What Unbelievable Cruelty
Author and journalist David Marr made an interesting observation on the ABC’s Insidersprogram last Sunday. He suggested Australians might be willing to
countenance the unbelievable cruelty being exacted upon asylum seekers
at Manus Island and Nauru if they thought it was a one-off effort that
would bring an end to the boat people risking their lives to come to
Australia. David concluded, however, that if this was what people
thought, it was a false expectation. He was certain that the boat people
would not stop coming, not now, not ever; and he is right.
If Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison think news of unbelievable cruelty
at Manus Island and Nauru detention centres will filter through to those
who are seeking to find another country to live will succeed, they are
wrong. Why? Because always there will be other ways for people smugglers
to continue their trade and adapt to changing circumstances. That is
what business people do. And always there will be people who do not hear
the message and still come, believing that their efforts will be
rewarded. As long as there are 40 million people either displaced or
stuck in refugee camps around the world, there will always be those who
lose faith in the likelihood of receiving genuine help. They will simply
take matters into their own hands and try another way. And who can
blame them? The worldwide management of the refugee problem by the UNHCR
is being woefully mishandled as is the selfishness of individual
countries that have the wealth to absorb these, the most disadvantaged
of the world’s citizens. The management is what needs to be reviewed and
that is something that cannot be left to the whim of mean-spirited
individuals in power; especially individuals with a political agenda. Last Tuesday’s Dateline program on SBS proved that. What unbelievable cruelty.
Howlong will it be before public outrage forces a closure of Manus Island
and Nauru? Is it likely that the last outbreak will see no more asylum
seekers sent to Manus? Or will the determination of the Prime Minister
and his Immigration Minister see that the only way to ensure the success
of Operation Sovereign Borders is to maintain this unbelievable cruelty for the foreseeable future?
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