Hi. I am Greg and it has been 4 weeks since my last Grumble.
Please excuse the Catholic confessional introduction especially as it’s the Protestants now apologising because some of its Knox Grammarians took the motto of “doing the manly thing” the wrong way and were ignored or allowed to go on abusing children – probably for the same reasons that the music industry did not take Gary Glitter at his word when he asked if his pre-pubescent audience wanted to touch him there. We look forward to a nuanced government response which presumably will see the expansion of the state government Screening Unit to cover musicians and Presbyterians.
Meanwhile, there has been outrage from the anti-some-capital punishment campaigners over two Australians facing execution for drug smuggling in Indonesia. Now apart from the collusion of Australia’s police force in this debacle, I simply wonder why these two lives should mean so much more than the thousands each year whose judicial murder by our major trading partners and friends goes unremarked?
And on the subject of nationalism and dodgy analysis, we had the government’s Intergenerational Report trying to make us into the unlucky country which apparently will no longer be able to afford the health and welfare services of a decent society. And on that subject we’ve also had the McClure report into the future of welfare which either seemed to have forgotten about independent young people or contained a fairly radical proposal to cut off income support payments for any young person under 22 who is not residing in the family home (presumably surrounded by a white picket fence).
I’m still not sure about what is planned, but talking of government reports, there was also the state government review of South Australian taxes which led to a one-day media frenzy about one proposal while the rest of the thoughtful Discussion Paper got forgotten.
But of course it is a good time to forget things with Mad March’s Festival for the arty, Fringe for the hopefuls, cars that go brmmmm for the masses, and Womad for the self-righteous internationalists who can pretend to be African, Cuban, or Romanian for a day (or at least an hour).
And there, under introduced trees and over-abundant flying foxes we had a not very funny comedian ignoring structural power and vested interest and patronisingly telling us that we just need to talk to people differently about climate change.
But that was ok because if you live where I live, you might not have got to the famed parklands anyway because the government decided to repair the rail lines over the long weekend – because let’s face it our public transport system is only really for getting people to and from city offices on workdays? I mean, it is not like anyone would ride to Womad or anywhere else and want to catch a train home.
Much better to drive, particularly as the head of our Motor Accident Commission wants to make it safer for us by removing all trees within sight of any road because apparently these arboreal terrorists are leaping out in front of cars and adding to the road toll.
What was that about climate change?
I am Greg, I am grumbling.
This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast.
First Broadcast: 10 March 2015
Greg's Grumbles can be heard on Radio Adelaide during SACOSS' Small Change program - 6pm every Tuesday night. 101.5FM or online.
Showing posts with label human rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label human rights. Show all posts
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Monday, 20 January 2014
25. Asylum Seeker Policy
Hi. I am Greg and I want to grumble about asylum seeker policy. This week SACOSS launches a state election policy around the treatment of asylum seekers in our communities. A number of SACOSS members provide services to asylum seekers who are living in South Australia waiting for determination of their cases, but I can’t tell you how the SACOSS policy was developed or why state government intervention is important in relation to what is primarily a Federal issue, because that is an operational matter and I can’t comment on operational matters.
However, I can talk about other countries, and so I want to grumble about the treatment of those on a particular ship full of asylum seekers. Over 900 asylum seekers, members of a religious minority fled a brutal dictatorship that was very clearly persecuting them. The boat sailed to Cuba but was denied entry there. In sight of the United States they pleaded for entry, only to be sent a response from the State Department that said that passengers must "await their turns on the waiting list and qualify for and obtain immigration visas before they may be admissible." There are conflicting reports about whether military vessels were sent to turn the boats away – perhaps another operational matter we may never know with certainty.
The ship sailed north, but Canada also rejected the asylum seekers, and the boat went back to the region it came from. Some of the asylum seekers were settled in friendly countries from there, but 254 were murdered by the dictatorship.
The story is well-known: the year was 1939, the ship was the MS St Louis and the passengers were Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. But from the shameful treatment of those desperate people and many thousands like them, the Refugee Convention was created – and signed up to by Australia 60 years ago tomorrow (22 January 1954).
But I want to grumble because despite the Convention, the story of the St Louis has way too much resonance in contemporary Australian debate. And because the Australian Human Rights Commission reports a “significant gap” between Australia’s human rights obligations and our current treatment of asylum seekers. And because Commission’s Chair is right that “the denial of work rights to asylum seekers living in the community on bridging visas … may force individuals and families into poverty and lead to breaches of multiple human rights.”
Welcome to the lucky country.
I am Greg, and I am grumbling.
This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast.
