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During the election campaign, both major parties made much of their humanitarian concern to stop drownings by stopping the boats. Scott Morrison offered no words on this during the first Operation Sovereign Borders briefing on Monday. Nor did Labor's official commentators. Deaths at sea have apparently dropped off the radar — at least until the next maritime tragedy, which both parties will no doubt exploit to score points.
Labor's humanitarian achievements included routinely distributing media releases announcing every boat interception and every incident of assistance to boats in difficulty at sea. It would be tragic if under Operation Sovereign Borders the Coalition abandoned the present degree of public transparency and accountability for deaths in border protection operations on the spurious pretext that these are matters of national security.
Since the turn of the millennium several major technology-enabled developments have significantly altered the balance between national security and civil liberties. In Australia, the hyper-politicisation of national security finds voice in the discourse on the issue of border security, turning a complex humanitarian and policing challenge (asylum seekers arriving by sea) into an enormously controversial and expensive imbroglio.
A Sydney Morning Herald editorial 71 years ago declared that to persecute refugees 'is stupid from the purely practical point of view'. The practical and humanitarian reasons it outlines for welcoming refugees remain relevant today.
There is growing awareness that the leniency shown to people fleeing Zimbabwe in recent years has put pressure on the South African community at the same time as letting Mugabe's government 'off the hook'. It seems that political imperatives may have replaced humanitarian motives.
A ridiculously wealthy humanitarian, Bono is an object of scorn among grassroots human rights advocates. But a U2 show may be as close to church as a rock concert gets. Nowhere outside a church would you find so many voices declaring in unison: 'I believe in the kingdom come.'
Turkey has condemned the attacks on a flotilla carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza as piracy. Branding activists as terrorists and denying the human situation in Gaza will not help an Israeli cause that is proving increasingly alienating.
The Burmese Government continues to hinder efforts by foreign aid agencies to assist the thousands of people at risk following Cyclone Nargis. Diplomatic intervention is required to stem further humanitarian crises in the region.
A new exhibition of compelling and confronting photographs captures the impact of natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies, and the crucial role of Australian aid workers and volunteers in the initial response and longer term rebuilding process.
Is Australia's refugee resettlement program primarily intended to help asylum seekers, or assist Australia's economy and nation-building? We need to ask on which set of values we want to base our society.
The Howard Government must be given credit for increasing the size of our migration program, including the refugee and humanitarian component. But the deliberations of civil society should provide a fair go for all refugees, including those who arrive by boat without a visa.
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