IMMIGRATION

There is blanket media coverage about illegal immigrants and whether Australia should accept these people fleeing their own country into our rather minuscule democratic fold.  People with personal agendas rabbit on about human rights, our moral and ethical responsibilities and the benefit these migrants would bring to our country.  The arguments are soulful and heartfelt with each soapbox itinerant speaking from the emotion gland imploring us to allow all and sundry to resettle here.

Everyone has a right to a peaceful and fulfilling life without fear of persecution and without having to plan some form of escape or sedition against their Government to get it.  Some of the refugees were in fear of their lives whilst some sort a better societal or financial future for their family.  Others just wanted to go somewhere else.  All of these motives are valid and understandable and they are entitled to pursue same.

However, this does not entitle them to automatic entry to another country just because they want to go there.  There are reasons people want to come to Australia and that’s because many generations of Australians, including our many immigrants, have built a set of values which define both us and our country.  We have paid for and developed an infrastructure and democratic way of life which everyone wants.

And therein is the issue.  As long as there are people bent on applying force of will through mayhem there will be disaffected people attempting to dissociate. It is neither right nor proper that well managed countries should bear the economic and social result of someone else’s fleeing population. 

But, doing nothing is also not an option.

Most of the people fleeing violence have been subject to administrations guilty of gross ‘war / human rights’ crimes and international penalties for those crimes are defined as are remedies.  If we just accept refugees and do nothing then aren't we just supporting despots and ignoring our own values?

There are reasons people want to come to Australia and that is because it’s safe, despot free and provides hope and sustenance for its relatively small population. This is not a fluke of nature but is as a result of umpteen years of forethought and controlled immigration.  Taking people into our country who respect our values and way of life and want to contribute to that way of life as Australians is crucial.  Likewise, any person disaffected by our values needs to leave to some other place more in tune with their own beliefs.

This is why we need places removed from preferred destination countries where refugees can flee and be safe and protected under a UN umbrella until the despots have been deposed – by the free world.  It’s not about resettling into another country with different values but about protecting the vulnerable from immediate harm. A ‘refuge’.

The world has a set of values and conduct which defines humanity.  This needs to be applied.  These values are not religious or political or country specific or anything else other than a bunch of things which enable all people to feel joy on a daily basis and know they have a chance at a future.

This is not rocket science nor is it even remotely difficult to understand and applies to everyone whether you are rich, poor, in jail, on a cruising yacht or just seeking a better life.  This is a basic human right.

For example, America was brilliant during the early 19c as people flocked to that melting pot because they wanted to shirk their past and become American – a collective of hope and future.  They wanted to be known as American.  Now in Australia we have the opposite in that people want to live in Australia but retain their past identities with all the values associated with that past.  Our national identity is waning.  People want the address but not the values.  One ‘refugee’ who had mysteriously lost his identity papers after managing to pay thousands for his illegal trip said that he would ‘accept’ any country as long as it was Muslim yet Australia seemed acceptable.  Maybe I am missing something.

Not good enough.

On the contrary, we had a close encounter of the migrant kind yesterday in the supermarket.  A woman decided she did not need to queue and barged in front of another woman already unloading her trolley onto the belt. She said something like, ‘I only have a couple of things’.  The second woman turned on her and said, ‘it would help if you said please’ then ‘I'm Australian not a wog’ in a heavy European accent implying the level of misbehaviour by the pusher-in was associated with ethnicity.   It turned out the upset woman was a Maltese immigrant now proud to be Australian and wanted to disassociate herself from the pusher-in.  This sort of person we need – immigrants sticking up for themselves and proud to be Australian but still cherishing their bloodlines.  The pusher-in got a hell of a shock.  Good.

This is a world problem and needs a world solution.  As the only world authority is the UN it is behoven on that collective organisation [our collective organisation] to set and manage a solution.

Greece needs money and the world needs space for genuine refugees.  Refugees who may need years to return to their homeland.  If Greece leased / sold a couple of their islands to the UN on which ‘the world’ developed a community specifically for asylum seekers with ultra quick processing it would instantly solve every countries problem in dealing with illegal immigrants.  This would not be a detention centre or an immigration centre but a refuge in the true sense of the word where family’s felt safe and kids went to school and people were given the opportunity to contribute remembering a refuge by definition is not a permanent state but exists as a state at a point in time to relieve stress and anxiety.  A refuge against what should be a common enemy.

If each country in the UN contributed ‘x’ dollars in line with their population to this UN initiative it could happen overnight.  A place where genuine refugees could once again experience joy. 

A community of possibly several million people all with similar desires to survive and live a happy life looked after by the rest of the world.  A place where respect for everyone, their background and their beliefs was a given as the foremost consideration. On the contrary, a demonstrated lack of respect as a God given right would be grounds for instant removal back to point of origin remembering that most of the people fleeing are doing so because of this one issue in that power crazy despots are shoring up their own gold palaces whilst their people starve or people are killing others because they believe in a slightly different God or are so disaffected and stupid as to create mayhem based on a part phrase from some religious text.  Just imagine some deity looking down on all this – he/she would think us worse than the lowest life form because we choose to act in abhorrent ways.

The primary aim is not resettlement in another country but as a refuge for people who have suffered what can only be described as ‘war’ crimes.  This is a good thing.

Greece wins in the short medium term by surviving, refugees win by knowing they have a place to go which is run by ‘the world’ where they can take refuge against crimes and each and every country protects their sovereign borders without political crap just by supporting the UN to take over the problem. 
Wahoo!! 

