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Is Australia still worthwhile living in?

imagesrefugees

Yesterday the Australian Government handed back asylum seekers on a boat heading for Australia back to Shri Lanka. They were fleeing Shri Lanka. The handing back of the refugees was done in mid ocean between an Australian navy vessel and a Shri Lankan government boat. They now face jail terms and possible torture. Shri Lanka is known of having committed war crimes against the Tamil rebels. The refugees on the boat were almost all Tamils.

A group of lawyers have now been successful in seeking and getting an injunction against the government stopping another boat of 153 refugees on a boat getting the same inhumane treatment from this dreadful government.

It seems that Australia will stop at nothing in inflicting as much harm, pain, misery and inhumanity on refugees as possible. The excuse is that it will stop people from drowning. They conveniently use the excuse of inhumane and dreadful demonising of defenceless people in order to gain political scores in also exploiting overt xenophobia amongst many Australians. However, a tipping point seems to now have been reached.

A revulsion is now gripping this country and the international community seems to be aghast on what Australia is doing. A previous Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser is comparing what the present Government is doing to what the Jewish boat people experienced just after WW2. He is close to the mark.

It all begs whether Australia is really a country still worthwhile residing in. We have been away for some weeks and it was glorious. All of a sudden there were people around us with compassion and humanity, an understanding and empathy for refugees. A world away from the mundane and irrelevance. We liked it and are considering our options.

Our children and grandchildren are here which is a significant factor for staying,.., but against that, the horrible daily intrusion of realising that my parents migrated to a country that is not what it used to be. It has lost its humanity. Its lights have been switched off. That is the problem!

What to do next?

This entry was posted on July 7, 2014 at 11:13 pm and is filed under Gerard Oosterman. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

28 Responses to “Is Australia still worthwhile living in?”

  1. berlioz1935 Says:
    July 8, 2014 at 12:18 am | Reply

    You are so right and I wrote a blog about it myself. But I urge you to stay. We need people like you who can argue the case for a better Australia. We have the right, as former migrants, to criticise our new country to build a better one. There are good people here and they are at the High Court today at 2:0 pm.

    ps. there is a small mistake in your blg. You wrote, “Jewish boat people experienced just after WW2”. It should be “before” as it happened in 1933.

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  2. gerard oosterman Says:
    July 8, 2014 at 12:31 am | Reply

    Thank you Berlioz. We are toying with at least being away from |Australia for extended periods. I can still have my say about social issues but our retirement leaves us free to do more travelling, especially as we are not getting any younger.
    By the Jewish boat people, I meant what happened at the beginning of the establishment of the Jewish state.
    I copy from Wiki:

    “The route through and from Europe was treacherous for the Jewish refugees seeking to enter Palestine. Thousands braved the elements and made it to the shores of Palestine, only to see 62 of 63 immigrant ships be turned away by the British blockade. The most famous of these ships, the Exodus, created a standoff between its 4,500 Jewish survivors and the British. Eventually the British sent the refugees back to France, and when the Jews refused to disembark they shipped back to the “death land” – Germany. The inhumanity of the action and the iron will of the survivors swayed world public opinion.

    In 1946, the British attempted to defeat any Jewish opposition by arresting 5000 Jews in Palestine, including the leaders of the Hagannah and the Jewish Agency. The Irgun reacted by bombing the headquarters of the British forces at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.

    From 1945-1948, there was a groundswell of public support for the State of Israel by Jews world-wide, and in the United States in particular.”

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  3. Patti Kuche Says:
    July 8, 2014 at 1:13 am | Reply

    Australians forget they came there in boats and didn’t like the locals . . .

    As to what to do next dear Gerard, don’t let the bastards get you down!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. petspeopleandlife Says:
    July 8, 2014 at 3:16 am | Reply

    Betwixt and between- it matters not what or how or why governments do what they do. The US is now being flooded by immigrants from Central America. Governior Perry of Texas (where I live) is claiming that Obama is encouraging the immigrants and that he is doing nothing to stop the influx. Many of the immigrants are children and they are being shuffled from here to there and treated like cattle

    Franky I don’t think the government knows quite what to do about the situation. It is so pitifiul and is a social, ethical and, moral issue.

    But our welfare system is already on the brink of falling apart. WHERE will the money come from? Print more or borrow from China. Soon China will own the US.

    I worry about these things and there simply is no right answer.

    I’ve missed your posts. Glad you and Mrs O are back safe and sound.

    Like

    • gerard oosterman Says:
      July 8, 2014 at 4:40 am | Reply

      Glad to be back and hear your voice petspeopleandlife. Our Milo was happy to see us but also must have liked the place he was staying. He is more social and less snappy to other dogs. We were told he had a couple of friends there and much liked by the staff.
      I remember once reading ‘ the more I get to know people the more I like dogs’.
      I suppose ‘some’ people. I would apply that to those in our present government.

