Howard's "solution" should cause a revolution

John Howard's "solution" should cause a revolution in Parliament

Monday April 26 2005

"The Australian Prime Minister's 'final solution' of sending all boatpeople, whether inside or outside the migration zone, to the to be completed Christmas Island detention centre should cause one mighty revolution in Federal Parliament as has rarely been seen in Australian politics, and not just because this constitutes another breach of what Australia promised with its UN Convention signature," WA Refugee group Project SafeCom said this morning, upon rumours about this plan 'slowly leaking' through an AAP Wire report and from reports about the SBS Insight program to be aired tonight.

"With this news there is no doubt that we're close to John Howard's next step in this slowly leaking news, which represents his final step, one that should follow as soon as it is politically convenient, and that is that all unsuccessful asylum seekers from the Baxter detention centre, who either don't qualify for the most recent 'Removal Pending Bridging Visa' or who don't accept it, will be shipped to Christmas Island also to be detained and spend the rest of their lives."

Christmas Island Shire president Gordon Thomson also has no doubt that this 'leak' is John Howard's preparation for the next step of shipping all Baxter residents to Christmas Island. He says, when asked: "There is absolutely no doubt that this is the plan."

Mr Smit said that "the recently announced Removal Pending Bridging Visa is a complete failure and an utter flop, and the only purpose it served was a coldhearted attempt by the Prime Minister to silence his Liberal party backbenchers in what was uncovered by them as a "con-job" within days of its announcement."

"Perhaps today is the day that the small group of decent and "real" Liberals on the backbench take their next step and prepare their Private Member's Bill. Perhaps today is also the day that the other small group of decent Labor Party backbenchers join these decent Liberals and join a public block together with The Greens and the Democrats around this Private Member's Bill, also because the Federal ALP cannot be trusted either with their asylum policy".

"John Howard does not like it at all that the news keeps being filled with appalling stories from the suffering he has caused with his hardline asylum policies, and he hopes that Christmas Island will provide the Final Solution for a problem that is entirely of his own making."

John Howard's Final Solution is the ultimate in cruelty, and the ultimate in wedging decent MP's in his own government, and it would also double the costs of a useless imprisonment of failed asylum seekers that serves no purpose. Instead of issuing just 100 humanitarian visas, which would allow an end to this torture and end their suffering, Howard thinks he can 'save face' by making them 'disappear' from the unwelcome spotlight."

ENDS

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