IN EARLY SEPTEMBER, Scott Morrison rejected calls from across the nation to resettle Priya, Nades and their two young daughters back in their hometown of Biloela. Dismissing the “public sentiment” surrounding the issue, the Prime Minister maintained that “If you make the wrong calls on these issues, then you invite tragedy and you invite chaos”.

The tragedy and chaos Mr Morrison is referring to is not the systematic persecution, oppression and threat of violence the family will suffer if they are returned to Sri Lanka. It is not the state-sponsored disappearances and arbitrary detention perpetrated against the Tamil minority by the Sri Lankan Government. It is not the removal of two Australian-born girls under the age of five from their beloved community to the country their parents desperately fled. What Mr Morrison is referring to is the unevidenced influx of boats that will breach Australian waters due to any display of compassion or humanity towards a person who has sought asylum by similar means.

This claim is based on the logic that if you punish, exploit and abuse people who have sought asylum by boat, the trade will stop. Notwithstanding the human rights abuses, the abandonmentof vulnerable and defenceless people or the countless lives ruined in the process, it is the most pragmatic approach to immigration policy our Government has to offer.

Priya and Nades were forced to flee for their lives in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Like all of those who have sought protection in Australia by boat, this method of arrival wasn’t a choice, but a reaction to the life-threatening situation they were faced with. Somehow, our leaders feel entitled to criticise the actions of people in such circumstances, which they have never – and will never – have to endure themselves. And now, in spite of the significant risk the family faces if they are deported, our leaders are determined to send them back — the cost of which they will not have to endure themselves either.

Immigration Minister David Coleman ultimately has the power to ensure this family are protected. His decision is not bound by legal criteria, nor does it have to be endorsed by his party and their policies. The only criteria his intervention must meet is that it is “in the national interest”.

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https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/treatment-of-...

PM Scott Morrison attacked environmental activists in a speech to miners, warning of a “new breed of radical activism” that smells like the old breed of activism but with more avocado and a whiff of superglue.

“How good is mining?” said the PM. The audience of miners applauded, but Morrison was simply asking, how good is mining?

Morrison threatened to make the boycotting of companies illegal, even though that in itself would illegal.

Scomo said all this marching and boycotting will “deny the liberties of Australians” (such as marching and boycotting).

When miners became confused at the PM’s claim that a miner offence was not a minor offence, Morrison backed down and said, “Major think though, didn’t it?”

Miners are confident the protesters will find it tricky to glue themselves to a gaping hole in the ground.

He told protesters go home and get a fracking job.

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/people/2019/11/08/tim-ferguson-boycott-m...

How goodeezat?

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NSW fires destroy at least 150 homes, two people found dead

Two people are dead, five are unaccounted for and more than 150 homes have been destroyed as New South Wales's unprecedented bushfire emergency continues through a second day.

Two fires are still burning at emergency warning level in NSW — at the height of the chaos yesterday, 17 blazes were given that status.

Firefighters said they found one body in a vehicle near Kangawalla, about 10 kilometres east of Glen Innes, where one of the most intense blazes took hold in the state's north.

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-09/nsw-fires-emergency-day-leads-to-...

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If you just work harder you'll get ahead.

It's a seductive concept, and essentially the view of 50 per cent of Australia Talks respondents, who agreed with the statement: "In Australia, anyone who works hard enough can get out of poverty."

Forty per cent of respondents disagreed.

For those who haven't followed it, the ABC's Australia Talks National Survey questioned nearly 55,000 people across the community to get a nationally representative sample of what the nation thinks.

And a majority of people across the nation think "if you have a go, you'll get a go."

There's logic to this view — Australia is a developed country with solid public education and health systems that should, at least in theory, offer everyone in the community a baseline of opportunity from which talent and hard work can shine through.

But those who work on the frontlines of poverty reduction almost unanimously say the notion that hard work alone can lift someone out of poverty is just plain wrong.

"People are incredible, and people who really face lots of adversity can find a way to break through, with luck and hard work and good will," says Matthew Cox, who runs the Logan Together program, which aims to break the poverty traps in one of Australia's poorest areas.

It's hard to find someone more upbeat than Matthew. In our half hour interview he constantly returns to the positives of Logan — it's diversity, energy and opportunity — and the successes his program is already enjoying, ensuring more kids get a good start in life.

But even Matthew isn't so optimistic as to think that everyone living in poverty can haul themselves out by force of will and effort.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-11/wealth-inequality-and-poverty-aus...

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