Asylum Seekers.

Boat people, refugees, queue jumpers. Currently, there is debate in the media about those boat people. I won't even bother to repeat what some monkeys on talkback radio are saying but all in all its not a good picture at the moment ( A good take on it all can be found here. Check out Combat Wombat!). My friend recently asked me "why should we [Australia] look after those people? I mean I know we need to for humanitarian reasons we should but why?" Good question my friend!


The Greens have a policy which I agree with and it saddens be that other policies don't come close. The current rhetoric used by the opposition leader Tony Abbot is quiet frankly ridiculous and disgusting. I still don't understand how he will "stop the boats". Is he going to hold a big stop sign along the coast line?

To answer the question posed to me by my friend I used an analogy about rubbish on the floor. Its not your rubbish, but you should pick it up because it's messy and in your way. Not a very nice comparison and somewhat simplistic. I guess a better  short answer would be "The Butterfly Effect". When a butterfly flaps its wings, it doesn't just fly, but causes a whole manner of different action which appear unrelated.

In conjunction with this is my experience at an Amnesty International conference, several years ago. I wanted to learn more about these queue jumpers. I heard stories, first hand from women, explaining why they had to flee their own countries because of some of the cultural practices but more importantly, I learnt about the everyday experiences of a refugee or asylum seeker. These people are not monstrous as some people would lead you to believe. They are mothers, fathers, children,wives, husbands, uncles, aunties, friends and lovers. In other words, they are people live in countries where war and or cultural practices go against their human rights. Which is a reason to care. More importantly from the conference I learnt; this concept we have of a "queue" is simply ridiculous. Imagine this: your being tortured, the ones you love are being threatened all because of an unidentifiable reason (say the government doesn't like you voicing your opinion). Are you really going to wait in line for a corrupt government to make a judgment? Most cases, asylum seekers don't even have a queue to join.

This might just sound like another left-wing rant to you, and I'll admit it, I vote Green. But to answer the question "Why should we care?" I'd like to say "we should care because we care about human rights. Boat people are human people".

And just to add another stick in the mud: What do you think the First People of this land have to say about boat people? I mean how did your ancestry come here?