The New Children Overboard

The Howard government was long mired after the truth came out about the “children overboard” scandal. No children were thrown overboard. But just the mere thought of it shocked and disgusted a nation. It was chilling to think responsible adults, who are meant to care and look after their children, were risking the life of their child for their own selfish purpose. It was outrage at deliberate, dangerous actions that were morally wrong. In light of the Human Rights Commission’s report into children in detention, no wonder the Abbott government is coming out so scathing against the head of the report, Gillian Triggs. The government has been called out for the inhumane actions it has created and funding. Taking deliberate, dangerous acts that are morally wrong, to serve its own selfish purpose of scoring political points.

Every Liberal and conservative politician and columnist, including Malcolm Turnbull on QandA, dodges and tries to muddy the issue with Labor’s legacy, the numbers of ‘thousands’ of children in detention, and the ‘political motivation’ of Triggs. Some quick facts for them.

1. Yes, more boats came under Labor than Liberal. Though the problem has just moved offshore. Australia is accepting less refugees than it previously did, and refugees are dying in poorly run camps overseas or being exploited via other means (trafficked elsewhere). No lives are being saved under this policy. 

2. Yes, at it’s peak Labor had 2000 children in detention. On average they were processed and released within 7 months. The current children incarcerated have been detained for more than a year, with no clear date of release. The current policy allows for infinite detention of children.

3. The report equally blames Labor for the abuses against children conduct while it was in office (it also released multiple reports during the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd years). This more serious investigative report was commissioned because of the worsening conditions, and changes of policy that on paper, are indicative of Human Rights violations.  The investigation started under Labor, and continued under the new Liberal Abbott government, amended previous Labor policy.

Discussing numbers and the important changes that the Liberal party are making is just a tactic to avoid the issue at hand. No one within the Liberal party has outlined what they’re doing to stop the abuses occurring to children within the camps, or to improve conditions. No one has even denied the issue, as Scott Morrison did for months and months. This government has had the report since October, and have chosen to release it at the last opportunity possible and discredit it as much as possible. The current policy of indefinitely detaining children that are within state care (they’re locked up, not free to go), reducing media and independent oversight to almost nothing and purposely creating a harsh and depressive prison environment as a ‘deterrent’, is the calculated doings on the current government.

Australia was shocked at the thought of people throwing children overboard to save themselves. Here the Abbott government are throwing children into inhumane jails and camps and not releasing or processing them. Why? To save themselves from the wrath of the electorate, and fulfil under ANY means necessary the promise to have stopped every single boat.

Now we wait for the new PM

Tony Abbott is on borrowed time. He’s a PM in holding. Keeping the seat warm for whomever next the Liberal party room elects to lead the party, and the nation. As much as Abbott loving Liberals want to spin it, the vote was not a ‘strong message’ to the Prime Minister. Strong messages of discontent are delivered to someone’s face, to others behind their back and often with many spills and leaks to the media (see the Rudd/Gillard era). This was a vote to oust a sitting PM. Not a warning, not a signal, but a firm push to remove him from his post. As much as Abbott wants to say he’ll change, both in style of governing and substance of policy, there’s unlikely to be enough of a change to win him another term in government. The only thing he’s supporters have bought him is time to clear the way for his successor. Tony Abbott worked well in opposition as an alternative to Labor’s leadership mess, but that was it. A preference for something that wasn’t Labor, and not a ringing endorsement of him. It is part of the reason his lead in the polls vanished so quickly. Combined of course with his governing style, budget measures, policy choices and broken promises. It may be weeks, months or even a year before another spill motion arrises, or he eventually resigns. But it will come.

On Q&A that same night of the #libspill Monday meeting, ardent Abbott supporter Alan Jones graced the ABC screen with his presence. For someone who so vehemently hates the ‘leftie establishment’, he sure seemed to be enjoying the attention he was receiving there. Though while he and his supporters in the audience enjoyed the serving out of sharp quips against Labor’s legacy and turmoil, his greatest support came for policy ideas that neither the Liberal or Labor party are genuinely proposing. GSC extraction is deeply unpopular in most parts of the country, debt needs to be managed by equitable taxation and spending reduction at the HIGHER end of the wealth spectrum, and business confidence needs to be assisted.

The Liberal and Labor party talk endlessly about ‘plans’ and ‘discussions’ and ‘visions, though neither side makes a clear, concrete position. They sit on the fence between interests groups so firmly, they bleed themselves dry of the popular vote. It’s becoming a race between two parties, in which people must choose the one they least dislike. Kevin Rudd made popular policy moves within his first few months of government. Tony Abbott did the same. But once in government, politicians aren’t keeping up with the ongoing demands of the Australian people. They’re not navel gazing. They’re compromising their way through issues, trying to appease everyone, though in doing so satisfy no one.

Sweeping, bold moves in politics is dangerous. The recently voted out, deeply unpopular LNP Queensland government found this out. Yet Victoria’s return to Labor was because the state Liberal government was doing too little and compromising too much. Whomever takes the helm of the federal Liberal party in the future should heed both State’s warnings and follow broad, popular policies that the electorate has been demanding for a long time.