FORTRESS OZ

Here we go again on this insane merry-go-round of talk, proposed legislation and dick swinging regarding migration as federal parliament ramps up law-making action before the winter recess.

 

Now you'd think that we'd consider, in all of this, the history of migration and associated legislation in Oz since federation. But the only things that appear to be gaining oxygen are highly visible attempts at pissing around our borders to mark out the 'turf' and insinuating that there's an enemy just itching to run rampant through the streets of Sydney and beyond in the great land.

 

Has our own experience of migration over the last century taught us nothing? Is Australia, in 2017, a nation of citizens who can correctly recite the names of our first three prime ministers and spell 'surreal' or, worse still, 'iconic'? Do we honestly think that including, as part of a citizenship test, a 'values' question such as 'Do you agree that all Australians are equal?' has any legitimacy? Isn't citizen equality already a law?

 

Of course, the really disturbing feature in all of this nonsense is the a priori assumption that there's an 'US' and a 'THEM'. The drift to the right continues.

Posted on f/b on 20 June 2017.