Marr/Asylum Seekers/Baxter

David Marr has waded into the discussion over the recent ‘softening’ of Australia’s immigration detention system. In today’s Sydney Morning Herald, he writes:

The Government now believes that when deporting a failed asylum seeker proves impossible, "it is not reasonable that he or she continue to be in detention and the desire is that that person be let out into the community". We must spare a thought for the losers as we applaud this incremental humanitarian shift. Bennett (David Bennett QC, Solicitor General for the Commonwealth) will shrug it off and plunge into the next murky brawl for his client. But what a rebuff for the hard men of the High Court and in particular Justice Ken Hayne, who led a majority of the judges to the conclusion that people in Al-Kateb's position - stateless and unable to leave Australia - could be left in detention, if need be forever. That Howard has now backed away from the High Court's decision changes nothing that matters here. The result remains law and remains part of the Immigration Department's extensive armoury.

As I mentioned earlier, the change by the Howard government comes only in the light of shifting public attitudes which could be attributed to a variety of factors – the Cornelia Rau affair, the media attention given to the case of Peter Qasim (now in his 7th year of detention), reduced number of boat arrivals etc. The change does not come from a genuine change of heart after realizing that locking people behind razor wire for an indefinite amount of time is ethically questionable. That is, it’s not a case of Howard suddenly putting the “Judeo Christian values” he speaks of (when criticizing “valueless” government schools) into action – it’s merely an effort to shut up discontent backbenchers.

I eagerly await angry retorts to Marr’s article from conservative pundits, but given that Marr no longer works for the ABC, one wonders what they can use against him – the “Your drivel can only survive on the tax-payer funded ABC” approach is no longer available.

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In other news, I was filled with a deep sense of national pride over the weekend as valiant riot police intervened to stop dangerous radicals from flying kites and balloons outside the Baxter detention centre. Charging these traitorous subversives with horses is the only suitable response to such dangerous protesting tactics. Had those balloons found their way into the air…well…I don’t even want to think of the chaos that would have ensued…