Dianna Edwards and Writing
  • About me
  • Short stories
    • Death in the Desert
    • Secrets
    • Airport Drama
    • Acacia
    • Two Chooks in December
    • A Darned Surprise
    • The Sunset Mermaid
    • Friend or Foe?
    • At Rainbow's End
    • Sisterly Love
    • Good Times to Come
    • Being Famous
    • Something Special for Dinner
    • Walter's Secret
    • The Visitor
  • Children's stories
    • The Red Silk Kite
    • The Singing Tree
    • Beatrice Barnfeather
    • Garth's bath
    • Little Dog Tambo
    • Flowers For a Special Day
  • Non Fiction
    • Letter to a Soldier
    • The Body
    • Autumn Saturday
    • A Year With Billy
    • Lunch
    • Harry's Story
    • 2007 bushfires
    • My Father's Kite
    • Death of a Chook
    • Gentle Heartache
    • Shopping with Sisters
    • When I am Old
    • Matilda
    • Fragments
  • Blog

BLOG

What can we do?

25/7/2015

0 Comments

 
It’s time to be serious. We in Australia have a huge problem that needs fixing.

Our current band of “leaders” (i.e., our politicians) seemingly have no scruples about dishing out cruelty to other human beings.

Sure, I appreciate that many countries over the world are battling dilemmas concerning asylum seekers but Australia seems to be one of the worst as far as offering any refuge for these poor souls. 

 

We (well, not me personally) have gathered all those seeking asylum and called them “illegals” -  which they certainly are not – and herded them into hell holes of immigration detention centres – jails really -   where they are mistreated and otherwise ignored.  

Some of these centres are not much more that a cluster of large tents. AND, they are not even in Australia. They are in what are called “offshore detention facilities”.

The people are not being ‘processed’; their stories are not being heard and some of these people have been in detention centres for YEARS. Some of them are CHILDREN.

It is inhumane and against all decency.

 

It is costing millions of dollars to keep these people locked up.

Surely it would cost far less to employ staff to ‘process’ them and allow them into our community.

 

In Australia we often hear complaints about there not being enough skilled workers to fill current job vacancies. Perhaps, just maybe, there are people currently locked up in detention centres who could be the mechanic, the engineer, the nurse, the willing worker of any persuasion who would contribute to our society and to our economy.

Maybe? Surely? But no one is checking that avenue.

 

It is preferred to offer the scare tactics of warnings of terrorism and the dangers of ‘the other’.

 

Many Australians (I hang my head in shame) have turned into the most terrible racists and are rebelling against any plans of government to settle asylum seekers in our country.

They are too selfish to even try the imaginative task of ‘putting your feet in the others’ shoes’.

They cannot see that these people are fleeing for their lives and the lives of their children.

  

Our opposition leader (Bill Shorten), in the latest ALP conference has backed the current plan of our PM (the heartless Tony Abbott) and stated that he will continue the ‘stop the boats’ strategy and continue to ‘turn back the boats’.

He claims it will ‘save thousands of lives that would otherwise be lost at sea.’

 

Is that true?

If they ‘turn back the boats’, does that mean that no one drowns at sea?

How do we know?

How do we know what happens to the poor people on any boat that is ‘turned back’?

 

Then Bill Shorten announces this:

 

Doubling the refugee intake to 27,000 a year by 2025* would be one of the other key elements of his (Bill Shorten’s) policy.

* by 2025!

 

What I need to know is, if Australia accepts more refugees, do the numbers come from the thousands now in detention? Or are we to accept refugees who fly into our airports? There is a big difference!

 

Last week, a boat of refugees, reported to be from Vietnam, was reportedly sighted off the Western Australian coast.

Once reported, the media was silenced and the government would not permit another word to be said or written about them. These matters are not to be discussed or reported in any way. There is a blanket of secrecy now over the fate of these refugees.

Where are they?

What is happening to them?

What has happened to Australia as a democracy?

 

I am ashamed of my country.

 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author notes

    I choose to comment on social issues and write creatively on a variety of subjects -  for a variety of audiences.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012

    Categories

    All
    Childhood
    House
    Kindness
    On Death
    Social Comment
    Writing

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • About me
  • Short stories
    • Death in the Desert
    • Secrets
    • Airport Drama
    • Acacia
    • Two Chooks in December
    • A Darned Surprise
    • The Sunset Mermaid
    • Friend or Foe?
    • At Rainbow's End
    • Sisterly Love
    • Good Times to Come
    • Being Famous
    • Something Special for Dinner
    • Walter's Secret
    • The Visitor
  • Children's stories
    • The Red Silk Kite
    • The Singing Tree
    • Beatrice Barnfeather
    • Garth's bath
    • Little Dog Tambo
    • Flowers For a Special Day
  • Non Fiction
    • Letter to a Soldier
    • The Body
    • Autumn Saturday
    • A Year With Billy
    • Lunch
    • Harry's Story
    • 2007 bushfires
    • My Father's Kite
    • Death of a Chook
    • Gentle Heartache
    • Shopping with Sisters
    • When I am Old
    • Matilda
    • Fragments
  • Blog