 Political Corrections
with Margo Kingston
Time to Test the Bleeding Hearts on Refugee Impasse
Here's where we are. Some Australians want Philip Ruddock indicted for crimes against humanity. Others want to know where to send the detergent to finish the boat people off, or, in the words of Sydney shock jock Howard Sattler, reckon that 'every day that they have their hunger strike, we save money'.
In the middle, boat people in detention camps here are sewing lips together, refusing to eat and swallowing shampoo. Saturday is Australia Day.
This matter is out of control. It could go anywhere. There's talk that at least one group is planning to attack the Woomera camp and free the detainees. Several people I've spoken to would seriously consider harbouring an escapee. The man Ruddock appointed to chair the Council for Multicultural Australia, Neville Roach, who resigned in protest yesterday, said that 'vilification, abuse and even violence … has not been directed exclusively towards asylum seekers, but to the wider Islamic community and others of Middle-Eastern appearance'.
Is there a way to freeze the frame for a little while? Is there a short-term fix we'd all accept that gave us the chance to work out a long term solution?
The Herald's immigration reporter, Andrew Clennell, opened the batting on this train of thought in Wednesday's paper. Look, he wrote, the Afghan boat people fled persecution and would, until the war, have been found to be refugees. Two months ago the government suspended their processing on the ground that their persecutors had been overthrown. But even if they wanted to go home, and some do, they can't. It could take a year to work it out, even if Afghanistan does not again descend into criminal lunacy.
He suggested granting them a 'safe haven visa' like we did with the Kosovars and the East Timorese. They'd stay here in freedom while Afghanistan sorted itself out. After all, there are not many people involved, and boat people can't land here anymore since the Pacific solution, so it's not a precedent thing.
One argument used by Ruddock supporters is that bleeding hearts like me carry on about compassion but do nothing about it. So how about the government outsource the people in detention to Australians willing to take on the responsibility? It saves taxpayers money, allows deeply distressed Australians to do something and gives us all the time and space to find a solution we can all live with.
After the Tampa, Melbourne QC Julian Burnside and partner Kate Durham started a website called www.spareroomsforrefugees.com. Burnside said yesterday they'd received hundreds of offers. Some people literally offered their spare room. A woman from a dying town in Tasmania said her town could provided up to 1200 spare rooms, and that the town would look after all the people's needs.
Burnside said there was a common theme from all the offerers. 'They felt desperately upset at how asylum seekers were being treated and they wanted to show them hospitality.'
So how about those who care enough to get so involved were brought together by Ruddock to nut out how this could best be done?
This idea has plenty of upside for Ruddock supporters, including money saved and putting bleeding hearts to the test. It would also be a test of the substance in the rhetoric all the parties now throw around – to empower communities to solve their own problems. And it would trial the current buzz view about 'leadership' – that in today's world, the great leader does not make-up his vision and seduce us into it, but has the strength and ability to facilitate ideas from others until they find common goals to work for together.
Please, Mr Ruddock, Mr Howard and Mr Crean, help find a way to avoid something dreadful happening which we'll all regret.
Australians, in general, aren't into sustained confrontation. This needs to be sorted out.
To help find a longer-term solution to the Pacific solution that most of us can live with I suggest a deliberative democracy project, where Australians of all views come together to hear from and question people on the ground, experts and refugees. The aim would be to forge a consensus, or at least a much clearer understanding of the facts, the issues, and the alternatives. The event could be broadcast, and feedback published.
We own this problem, and we need to find a way to own a solution. The first step is to take a deep breath and start being constructive. On both sides.
Email: mkingston@mail.fairfax.com.au
Margo's web diary - www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/webdiary/
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