tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025651162254792506.post6296855520503577662..comments2024-03-24T18:05:27.769+11:00Comments on Ian Fraser, talking naturally: Apology from AustraliaIan Fraserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023900823785041354noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025651162254792506.post-53966005629890461172013-09-23T11:32:38.658+10:002013-09-23T11:32:38.658+10:00For the benefit of other readers, the ABC has just...For the benefit of other readers, the ABC has just posted http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-23/detention-asylum-seekers-border-control-sovereign/4974016 which is relevant to the final sentence of my previous comment.<br /><br />MartinFlabmeisterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00934077052437339591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025651162254792506.post-53072761894443118282013-09-22T16:14:49.308+10:002013-09-22T16:14:49.308+10:00I am sure that in 10 years time there will be a po...I am sure that in 10 years time there will be a popular game of picking the worst decision by the Abbott hegemony. I have said 10 years because I cannot see the ALP knocking this mob over in 1 term especially giving what I have to say next.<br /><br />My early contender for worst decision is banning the release of any information about the arrival of asylum seeker boats. This has clearly been done to prevent information flowing which shows the Government has failed in its big populist scheme of stopping the boats. Presumably information about the environmental risks of decisions such as digging up the entire country to support the mining industry will son be included.<br /><br />What makes this particularly bad is that the media seem to have all gone along with it. Why haven't they hopped on a plane to Christmas Island and Cocos-Keeling to see what is going on? There has been only one story on this, from the ABC and I am sure they have been starved of funds so they can't afford a plane fare. However I'd have thought a (free!) email to the Administrator of Christmas Island - hardly a right-wing nutter - might have generated a bit of interesting information.Flabmeisterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00934077052437339591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025651162254792506.post-52788163157174677772013-09-21T20:46:40.844+10:002013-09-21T20:46:40.844+10:00I had a conversation here in France with a young F...I had a conversation here in France with a young French mechanic of North African background just after the election. He told me the one country in the world he would choose to move to was Australia. I pointed out that the new government would not welcome him and he was shocked. He queried whether 'people like him' would not be welcome even if they came to work and were not refugees. I used the same words as you have in my response -- I am ashamed of how Australia is treating refugees and it is unquestionably racist, so I suspected he would not be welcomed no matter what his skills. <br /><br />We had quite a few Australian clients over the election period. Several of them had clearly decided to leave the country deliberately to coincide with the election and were terribly disheartened by what was going on. None of them wanted to be associated with the new government. Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06472449597146519943noreply@blogger.com