Why Don't They Get It??

In the past 24 hours, a couple of things have happened to me that have been quite powerful in the context of each other.

Last night I went to a party thrown by Anne Horrigan-Dixon to celebrate a few different things:
1. Julian Burnside's birthday
2. Michael Gordon's award as Australian Journalist of the Year
3. One year since Ali Mullaie and Aslam Kazimi arrived in Australia from Nauru.

There were former Nauru detainees as far as the eye could see. I think there must have been at least 30, most of them Afghans, most of them Hazara. This party was so beautiful because it signified a period of time passing since their detention in Nauru, and most of them are doing really well. These are the people whose perseverence and strength has allowed them to make it to life and freedom in Australia in spite of the best efforts of a Government which has acted in a singularly cold-hearted and cruel way towards each and every one of them.

I love watching the interactions between those men who have been through so much together. As a group, these Hazara men are so respectful, dignified and composed, and the affection that they demonstrate toward each other is very moving. I love listening to them speak to each other in their beautiful language, joking and laughing and doing their utmost to find solutions to each other's problems, large and small.

In common this group shares so much. They have all suffered horrifically at the hands of the Taliban. Most, if not all, of them have seen their friends and family members murdered simply because they are Hazara, and the Hazara are (I quote) "dogs", "bastards", "dirty", "useless", "not human", "like garbage" and "below the animals". They have all been taught to believe those things about themselves since they were children. They have all made it out of Afghanistan. They have all made it to Australia, but because we - just like the Taliban - saw them as a scourge, a problem, a plague, we took them away to a desert island and did our very best to ensure that they could not make it to our country.

On that island, people have died. A young man – the night his visa was rejected yet again – cried out in his sleep and then just died. A young mother suffering a simple illness was unable to access timely medical treatment, and hospitalization was just too little, too late. The number of people who have tried to end their own lives is beyond counting. People have suffered crushing isolation, torment, uncertainty, sadness, separation, immense physical and psychological trauma, NOT at the hands of the Taliban, or by Saddam Hussein, not by the barrel of a gun or the blade of a machete, but by a policy that our Government concocted in 2001 in order to break spirits and force people to go home. To make this “problem” go away.

Now, they are trying to do it again.

I got a letter today from the Immigration Department, in response to a letter I wrote expressing my concerns about the new changes to the law. I can’t really write much about it because it made me so angry that I cried in a café (how fitting that Bob Dylan’s ‘Tears of Rage’ has just popped up in my iTunes shuffle)! Here are some (directly quoted) dot points from the nice, helpful letter they sent me. They must think the Australian people are gullible, brainless fools:
• “The Government’s approach to unauthorized boat arrivals will continue to reflect a strong commitment to its international protection obligations”…
• BUT! “People found to be refugees will remain offshore until their resettlement in a third country is arranged” (ie until we can get rid of them)
• “The proposed new measures emphasise the government’s strong commitment to effective border control while ensuring that its international obligations are fully met” (How exactly is this being ensured?!)
• “The total operational cost for Offshore Processing Centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru since their establishment in September 2001 to 31 December 2005 is estimated at $243.8 million. If the rate of arrivals immediately prior to the introduction of the Pacific Strategy had continued, processing costs would have been over $400 million in 2001/02 alone” (Yes but how much LESS would it have cost to just process them fairly, quickly, and give them their damn visas!)
• “I can assure you that Australia is committed to ensuring that an appropriate humanitarian response is provided to those seeking Australia’s protection” (what?!)
• “Australia has an excellent record in helping reduce refugee and humanitarian problems around the world. This includes is well-regarded humanitarian program and domestic processes for asylum seekers”. (Offshore processing?! Bridging Visa E!? They are completely deluded!)

How can they even WRITE such total bulldust when they know full well what the human impact of the policy is? The impact upon those men I saw last night who have survived so much, only to get to Australia and suffer through more and more and more...

I just had to write about that. I am so angry I probably should stop now. Oh my goodness.

Start praying that they don’t get away with this abhorrent idea yet again…