My piece for the Guardian is up here. 

 

My fellow Canberrans:

I stand before you today with a heavy heart and a steely determination. It is now abundantly clear that we must take drastic and definitive steps to secure our borders and defeat the threat we face.

There is simply too much at stake for us to do anything less.

For decades now, we Canberrans have been swamped with unwelcome visitors. The conniving UEAs (unfortunately elected arrivals) have taken advantage of our generous spirit. They will stop at nothing to come here: demonising and imprisoning refugees, bribing third world countries to build offshore hellholes, trampling on press freedom, discrediting human rights organisations, capitalising on voters’ xenophobic fears, commissioning propaganda, bleating three word slogans and even kissing unwilling babies.

Who knows how far they’re prepared to go? As I understand it, some of them are more than willing to throw all their principles overboard for the sake of success…

Photo: Cathy Wilcox

When Australian voters ask their politicians to lower taxes, they’re not immediately asked to submit comprehensive spreadsheets outlining their alternative economic vision for the country.

When ordinary people ask their politicians to do something about the climate crisis, they’re not expected to provide a multi-volume proposal co-authored by David Suzuki and Naomi Klein that will definitively end pollution.

When citizens ask their politicians to create more jobs, they’re not dismissed and told to give their job to somebody else if they feel oh-so-bloody strong about it.

But when decent folks see stories about people in our offshore gulags setting themselves on fire in desperation and are so bold as to suggest that might be an indication of something being horrifically wrong, they can expect to be greeted with a familiar response: “Well what’s YOUR solution then, smarty-pants?”

“Hey all you mums and you young people and you teachers and you doctors and you nice grandmas speaking up for what you believe in – stop pointing out the sexual abuse of children and fascist gag laws and the illegality of the entire operation and please explain to us in detail how you plan to solve one of the most complex humanitarian crises of the 21st century! … Come on! not so easy now, is it?!”

This is blind “solutionism” and it is corroding our public discourse. In almost any other debate, we openly praise compassion and we call for greater democratic participation. But when it comes to refugees, if the point you’re making won’t help “stop the boats” or “smash the people smugglers’ business model”, then sit down and shut up, hippie.

Read the full article here 

In Australia and around the world, there remain many laws worthy of ridicule – some because they’re outdated and no longer apply to contemporary life, others because they’re unfair and discriminatory.

So: what are the laws that we should be challenging … and just how hard is it to change them?

Join Julian Morrow, Dr Justine Rogers and Tom Ballard as they discuss the potential impacts of new laws that restrict the right to protest, dig into what happens to asylum seekers who arrived by boat before the introduction of offshore processing and reveal why victims of family violence can be liable for massive housing debts.

Special guest Professor Gillian Triggs, Human Rights Commission President and Justice Connect patron, will open the conversation with some insights from the front line.

This is happening at 7pm on May 18th at Giant Dwarf, Sydney.

Tickets available here.

Tickets available here.