First Broadcast: 21 January 2014
However, I can talk about other countries, and so I want to grumble about the treatment of those on a particular ship full of asylum seekers. Over 900 asylum seekers, members of a religious minority fled a brutal dictatorship that was very clearly persecuting them. The boat sailed to Cuba but was denied entry there. In sight of the United States they pleaded for entry, only to be sent a response from the State Department that said that passengers must "await their turns on the waiting list and qualify for and obtain immigration visas before they may be admissible." There are conflicting reports about whether military vessels were sent to turn the boats away – perhaps another operational matter we may never know with certainty.
The ship sailed north, but Canada also rejected the asylum seekers, and the boat went back to the region it came from. Some of the asylum seekers were settled in friendly countries from there, but 254 were murdered by the dictatorship.
The story is well-known: the year was 1939, the ship was the MS St Louis and the passengers were Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. But from the shameful treatment of those desperate people and many thousands like them, the Refugee Convention was created – and signed up to by Australia 60 years ago tomorrow (22 January 1954).
But I want to grumble because despite the Convention, the story of the St Louis has way too much resonance in contemporary Australian debate. And because the Australian Human Rights Commission reports a “significant gap” between Australia’s human rights obligations and our current treatment of asylum seekers. And because Commission’s Chair is right that “the denial of work rights to asylum seekers living in the community on bridging visas … may force individuals and families into poverty and lead to breaches of multiple human rights.”
Welcome to the lucky country.
I am Greg, and I am grumbling.
This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast.
First Broadcast: 21 January 2014
Monday, 9 December 2013
19. Birthdays
Hi. I am Greg and I want to grumble about birthdays. I do this as I have a milestone birthday ending in a round number. But really, what is there to celebrate – simply surviving another lap of the sun? I may not be completely above the self-indulgence of a birthday, but what does another lap really matter? And is it actually anyone else’s business, and does it really require a round of consumerism with compulsory present-giving?
The fact is I had no say in being born, and with luck and good health, and with the privilege of living in what songwriter Penelope Swales calls “a beautiful place in a time of peace”, it’s a statistical probability that I will wake up each morning for 365 days in a row. No big deal, and no particular reason to celebrate.
Of course for people living under oppression or struggling with illness, a year’s survival is an achievement of note, and a reason to celebrate. But for most it is just habit.
The more important question is what has been achieved and contributed in a year. This can take many forms. Some people create loving households and raise children– but in that case a child’s birthday should be a celebration of the parents, not the one who was born on a given date. For many, a contribution is made by the work they do – but that is rewarded by pay packets and marked in years of service, not birthdays. Others contribute above and beyond, through the volunteer work and projects that care for others, build community or restore the environment. All power to them.
But for me, social celebrations are more important than individual ones. An acknowledgement of significant steps towards a fairer and more sustainably society would be a better celebration than any one birthday. For instance, today, 10th December, is International Human Rights Day, the birthday of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It would be nice if we better celebrated that major social achievement, rather than the 1 in 365 chance that someone was born on this date.
And given that the Declaration has reached the ripe old age of 65, we could perhaps look forward to a day when human rights are indeed universal and it can retire, having done its job.
Now there’s a birthday wish. But until then I am Greg, and I am grumbling.
This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast at https://radio.adelaide.edu.au/gregs-grumbles-19/
First Broadcast: 10 December 2013
The fact is I had no say in being born, and with luck and good health, and with the privilege of living in what songwriter Penelope Swales calls “a beautiful place in a time of peace”, it’s a statistical probability that I will wake up each morning for 365 days in a row. No big deal, and no particular reason to celebrate.
Of course for people living under oppression or struggling with illness, a year’s survival is an achievement of note, and a reason to celebrate. But for most it is just habit.
The more important question is what has been achieved and contributed in a year. This can take many forms. Some people create loving households and raise children– but in that case a child’s birthday should be a celebration of the parents, not the one who was born on a given date. For many, a contribution is made by the work they do – but that is rewarded by pay packets and marked in years of service, not birthdays. Others contribute above and beyond, through the volunteer work and projects that care for others, build community or restore the environment. All power to them.
But for me, social celebrations are more important than individual ones. An acknowledgement of significant steps towards a fairer and more sustainably society would be a better celebration than any one birthday. For instance, today, 10th December, is International Human Rights Day, the birthday of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It would be nice if we better celebrated that major social achievement, rather than the 1 in 365 chance that someone was born on this date.
And given that the Declaration has reached the ripe old age of 65, we could perhaps look forward to a day when human rights are indeed universal and it can retire, having done its job.
Now there’s a birthday wish. But until then I am Greg, and I am grumbling.
This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast at https://radio.adelaide.edu.au/gregs-grumbles-19/
First Broadcast: 10 December 2013
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