People Die Because They Find Living Too

At The Moment People Get On Boats Because They Flee Terror At Home And Believe The Many Years' Long Wait In Unhcr Camps Is Not A Valid Option, Especially If They Have Children In Their Care. After The Vietnam War, Australia Took A Larger Humanitarian Intake Than At Any Other Period In Our History. The Australian Community Accepted That. They Were Told Why We Needed To Do It, And Why It Was The Only Ethical Decent Policy That A Wealthy Advanced Country Should Adopt.

There Are No Quick Fixes To Indigenous Poverty And Social Disaster.

Last Year The National Sorry Day Committee Consulted With Stolen Generations People In Every State And Territory, And Concluded That Programmes Set Up In Response To The Bringing Them Home Report Are Reaching Only A Small Fraction Of Those They Are Intended To Help.

Three Years Ago The Government Announced The Creation Of Reconciliation Place, And Said That It Would Include A Memorial To Those Removed From Their Families. However, They Refused To Include Any Of Those Who Were Removed In The Design Of Their Own Memorial.

Even Australians Who Take A Very, Very Hard Line About Asylum Seekers - And Unfortunately There Are More Than I Would Like To Think - Are Probably A Bit Uncomfortable With The Kind Of Treatment That Has Been Meted Out To Children In Detention By The Australian Government, In Their Name.