I’ve seen a lot of outrage about Bunnings sausages this week and admittedly much of it is tongue in cheek or confected to fit a narrative about political correctness or safety consciousness in the modern are, but it did get me thinking just how ready we are to get outraged and make a public fuss about things in this country… Except of course for the things we should be outraged about. I can’t understand why every Australian isn’t sickened and ashamed of the deliberate mistreatment inflicted on refugees in offshore detention in our name. We all should be. I normally try to write these posts in a more measured and neutral tone but I’m just too angry for that. In the 21st century, the issue of not keeping children innocent of any crime in indefinite detention should not even be up for debate. Obviously we should be getting #kidsoffnauru. All prisoners should be evacuated from offshore detention. UNHCR has confirmed that a vast majority of the people we have condemned to these offshore gulags are refugees. Every NGO, UN body and even our own senate inquiries have confirmed that the situation is dire and unacceptable, but all our government is concerned with is silencing whistle-blowers who have seen this disaster of neglect firsthand. I know racists and simpletons love to share poorly-written memes about how we can’t afford to bring the refugees here because people are homeless in Australia, but this ignores the fact that it costs us orders of magnitude more keeping them in offshore detention than it would to evacuate them.
Under oath, Scott Morrison has admitted that Operation Sovereign Borders is what is stopping the people smuggling, which means there is actually no security or ‘humanitarian’ reason (does anyone really believe that the people who use deaths at sea as justification for imprisoning refugees indefinitely really give a shit about the fate of those who drown?) to continue this horrendous imprisonment. No reason, except of course political value for the government. ScumMo and Peter Dutton are especially despicable for how they attempt to use the plight of these people for political gain. There is literally no standard of behaviour too low for these two. Both have repeatedly and demonstrably lied about the situation, implying refugees are child-abusers, terrorists and are being coached to threaten self-harm for the political value. Both also have tried to publically tried to soften their stance when they felt it was to their benefit- Dutton when he wanted a softer image whilst trying to oust Turnbull as PM and ScumMo in the lead-up to the Wentworth by-election- before reverting to their hardline stance and backing away from any willingness to accept New Zealand’s offer to accept some of the refugees. Perhaps the most cringe-inducing moment was ScumMo claiming he prayed on his knees and wept at the plight of the very victims of his cruelty, when in truth his government has spent millions of dollars fighting legal battles to prevent sick children being evacuated!
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