Paul Kelly sounds a warning in his article in the Australian today. A test for more humane strategy
His warning is to the Rudd government – and even more so to those of us afraid of a return to the horrors of the Temporary Protection Visa. TPV agony
Kelly examines the growing numbers of arrivals of boast of asylum seekers (see Ninemsn discovers some plane facts about boat people) and warns that, in politics,
“numbers dictate results. They determine the public’s mood and they make and break policy. Rudd is about to discover such realities. At this stage nobody knows the threshold at which numbers will demand a revised policy. Rudd’s stance has been a success because the numbers are still manageable.”
Kelly does not want a return to the TPV, which he confirms was unsuccessful at turning back boats, but says that every successful deterrent operation has relied on regional co-operation, and reminds us of the handling of Indo-Chinese boatpeople under the Fraser government.
‘Cassandra’ Kelly prophesies:
“Rudd will respond as a populist if the numbers mount, the system gets overloaded and public alarm intensifies”.
2 Comments
August 21, 2009 at 11:25 am
[...] By 1999 Ruddock had overseen the introduction of the new Temporary Protection regime, amongst other measures modelled on Hanson’s rhetoric. Be alert and alarmed if you remember the TPV [...]
October 7, 2009 at 7:35 am
[...] Public opinion was the motivation of the Howard government, which introduced the Pacific ‘Solution’, an unlawfully hard line on refugee status determination, and the torture of the Temporary Protection Visa. “Be alert AND alarmed” if you remember the TPV [...]