ANDREWS AND THE EAST WEST LINK - LATEST

In the AFR [Lucille Keen] on Saturday  the 23^rd of May 2015 said it was reported that just last month our Victorian Government paid $339,000,000 just to cancel the East West link with lost sunk costs amounting to $500,000,000.  Add on the thousands of hours of Government time foregone and the $1.5 billion lost from the Federal Government and the problem becomes gigantean remembering this is OUR money he is squandering.

Now infrastructure Australia has weighed into the ‘cancel it at any cost’ decision by Andrews stating that Victoria has lost the opportunity through not building East West to create a traffic plan for a key section of Victoria’s future. Instead Andrews is going to spend money on level crossings in marginal seats.  This is minutia thinking at its worst.  No future thinking, just repairs in marginal seats.

He has no project ready to start right now worth anything in terms of long term strategy and has foregone thousands of jobs and cost us billions through this decision and, he has cancelled the proposed airport link.

Victoria deserved better, MUCH BETTER.

The Honourable D. Andrews – Premier Victoria

It’s a sad fact that our political ‘leaders’ are merely human like the rest of us having all the frailties associated with remaining upright and breathing.  Ambition takes over from reality and commonsense repairs to some other universe.

We all know we can do better just given the opportunity yet somehow the hand stays down when it’s time to be counted.  So what right have we to criticise from the bleaches or worse, from behind some moral curtain from which we only peep to throw another barb but hastily retreat lest someone recognise us.

The simple answer is that we have a duty to support our majority and legally ‘elected’ leaders to do their jobs unless those decisions are so onerous and so far outside of their pre-elected political focus that damage will occur.  It is indeed a truism that if we second guess every decision our elected officials make there is no elected Government; there is only chaos, anarchy and subversion.

The election process works in a democracy unless our leaders create havoc, undermine our collective values, do something which puts us in disrepute or threatens our countries future.  If it doesn’t work then we must say something and be counted for that opinion.  Only in this way can we inform the non vocal majority of dysfunction and create change.

Such an issue has arisen in Victoria with our current Andrews led Government.

This short letter is not political in that it is not aimed at liberal or labour but rather at labyrinthine  decisions which are absolutely against our values and Australian way of life.

Mr Andrews was elected on a bunch of promises, one of which was ‘tearing up the contracts’ on the East West link.  He well knew he was sacrificing thousands of jobs, well knew Victoria was lawfully committed to completion of the project, well knew Commonwealth funding was dependant on completion of that project and well knew he was replacing lawful actions with rhetoric.  He was elected and now we must pay the piper.

There are two absolutely vile actions he has taken which must make every Victorian shudder.  Firstly he threatened to legislate to invalidate a lawful debt which would virtually destroy our system of Government and secondly he has fraudulently refused to return the commonwealth invested capital which was specifically earmarked for the East West project.

As he must have known all this before the election he has obviously treated us [voters] with disdain and must be so affected by political desire that reality took a second rung to common sense.  Like Bracks did over Seal Rocks, which cost us circa $80 million, this is heading for disaster.

The Federal Government has already said [paraphrased], ‘why would Andrew’s believe that the Commonwealth would pay for a contract which he has refused to honour?’ and ‘the Commonwealth wants its money back’ and ‘why would you [Andrews] sacrifice [circa] 7,000 immediate jobs?’ and ‘why would Andrews put any future investment potential by outside money at risk?’ and ‘why would Andrews sacrifice the State’s credit rating?’.

This decision by the Premier smacks of a vocal look-at-me five year old still on potty training throwing a tantrum at his own and everyone else’s expense.  Where is the maturity and where does this leave Victoria? 

This is not a comment on the East West link but a comment on the people associated with the decision process.  These people need to be removed as they are causing damage.

Managing Victoria is the same as running a big company [nee Jeff Kennett].  It must be done through people whilst developing and implementing a multi-future strategy.  Instant business and personal support combined with medium term business development and long term strategic plans we all can understand and support.

Our future is not about fixing level crossings nor fixing pay scales nor appealing to the lowest common denominator.  It IS about recognising and planning towards our future logically and strategically.

It seems all we get from Mr Andrews is a dearth of future whilst watching extravagant spending on what can only be called minutia. 

Fixing past mistakes does not a future make - simple and inescapable logic.

We need to have a premier and supporting Government who have an understanding of future and how to strategise to get there.  Throwing away a few billion dollars on fraud [taking Commonwealth money by deception] is descriptive of Mr Andrews.

Is there anyone who can replace this person who can see and plan towards our future?

Just a couple of thoughts for Mr Andrews’ replacement.

Firstly, our future has one ground rule – ‘DS’.  There is only ONE way out of the dig it up mentality and that is ‘DS’ or developing smarts.  Free education right through tertiary and beyond for everyone who has the smarts but followed by a year of service to think-tank-Australia when our numerous smart people can and will transform our country into a brainstorming cutting edge country away from the ‘let’s dig it up, sell it and have another beer’ mentality.  No HEX for a year’s think-tank – bring it on.

Secondly, I believe there is no other way to bring our indigenous people to that line in the sand other than education.  When our kids know what they are missing they will strive to achieve it.  Simple.

Thirdly, our future is not assured through just fixing past mistakes as this is regressive minutia thinking.  It is about business 101 – developing a strategy through communicated and succinct mission and vision statements leading through communicable strategies to real action plans.

Fourthly, dealing with climate change is also simple – subsidise renewable energy so its selling price is lower than non-renewables and people will make their own financial decision.  Market forces to create world changing shifts in literally months.  Support the good guys and watch the world change with no political crap.

We need professionalism, maturity and a clear businesslike approach.

This is written on no one’s behalf!