Atheny
4th December 2003, 10:10
I live in Melbourne,Australia and am absolutely ashamed of the way our government continues to act. And even more shameful, is that fact that unless the Australian Labor party gets its act together there is a good chance the most immoral Prime Minister Australia has ever had may be voted into office..Again!
Does everyone here know much about what's been happening in Australia politically? I'm quite interested to know what's filtered through in the media overseas.
Apart from our shameful participation in the war on Iraq (i was among the thousands who protested in the streets) we also have the most disgraceful refugee policy in the whole world. Actually, that's not true, haha, there is one country that is more shameful in that regard...the U.S. We have quite literally spent millions and millions of dollars trying to keep 'illegal immigrants' from arriving on our shores. This is money that could have been better spent on health,education,or even upgrading the disgraceful conditions in our refugee camps in Australia! The Australian law states that children should only be kept in refugee detention centres as a last resort and for as short a time as possible. Despite this, there are children who have spent years in these camps and are deprived of proper education and health care. Just before the last election John Howard turned away a boat of refugee's as a political stunt and not only did it work in helping his standing in the poles, but the Labor party(the left-wing party which is increasingly less left) refused to stand up against this action and instead remained quite indecisive in where it stood and consequently lost the election, which means that by the time Howards next term finishes he will have been P.M. around 8 years I believe.... During this time before the last election there was this huge 'Children overboard' saga where the government claimed that many of the illegal refugees had thrown their children overboard in desperation. John Howard came out saying that we don't want people in our country who throw their children overboard ships... no matter desperate they are. And you know what... the masses cheered. It embarrasses me how ignorant and racist our society is. I don't believe us to be as bad as the U.S. but we are definately in the same vein. Now some of you may think that what John Howard said in response to this report of children being thrown overboard is quite reasonable. The one problem is that IT NEVER HAPPENED!! It has actually been proven as fact that it was a fabrication, but the government tried to pass it off as a misunderstanding between them and the the navy over what happened. Rubbish, in reality they knew that the thought of kids being thrown overboard would shock australians into supporting this racist refugee policy.
Since then, several times our government has been shown to have mislead the Australian public and still... John Howard is ahead in the polls.. It sickens me. The thought that such a blatantly (and proven so) dishonest man is our prime minister,and largely due to the relatively conservative views of the last two leaders of the Labor party (the main opposition party) failing to give the Australian public a proper electable alternative.
The other day the leader of the opposition(labor party) was ousted and was replaced by Mark Latham. Now Mark Latham is still relatively conservative as far as left-wingers go. But he does have a few good qualities. One is that he speaks what he thinks. Around 12 months ago he made headlines when he referred to John Howard as an arse-licker (referring to his close relationship with George Bush) and he has actually been one of only a VERY select few that have dared risk our precious alliance with the US and speak out against George Bush. All i can hope is that he actually manages to win over the Australian public to rid us of this devious little man that just follows everything George Bush does. And i won't even get started on George Bush's failings...lol
Australia is actually a fantastic place to live and largely an extremely multi-cultural and accepting society. At least in all the major cities it is that way. Unfortunately in the country and in some smaller cities racism is quite common, not on the surface, but underneath, where it just comes out every now and then.(like the existence of a politician like Pauline Hanson..another embarrasment who you all may or may not have heard about.)
What has everyone heard of the plight of Australian politics overseas? I'm sure there are many who are quite critical of us being involved in the Iraq war... has there been much about it? I'm very interested to know the international impression of Australia.
Does everyone here know much about what's been happening in Australia politically? I'm quite interested to know what's filtered through in the media overseas.
Apart from our shameful participation in the war on Iraq (i was among the thousands who protested in the streets) we also have the most disgraceful refugee policy in the whole world. Actually, that's not true, haha, there is one country that is more shameful in that regard...the U.S. We have quite literally spent millions and millions of dollars trying to keep 'illegal immigrants' from arriving on our shores. This is money that could have been better spent on health,education,or even upgrading the disgraceful conditions in our refugee camps in Australia! The Australian law states that children should only be kept in refugee detention centres as a last resort and for as short a time as possible. Despite this, there are children who have spent years in these camps and are deprived of proper education and health care. Just before the last election John Howard turned away a boat of refugee's as a political stunt and not only did it work in helping his standing in the poles, but the Labor party(the left-wing party which is increasingly less left) refused to stand up against this action and instead remained quite indecisive in where it stood and consequently lost the election, which means that by the time Howards next term finishes he will have been P.M. around 8 years I believe.... During this time before the last election there was this huge 'Children overboard' saga where the government claimed that many of the illegal refugees had thrown their children overboard in desperation. John Howard came out saying that we don't want people in our country who throw their children overboard ships... no matter desperate they are. And you know what... the masses cheered. It embarrasses me how ignorant and racist our society is. I don't believe us to be as bad as the U.S. but we are definately in the same vein. Now some of you may think that what John Howard said in response to this report of children being thrown overboard is quite reasonable. The one problem is that IT NEVER HAPPENED!! It has actually been proven as fact that it was a fabrication, but the government tried to pass it off as a misunderstanding between them and the the navy over what happened. Rubbish, in reality they knew that the thought of kids being thrown overboard would shock australians into supporting this racist refugee policy.
Since then, several times our government has been shown to have mislead the Australian public and still... John Howard is ahead in the polls.. It sickens me. The thought that such a blatantly (and proven so) dishonest man is our prime minister,and largely due to the relatively conservative views of the last two leaders of the Labor party (the main opposition party) failing to give the Australian public a proper electable alternative.
The other day the leader of the opposition(labor party) was ousted and was replaced by Mark Latham. Now Mark Latham is still relatively conservative as far as left-wingers go. But he does have a few good qualities. One is that he speaks what he thinks. Around 12 months ago he made headlines when he referred to John Howard as an arse-licker (referring to his close relationship with George Bush) and he has actually been one of only a VERY select few that have dared risk our precious alliance with the US and speak out against George Bush. All i can hope is that he actually manages to win over the Australian public to rid us of this devious little man that just follows everything George Bush does. And i won't even get started on George Bush's failings...lol
Australia is actually a fantastic place to live and largely an extremely multi-cultural and accepting society. At least in all the major cities it is that way. Unfortunately in the country and in some smaller cities racism is quite common, not on the surface, but underneath, where it just comes out every now and then.(like the existence of a politician like Pauline Hanson..another embarrasment who you all may or may not have heard about.)
What has everyone heard of the plight of Australian politics overseas? I'm sure there are many who are quite critical of us being involved in the Iraq war... has there been much about it? I'm very interested to know the international impression of Australia.