So how is it that a few people in government in Australia and Malaysia can legally engage in human being swapping? According to this new arrangement that is inhumanly referred to as the "swap deal" Prime Minister Julia Gillard will send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia and accept 4,000 verified refugees in return. Could they have simply confused a human being swap with a car swap? Surely, there's been some kind of mistake?
According to PM Gillard, the swapping has been designed to send a message to asylum seekers that they should not risk their lives in the hope of having their claims processed in Australia.
Surely, she has missed the point? Human beings don't risk their lives and the lives of their children fleeing countries on small boats because they hope to have their claims processed. Surely she must know that many are fleeing war torn countries, famines, human torture, rape and critical poverty stricken conditions and have no other choice but to flee. For many there lives are already at risk, which is why they risk their lives in the hope of saving themselves.
Ironically, PM Gillard is herself an immigrant from Wales. I find it interesting that an immigrant can take such a strong stand against immigrants. If Julia Gillard hadn't been allowed to immigrate to Australia she obviously would not be its current PM. So ironically it is the immigrant who in the end expels the immigrant.
A classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Sure, there is a difference between legal and illegal immigrants, the criteria for which seems to change over time depending on the economic needs of a country. But in times like these it does make you wonder why someone like Julia Gillard was allowed to immigrate into the country, to be educated and prosper, while someone of a different origin is not.
Apparently, one of the reasons Julia Gillard's parents decided to immigrate to Australia was that when Julia was younger she suffered from bronchopneumonia and the doctor advised that a warmer climate would help Julia recover from this treatable condition.
In this case there are unaccompanied children, children whose parents have sent them off on boats, with a high risk of never seeing them again, in the hope that they will make it to Australia and a better future. Arguably those fleeing deadly conditions for themselves or their children should be priortised over those who are fleeing bad weather in the UK?
Undeniably, immigration is a complex issue but isn't that what we have PMs for? To tackle and solve complex systems and processes like immigration. How is "swapping" 800 innocent adults and children, some unaccompanied, with Malaysia, playing with their whole lives, going to deliver an improved immigration system in Australia? Why should people, who have already suffered horrendous trials that most of us will thankfully never have to experience in our lives, suffer more because Australian and Malaysian politics can't do their jobs properly?
Shame Julia, that you do govern Australia with the insight from your personal experience. Australia saved your health and provided you with opportunity to become Australia's first female PM. Yet, you impose laws which stop Australia from providing the same sanctuary and opportunities that you and most Australians (as we are all immigrants except for the Aboriginies) have benefitted from, to others in desperate need.
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| Julia Gillard (bottom right) with family around the time she immigrated to Australia in the 60s. Photo from Eight Women Around the World. Framed by Antonia Scott. |
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| Asylum seekers in Australia today. Photo from the Telegraph. Framed by Antonia Scott. |
As far as I know there are only two types of situations where the "swap" of innocent human beings is permitted in today's civilised society.
One involves uber rich footballers who voluntarily partake in swapping from one club to the other regardless of geographic boundaries and the other involves criminals trafficking human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation or forced labour. The latter, where the participants are not volunteers, is illegal.
So how is it that a few people in government in Australia and Malaysia can legally engage in human being swapping? According to this new arrangement that is inhumanly referred to as the "swap deal" Prime Minister Julia Gillard will send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia and accept 4,000 verified refugees in return. Could they have simply confused a human being swap with a car swap? Surely, there's been some kind of mistake?
According to PM Gillard, the swapping has been designed to send a message to asylum seekers that they should not risk their lives in the hope of having their claims processed in Australia.
Surely, she has missed the point? Human beings don't risk their lives and the lives of their children fleeing countries on small boats because they hope to have their claims processed. Surely she must know that many are fleeing war torn countries, famines, human torture, rape and critical poverty stricken conditions and have no other choice but to flee. For many there lives are already at risk, which is why they risk their lives in the hope of saving themselves.
Ironically, PM Gillard is herself an immigrant from Wales. I find it interesting that an immigrant can take such a strong stand against immigrants. If Julia Gillard hadn't been allowed to immigrate to Australia she obviously would not be its current PM. So ironically it is the immigrant who in the end expels the immigrant.
A classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Sure, there is a difference between legal and illegal immigrants, the criteria for which seems to change over time depending on the economic needs of a country. But in times like these it does make you wonder why someone like Julia Gillard was allowed to immigrate into the country, to be educated and prosper, while someone of a different origin is not.
Apparently, one of the reasons Julia Gillard's parents decided to immigrate to Australia was that when Julia was younger she suffered from bronchopneumonia and the doctor advised that a warmer climate would help Julia recover from this treatable condition.
In this case there are unaccompanied children, children whose parents have sent them off on boats, with a high risk of never seeing them again, in the hope that they will make it to Australia and a better future. Arguably those fleeing deadly conditions for themselves or their children should be priortised over those who are fleeing bad weather in the UK?
Undeniably, immigration is a complex issue but isn't that what we have PMs for? To tackle and solve complex systems and processes like immigration. How is "swapping" 800 innocent adults and children, some unaccompanied, with Malaysia, playing with their whole lives, going to deliver an improved immigration system in Australia? Why should people, who have already suffered horrendous trials that most of us will thankfully never have to experience in our lives, suffer more because Australian and Malaysian politics can't do their jobs properly?
Malaysia, Australia's human swapping buddy, has not even signed the international conventions on refugees. Additionally, the new policy does not concur with the United Nation's practice of allowing asylum seekers to be processed in the country in which they arrive.
According to PM Gillard it's suppose to "stop people smugglers". But according to the dictionary "to smuggle" is to bring in or take out illicitly (not sanctioned by custom or law). So isn't that exactly what Australia and Malaysia are doing in the eyes of the United Nations - people smuggling?
Shame Julia, that you do govern Australia with the insight from your personal experience. Australia saved your health and provided you with opportunity to become Australia's first female PM. Yet, you impose laws which stop Australia from providing the same sanctuary and opportunities that you and most Australians (as we are all immigrants except for the Aboriginies) have benefitted from, to others in desperate need.
Who knows one of the children you swap back to Malaysia could have one day become PM of Australia and introduced the comprehensive immigration system that you have failed to deliver. One which we could all be proud of instead of hanging our heads in international disgrace.
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