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  5. Lottie Nevin Says:
    July 8, 2014 at 6:30 am | Reply

    Personally, I’d run away! Or, at the very least spend time travelling to far flung corners of the earth that you’ve always wanted to visit.

    When I was reading your post, this old WW1 marching song popped in to my head

    ‘Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
    And smile, smile, smile,
    While you’ve a lucifer to light your fag,
    Smile, boys, that’s the style.
    What’s the use of worrying?
    It never was worth while, so
    Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
    And smile, smile, smile’

    and when you’ve come back refreshed from your travels, you can write with renewed vigour to your government, urging them to stop being such arseholes. You never know, they might just stop and listen – you are very compelling!

    Don’t let politics drag you down! and more importantly, WELCOME HOME, Gerard!

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Lottie Nevin Says:
    July 8, 2014 at 6:49 am | Reply

    and funnily enough, this has just popped up on my Facebook newsfeed…..

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28189608?OCID=fbasia&ocid=socialflow_facebook

    Like

  7. rod Says:
    July 8, 2014 at 8:25 am | Reply

    Leaving Australia will not help any of those for whom you feel concern, though it might well make you feel better – no longer supporting the present government by your presence.

    Like

    • gerard oosterman Says:
      July 8, 2014 at 10:11 am | Reply

      Yes, so true. There has arrived (hopefully) a moment of change whereby it just might turn things around for the better of refugees. The parallel to the boats post WW 2 with Jews being shunted backwards and forwards is now more and more being mentioned.

      Like

  8. ChristineR Says:
    July 8, 2014 at 9:04 am | Reply

    These politicians have so badly shit in their nest that they will never get it clean. Because enough idiots voted them in, they thought they had a mandate to treat asylum seekers anyway they liked. They are wrong, and time will prove it. I didn’t vote for the LNP, I didn’t vote to this inhumane carryings on AND I will not be voting for Labor again unless they smarten up their act and dump off-shore processing in their next election promises. And even then, I will have second thoughts. All this carry-on over the boat arrivals and the risk of drowning. If the people who come this way are prepared to take the risk, who are we to protest. Apart from one convict who had no choice, and a grandad who jumped his RN ship in New Zealand, all my ancestors took that same risk.

    Phew! Welcome back Gerard (I was just wondering if you were back yet, and at last I notice!)

    Like

    • gerard oosterman Says:
      July 8, 2014 at 10:01 am | Reply

      Thank you Christine. I hope this is now a moment whereby the boat people will get a better deal and get processed onshore in Australia and preferably in a normal community.
      In the meantime I hope the Morrisons and this government will be dealt with by the voters and in a Court of justice. They deserve to be treated with having committed crimes against humanity.

      Liked by 1 person

  9. gerard oosterman Says:
    July 8, 2014 at 10:18 am | Reply

    And now this as well.
    Nine asylum-seeker mothers have been placed on suicide watch after reported self-harm attempts in detention on… http://fb.me/6xFLmnsAp

    Enormous problems for getting refugee status determined within a reasonable period. Yet on the boat where people were returned to Shri Lanka, this was achieved within a day or so. All were refused refugee status and returned to their torturers.

    Like

  10. kaytisweetlandrasmussen83 Says:
    July 9, 2014 at 3:22 am | Reply

    I do sympathize Gerard. As you may know, we have one or two children walking in from Central America a we speak.

    Like

  11. hilarycustancegreen Says:
    July 9, 2014 at 9:33 pm | Reply

    I read this with a big sigh of sympathy – for the boat people and for you. Keep your right to vote, even if you spend time away, because that government has to change.

    Like

  12. Curt Mekemson Says:
    July 10, 2014 at 12:00 am | Reply

    Sadly, many other countries, including the US, also get low marks on the immigration issue. –Curt

    Like

  13. algernon1 Says:
    July 12, 2014 at 12:35 am | Reply

    Gerard its nice to see Malcolm Frazer comparing this government to that of Hitler. I just wonder when his acolytes are going to start throwing rocks through refugees windows.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. chris hunter Says:
    July 14, 2014 at 8:40 am | Reply

    Gerard, the fear and loathing will subside. An uneasy peace will prevail.

    I agree, it’s hard coming back to grim Australia, Abbott, Morrison and Hockey’s grim Australia. But is it easier to run – when you think of your family left behind the delicious spanish paella will jam in your throat and the normally delightful tempranilio might causes you a migraine?

    Unfortunately, it is hard to run and hopefully forget the grimness of a paradise turned into a junk yard.

    Yes, a junk yard, and Abbott is the junk yard dog.

    Welcome back. I was getting lonely.

    Liked by 1 person

    • gerard oosterman Says:
      July 15, 2014 at 3:11 am | Reply

      Don’t be lonely Chris. There are enough people to finally make a difference. I am curious to see what the High Court will make of all this in a couple of weeks. In the meantime what are the refugees doing on the Custom boat and where are they?

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