And to my point, which is pretty much just so I have some happy to start with before I jump from the sublime to the ridiculous...that is to say the federal election.
With less than two weeks to go, the Coalition is inching ahead as everyone knew it would which means I'll be soon looking for the cheapest plane tickets to New Zealand, or Canada, or anywhere but here. That said I don't know that the alternative is really that much better. Sure the Labor Party isn't lead by someone who would drag this country into a darker era than the Howard years, but on the issues, it appears to be a race to the right. The issues that the left usually focuses on have been forgotten as the environment, education, and social justice struggle to get air space except with policy announcements that cut or mangle any good work done on these areas since the departure of Howard. For me one of the issues that has the make or break issue for any federal election for over a decade has been the issue of refugees and this election marks a true fight for the right to a lack of compassion.
I have blogged about my thoughts on what I believe to be the ridiculous hypocrisy of Australia's deeply engrained racism in the past (read it here- http://clarewoodley.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/more-colourful-shade-of-pale.html) and not surprisingly that post came out of listening to people discussing refugees in the aftermath of drownings off Christmas Island two years ago. The rhetoric of fear of the outsider that colours policies and news reports on this issue saddens me more than I can describe. The fact that news reporters from some media outlets and politicians seem to incapable of referring to refugees not as refugees or asylum seekers though this is what they are but instead choosing to term them "boat people" or "illegal immigrants". As has frequently been pointed out since the Rudd announcement of Labor's new harsher policy, seeking asylum is not illegal and Australia is not just the signatory to but also one of the authors of UN Refugee Policy that clearly outlines this- what is illegal is to overstay your visa but absent from any immigration policy is a discussion of what to do about the hundreds of white people who arrive from middle class countries on holiday visas and then never leave...surely we should crack down on them first. If only the average Australian could take a moment to take the imaginary journey of a refugee (especially as if they have picked up a newspaper in the last ever than they know what kind of situations these people are fleeing), think of being in fear for your life, in fear for the lives of all of those you love- your significant other, your kids, your family, your friends- in fear not just in an abstract sense like fear that they will catch a cold or drive in an unsafe matter but constant unceasing fear that there will be people with guns who will drag them away in the night and shoot them, that if they are female they will be the victims of rape, that there will be insufficient food to feed them, that should they fall ill there will be no way to cure them, that whatever happens your government will not only not help you but will more likely than not they will finance and support those who are threatening you, what would you do? More accurately, what wouldn't you do? Would you flee? For me there is no question, I would be out of there even if it meant leaving my home, my possessions, my country, and winding up in an overcrowded refugee camp. What is that reality like? It is overcrowded, it is often lacking in basic supplies due to the overcrowding, often the corrupt government still holds power over the situation (don't let it sound like I'm putting down the work of organisations like UNHCR but they are under-resourced and unable to stand in the face of the corruption and power of governments in some countries...if you have spare cash to donate to something, UNHCR is a good place to send it), and applying for asylum through governments and UN agencies is hampered by corruption from one and massive backlogs on the part of the other and can take years to be approved. Again what would you do? I have no surprise that people go to extremes to escape this, and I'm just happy that those who wind up in Western countries other than Australia are usually treated with compassion and sympathy for their hardships. I know saying let them stay is a big ask and will take a big adjustments on the part of the average Australian (a great blog post on this that several of my friends shared on facebook following the Rudd announcement is this one- http://christinemead.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/so-you-think-its-a-good-idea-to-welcome-refugees-excuse-me-while-i-burst-your-bubble/) but would you be willing to step out of your comfort zone if it meant that people would be free of unspeakable oppression? And if the answer is no, I really ask you to dwell on why that is.
I'll leave it there on the topic of refugees as it has had plenty of air time everywhere and my comments on the Abbott announcement can be summed up in two words, "new low" (my words when I first heard it were longer, louder and much angrier).
The other section of this post on election things is a response to the amping up of people who aren't running for office openly telling me how to vote on facebook, twitter, instagram, well pretty much everywhere. And when I say this I don't mean Murdoch as I somewhat expect that, I mean the average Australian. I am quite open in discussions of my voting preference- most people I know are aware that I'm a former Democrats voter who now votes for the Greens- and I am quite happy to answer question about why I vote the way I do and what policies of all parties, including of the Greens, I do or don't agree with. However I would never say to someone I knew, even in the sterile world of the web, "Vote Greens" or use a hashtag to that effect or actually presume to tell anyone how they should direct their vote. When I talk politics, it is to get people thinking, not to brain wash them. I know we live in a hyper public culture, that we don't live in the world of twenty or thirty years ago where even if it was abundantly obvious, you never told people who you voted for but sometimes I think the old way had something going for it. So this is sending a plea out to the land of the internet, please political engaged Australia, let people make up their own minds! Share policies, share ideas, but don't hashtag a voting preference and allow yourself to respect the viewpoints and reasons that others hold that lead them to voting the way they do (unless that viewpoint is, well everyone in my family votes that way, in which case just point them to the policies pages of the major parties (and some of the minor if you feel like including them) and encourage them to think beyond this)- I won't cut you off my facebook/twitter/whatever else list if you continue to talk like that but it is an annoyance to see it so frequently. I saw Malcolm Turnbull out on the campaign trail on the news the other day and as much as I would not vote for his party, I applaud the fact that when challenged he said, and I paraphrase, "You and I have different options and that is fine. People are allowed to think about things differently".
So I end with a few final points:
Firstly policies for parties if you need them can be found at the following sites:
ALP http://www.alp.org.au/
Liberals http://www.liberal.org.au/
The Greens http://www.greens.org.au/
Nationals (because they are in a Coalition with the Liberals) http://www.nationals.org.au/
The Palmer United Party (because they are running a candidate is EVERY electorate) palmerunited.com
Secondly, if we must have a new PM, can't we have an old one back again? Anyone else keen to see Paul Keating back? The very small part of me that is ever tempted to informal vote would just write "BRING BACK PAUL!" in big letters on every ballot paper I voted on.
And this...
And this...
'Cause when all's said and done no-one will ever match a fictional president of another country... good night internet people!
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