This is What I say to That

Dear Mr Abbott

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter to you and for asking one of your staff to respond as they have.

You make the assertion that it is very important to protect our borders. This is a motherhood statement that most people are unwilling to challenge, but it is based on a false premise. The usual context in which we refer to protecting our borders is from infiltration by an enemy or from those seeking to bring contraband into the country. As citizens of a "global village" and as a signatary of the UN Convention on Refugees we have accepted an obligation to our fellow human beings and thereby accept that when they come our way seeking protection from those who would persecute them or in other ways abuse their freedom, we will offer them the comfort they seek. We will not treat them collectively as criminals, nor will we send them back whence they came - unless our security enquiries about any individual should require us to do so.

Not only is this the kind of compassionate response someone of Christian faith should be more than willing to give, but also what our fellow citizens in the world, through the UN, expect of us. That is why I asked you to reflect on the values you espouse, not only as an Australian, but as a man of faith.

You further make the assertion that "more than 30 boats and 3,000 individuals arrived illegally in our waters." If those 3,000 individuals had not been refugees, but rather people simply seeking to secretly migrate into Australia then their arrival would indeed have been illegal, but since they first of all have asked for assylum and then for the most part subsequently have demonstrated that they are refugees, their arrival should not be referred to as illegal.

You further demean this debate by constantly referring to those who bring Assylum seekers here as "people smugglers". Assylum seekers are not some form of contraband that is being shipped into our country. They are desperate people who are willing to gather up whatever resources they can and take whatever risks seem necessary to arrive in a place where they have a prospsect of obtaining the protection they both seek and deserve.

This is cheap political rhetoric.

If your party was serious about illegal immigrants you would be pressing the Rudd Goverment, through its Immigration Department, to tighten up on the procedures that currently allow many thousands of people to overstay their visas and simply dissolve into the Australian community. These people have broken the law and most of them quite intentionally.

I remain yours sincerely

An Open Letter Gets a Response

It only took a month, but Tony Abbot (or probably one of his staff members offered me this response to my open letter.

John

Thank you for taking the time to email the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Tony Abbott MP.

It is very important that we protect our boarders.

Since the election of the Rudd Government, we have seen more than 70 boats and 3,000 individuals arrive illegally in our waters. The Rudd government has softened our boarder protection policies and people smugglers are seeing Australia as a soft target.

A Coalition government would restore confidence in Australia’s boarder protection system and introduce a suite of strong measures which would discourage people smugglers from risking lives of vulnerable people.

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Thank you again for taking the time to pass on your thoughts on this important issue.

Tony Abbot MHR