Australia Closes It's Doors To Refugees

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

Pax domini bretheren...

 

As of today Australia Prime Minister has said Australia will not be accepting any refugees that don't have a visa. Graciously, Papua New Guinea has said they will accept all the boats that Australia intercepts. The conditions will be reviewed once every year with Papua New Guinea. 

I'm unsure how i feel about this, i was hoping that we would make our refugee processing centers 4 star instead of 2 star,including compulsory education in maths,english and science, so as the refugees could integrate easier into Australian society. It's gone totally the opposite way. I don't know what to say, except that hopefully in some way that this will enrich the Papuan society. 

I hope this is good will and not racism. I hope this new law is not trying to cover up the fact that the Caucasian section of Australian society is an ageing population because of contraception and now abortion, and the refugees where out breeding the Caucasians.

 

Onward christian souls.

JESUS iz LORD.

[cappie]

 

 

If only other countries took as many refugees

 

    by: Barry Cohen

    From: The Australian

    July 19, 2012

[BarbTherese]

"Love your neighbour as yourself".................."Who is my neighbour?"................."A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho..........." Luke Ch 10 HERE

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

My mum says it is to deter the boats because there rickety and keep sinking and the passengers keep drowning/dying.

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

 Which leads me to wonder how many have sunk outside of Australian waters and no one knows.

[BarbTherese]

I think you make some really excellent points, Tab. 

As an Aussie, I think that we need to take in as many refugees as is feasibly possible with the middle east (for one) the way it is and probably will get worse.  I don't think we are there yet.  And as a Catholic, my own personal thinking is that we do need to think in the context of the Parable of The Good Samaritan.  But very very sadly, so very many 'good practising Catholics' in Australia that I have met (hence limited) think that The Gospel as a quite serious 24x7x375 undertaking is for nuns and priests only – laity only need the basics can be the thinking and to them the basics here are Mass on Sunday only – many no longer even go to Confession.  It seems to be rather commonly understood too amongst laity that Fridays are no longer penitential days.

 

  I wrote a long post, as usual, and one for this thread last night having done heaps of time consuming research with graphs, then Phatmass timed out on me and I lost it all.  This site really can be a problem sometimes.  I am going to have to learn to write into Word and then cut and past into Phatmass...............I hope! 

 

But I thought you and your mother have made some really good and most important points and that is primarily we have to stop people from coming to Australia illegally via boats since so many are drowning - and, indeed, this is only those we do know about. And even if they do get into Australia undetected, they are going to find life here very hard re housing (cost) and employment (not easy) and probably without the documentation to receive welfare benefits.  The problem is that these refugees in their homeland are under such terrible stress and/or persecution that all they want to do is to escape it any way possible without reflecting that they might go from 'the fire to the frying pan'.

We don't like to admit it, but racism too is still a fairly major factor amongst some to many in Australia to my experience (limited again) together with paranoia about terrorists.  We need to be careful, but paranoia is something else.

 

 Well said, Tab............ indeed!   Will shutting our borders to people smuggling attempts via sea stop the crime full stop of people smuggling at risk to life.  I sure hope so and time will tell.

______________

 

See link below for new blog and venture under Private Vows as lay person - Private Association of The Faithful under Canon Law.

 

Edited July 21, 2013 by BarbaraTherese

[cappie]

There is historical precedent for accepting people from Asian countries, one of success not racism:

 

The term ‘boat people’ entered the Australian vernacular in the 1970s with the arrival of the first wave of boats carrying people seeking asylum from the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Over half the Vietnamese population was displaced in these years and, while most fled to neighbouring Asian countries, some embarked on the voyage by boat to Australia.

 

The first boat arrived in Darwin in April 1976 carrying five Indochinese men. Over the next five years there were 2059 Vietnamese boat arrivals with the last arriving in August 1981.  The arrival of 27 Indochinese asylum seekers in November 1989 heralded the beginning of the second wave. Over the following nine years, boats arrived at the rate of about 300 people per annum—mostly from Cambodia, Vietnam and southern China.

 

Australia accepts one of the highest ratio per head of population of refugees see above.

[BarbTherese]

I saw a documentary some time back on TV about the first 'boat people' from Vietnam and how illegal refugees began arriving in Australia via sea and it was very interesting - thank you for the reminder. :)

 

We do need to be thankful for our achievements, but aware of our dark side also. I have been quite shocked by the amount of venom I have come across about differing cultures. I am a bus traveller everywhere and it is wonderful to see the amazing amount of different cultures travelling buses.  I particularly like the beautiful colours that Islamic and African women wear and while a student we had masses of them on our campus.  The suburb in which I live is definitely multicultural and most suburbs nowadays in Australia probably are and a plus and a feather in our cap.

 

It is quite true again to my experience that not only long term Caucasian Australians can have racist attitudes..........sometimes unknowingly.  We need to keep working to my mind and not be complacent.

 

__________________________

New blog and venture for "Bethany"  http://bethanite.blogspot.com.au/

[cappie]

The Human Dignity of Asylum Seekers comes before National Interests

 

22 July 2013

Media Release

The Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office call for Australia’s asylum seeker policies to be inspired by the centrality of human dignity and the obligation to care for our brothers and sisters who, in their desperation, ask for our welcome and assistance.

“Each and every one of us must rise above indifference and have the courage to open our hearts to asylum seekers, to listen to their hopes, to empathise with their despair, and to welcome them into our community.” said Bishop Gerard Hanna, Australian Catholic Bishop’s Delegate for Migrants and Refugees.

“Our thoughts and active involvement is accompanied by our prayerful support for these people who have endured so much in the hope of making a life for themselves in Australia and who will now be denied this opportunity” said Bishop Hanna.

“The new resettlement arrangements with Papua New Guinea are based on the premise that it is wrong for people fleeing from persecution to seek asylum in Australia” said Bishop Hanna “this is fundamentally untrue.”

“We have the duty as members of one human family to help those who arrive on our shores seeking asylum and to strive with all our resources to assist them no matter how inconvenient this may prove to be”, he said.

“We also share the concerns raised by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands” said Bishop Hanna “that Australia is asking the people of Papua New Guinea to show a level of generosity far beyond their economic means.”

“An alternative way to prevent tragedies at sea is to accept more refugees from source countries and provide the possibility and the hope of reaching Australia through a regular legal pathway” said Fr Pettenà National Director of ACMRO and Consulter of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People.

“At the root cause of forced migration is the failure of various Nations to uphold human rights and respect human dignity” said Fr Pettenà “the ultimate solution is to seek justice, up hold the rule of law and encourage all other Nations to do likewise.”

“Full respect and care for asylum seekers must come before the National and political interests of any country” he said “importantly in this context, we must uphold our international human rights obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention.”