Categories: lord-have-mercy, australia
Date: 20 April 2007 05:45:07
Not content with locking up asylum seekers in Australia, or intercepting them before they reach Australian waters and sending them off to Pacific Islands [we currently have over 80 Sri Lankans on Nauru], our Government will now swap refugees with the US: they will get the ones that want to come here and we'll get Cubans held at Guantanamo Bay wanting to go the US.
I admit I'm not the sharpest tack, but it does seem like a very odd policy. As others have said, will we be seen as a gateway to the US? Try and get to Oz and you get a shot at living in the US?
And how very interesting that the Government is bringing refugee issues to the fore in an election year: Tampa anyone?
In other news, please pray for rain for us down here. Our PM has said this week that the Murray-Darling water system, often termed Australia's Food Bowl, may not be able to provide enough water to food producers there. While other areas may be getting by, or are getting some rain falls, much of Australia, and much of the farming land in Australia, is suffering under severe drought.