australia.”
Mr Howard hinted she may be in line for a diplomatic posting, saying she “retains an enthusiasm for future public service”.
So as with former public servants who’ve performed poorly in Immigration, Vanstone gets her golden handshake.
Her replacement? Kevin Andrews.
In other words, now we’re going to get tedious legalistic defences of government stuff ups and unfeeling lack of compassion but without the bluster and the “colour”.
Update: Best commentary so far from comicstriphero.
Tamworth’s lack of underlying racism was on display last night as the local council reversed it’s earlier decision to not host Sudanese refugees - the vote was 8-1. Mayor Treloar has also made a behind the scenes private apology to Sudanese community representatives.
A REGIONAL Council in northern New South Wales has reversed a decision to ban Sudanese refugees from coming to the area, saying it will improve the immigration program it branded as inadequate.
Tamworth council drew widespread condemnation after a December meeting in which it rejected becoming a resettlement area under the Federal Government’s Humanitarian Refugee Resettlement Program.
Mayor James Treloar was singled out after he referred to local Sudanese residents who were charged with driving offences and one with sexual assault.
At a council meeting last night, Cr Treloar submitted a mayoral minute which proposed Tamworth trial the program by accepting up to five refugee families.
It was approved but with the stipulation the Tamworth community would provide support to the families where the council believed the Federal Government services were insufficient.
The backdown means that there will now be a twelve month pilot program initiated that involves five families with support coming from those in the local community who recognised the total stupidity of the town’s Mayor and council representatives.
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